"It is certainly not how I wanted to end" - Zdenek Stybar on the verge of retirement after a season hampered by health issues

Zdenek Stybar will want to quickly forget the 2023 season. In the Arctic Race of Norway, he returned to the peloton after a five-month absence due to surgery on the femoral arteries in both legs, but has suffered further setbacks since his return. He is struggling again due to the coronavirus.

In the Arctic Race of Norway, he told WielerFlits that he felt as if he had 'two new legs'. Immediately afterwards he completed the Renewi Tour, but things went wrong again for the 37-year-old Czech. "I got Covid there and I wasn't training again for three weeks because it made me feel bad. Now I'm doing my best for the team. But to ride around in poor condition is not ideal," said Stybar.

He previously indicated that he was not thinking about retirement. "I'm not thinking about quitting. If it were up to me, I would continue racing for a while. Enough has gone wrong over the past three years to no longer be nervous about an expiring contract," he was clear in August.

Stybar confirms that there is currently nothing going on about his future, so the Tour of Guangxi later this month could well be his last race. "That could very well be the case. The chance is 99% yes. That feels bad. It's not how I imagined it. It is certainly not how I wanted to end," he anticipates the facts. "It's not because of motivation or because I didn't do enough for it. After the operation I was really motivated, but unfortunately that turned out differently."