Is Ion Izagirre's career over? - Legendary rider suffers training crash as he'll be unable to ride planned final races
Cycling
Ion Izagirre will be unable to contest the final races of his professional career after a training crash on roads near his home. The Cofidis rider, who had announced he would retire at the end of the 2026 season, had planned to say goodbye at Il Lombardia on October 10th, but a fracture in his left wrist forces an early farewell.
The 37-year-old Basque rider crashed on Wednesday while training close to home. Medical tests later confirmed a left wrist fracture, an injury that will prevent him from starting the last Italian races he had scheduled for this season’s finale.
His farewell to professional cycling therefore comes sooner than expected and without the chance to race one of the great Monuments on the calendar.
Izagirre’s last race will therefore be the Memorial Pantani, held on September 12th. A particularly meaningful send-off, as the Cofidis rider took what will now stand as the final victory of a 16-season professional career in Cesenatico.
Ion Izagirre
A career shaped by the Grand Tours
The win was the 20th of his career and capped a season in which he had already decided that 2026 would be his last year in the pro peloton.
Izagirre bows out after building a career defined by consistency and presence in the sport’s biggest races. Among his 20 victories, the highlights are his stage wins in all three Grand Tours, with two stages at the Tour de France and one each at the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España.
His first major triumph in a three-week race came at the 2012 Giro d’Italia, where he won a stage. Four years later, at the 2016 Tour de France, he raised his arms again after one of the most important wins of his career. The Basque rider repeated at the French Grand Tour in 2023, underlining his knack for seizing chances even in the more demanding phases of his career.
Izagirre's Vuelta victory
He also left his mark on the Vuelta a España, where he won a stage in 2020. Those victories sit alongside two standout general classifications: the 2015 Tour de Pologne and the 2019 Itzulia Basque Country, a race of profound significance for a rider born in Euskadi.
Now, a crash suffered during training has changed the script. Izagirre wanted to sign off on the bike at Il Lombardia, but the wrist fracture forces him to end his career ahead of time.
His final image as a professional will therefore be tied to the Memorial Pantani and to a victory that, unknowingly then, became the last chapter of a career totaling 20 wins.
Javier RampeCycling Journalist
Javier Rampe is a sports analyst with more than 15 years of experience. He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Rome and a Diploma in Business Studies from the University of Cádiz. Despite coming from an academic background not particularly associated with cycling, his passion for both cycling and journalism was instilled in him from an early age. He grew up following Miguel Indurain and José María “El Chava” Jiménez. An admirer of Michael Robinson’s communication style and journalistic approach, he was inspired to pursue a degree in Journalism at the University of Buenos Aires, which he is currently completing.
He has always maintained close ties with the worlds of sport and culture, contributing from a young age to sports blogs and film and music review websites. His work has appeared in media outlets such as Cope, RAI, and Radio Con Vos. He is also the founder of the cycling-focused podcast El Contraanálisis and the football interview channel Días De Fútbol, dedicated to conversations with professional footballers.
In addition to his work at Ciclismoaldia, Javier has interviewed some of the most influential figures in modern cycling, including Alejandro Valverde and Tadej Pogačar, as well as key voices in anti-doping policy such as Alberto Yelmo, David Varillas, and Marcelo Milano. Marcos Maynar, in relation to the ‘Operación Ílex’ case, is also among the personalities he has interviewed. He enjoys conducting in-depth analysis of the cycling ecosystem and has attended major events such as Strade Bianche, the Vuelta a Andalucía, and Itzulia, as well as numerous national cyclo-cross races.
His background in economics, combined with extensive experience in marketing and corporate communications, drives his continuous study of positioning strategies and ensures that he always keeps his focus on crafting compelling and evocative headlines.
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