"Is the Tour actually the world’s hardest endurance event?" - Former World Tour pro uses retirement to test himself in other endurance sports

Michael Woods is a former professional runner turned cyclist in his mid-20's, with a transition that was achieved to perfection as he won 16 pro races including a stage at the Tour de France and three at the Vuelta a España. He retired from pro cycling at the end of last year, but in 2026 will become an all-round athlete, set to compete in triathlon, gravel, mountain biking and ski mountaineering.

"The aim is to see how, after 15 years of building an aerobic base in one sport, I stack up against the best endurance athletes across a number of disciplines. Pierra Menta, Ironman, Leadville, Unbound, and many other events will feature on my calendar," Woods said in a post on his website. "Will my body hold up to the test of an Ironman? How does a World Tour pro stack up in the social media/influencer world of privateers? As it makes its first appearance in the Olympic Games, what is the sport of skimo? Is the Tour actually the world’s hardest endurance event? These are just a few of the questions I hope to answer during 2026".

Woods is a rider who only turned pro in 2013 at age 26, and made his World Tour at age 29. Unlike the current trend in the peloton, he peaked well into his 30's, and his final Vuelta a España stage was achieved at age 37. However a sequence of crashes and injuries that prevented him from performing at his best often throughout the last years of his career also made it very difficult to continue life as a professional rider. He dreams of ending his career at the 2026 World Championships in Montréal close to home in Canada, but a hernia was perhaps the final nail in the coffin for the veteran.

"I was confident that my retirement would only bring me great satisfaction. Instead, it brought the opposite. There was a funeral without a casket. My cycling career was lost at sea, and over the past few months, instead of relishing the accomplishments I had on the bike, I dwelled on where I had gone wrong. This is not my style. I’m not a person who lives in the past. I could only sulk around for so long, and as I got over a poor ending to one career, I started hatching plans for another".

His final pro race was the Tour de France last summer, although he was at the time unaware that this would be the final time he would b in the peloton. "This wasn’t how I wanted things to end. Crossing the line with Benjamin Thomas at the Tour, I had no idea this would be my last race as a professional cyclist. That seems to be a theme in my life. Perhaps it is the optimist in me, or the fool, but I have rarely been aware that the thing I am doing will be the last time I do it".

It was a Tour that was rather lackluster, which was similar to the rest of his season. The end of Israel - Premier Tech as it was known would also be an extra obstacle in the way of him continuing his career even if it was a goal.

"I didn’t think the last time I ran a race would be the last time I ran a running race, and I wasn’t rolling around the Champs-Élysées thinking this was my final pro road race. Though, I was aware that it was my last Tour, and therefore I did try to savor the moment". However he admits that "it is hard to describe how inhumane and awful it feels riding down the cobbles of the Champs at 70 km/h.

However he does have some good memories of his final race as a pro, as he managed to take it easy and absorb the atmosphere in Paris and the climb to Montmartre, packed with thousands of fans on a day where times for the overall classification were not taken into account due to the bad weather.

"This was one of the best decisions I made in the Tour de France. I was able to ride at my own pace on some of the busiest and most storied roads on the planet. I cruised up Montmartre as thousands of soaked fans cheered me on, and finally, I caught several riders, including Olympic track champ Benjamin Thomas. We rode the final kilometers together, smiling, recognizing how lucky we were to be getting paid to do this. As we crossed the line, we shook hands, congratulated each other, and went our separate ways".

He went deeper into the reasons why his retirement felt premature, and unsatisfying. "I knew I was going to retire, but visions of not beating Pogacar, but at least being the best of the rest at my final home race in Montreal danced in my head. This was how I wanted to retire".

It is a location that means a lot to him, and where he hoped to perform one final time at the top. "In 2014, I raced in Montreal on the national team, and as a guy who had just started riding two years earlier, I finished in the front group among some of the best riders in the world. It helped launch my career and get me a spot in the World Tour. Finishing things off in Montreal, in front of my family and friends, racing at the top of my game was “how I was meant to finish.”

However Woods will certainly still be a figure that will capture the spotlight in Montréal later this year, only in a different position. Throughout the upcoming year the 39-year old will certainly provide plenty stories from his adventures as a premier endurance athlete.