Mark Padun retires at age 28 - Ukrainian rider was the unlikely star of the 2021 Criterium du Dauphiné

Richie Porte won the 2021 Criterium du Dauphiné however if you go back through the years the memorable moments of that race were those of Mark Padun, the climber who won the final two stages of the race in a very unexpected way and turned the world of cycling on it's head. Recent years have not been easy for the Ukrainian rider, and he has officially retired into the 2025 season.

Born and raised in Donetsk, an eastern Ukrainian city occupied by Russian-backed military forces and eventually the Russian army itself, at a young age he and his family escaped to the capital of Kyiv as they had decided it was not safe to live and provide the chance for Padun to be a cyclist in an active warzone. He made full use of the opportunity and in 2016 joined the Italian Team Colpack; and a year later he jumped to the World Tour with Bahrain - Victorious. It's one of the most interesting stories in recent years, as after a few years with some occasional strong performances, in 2021 he had two that particularly put him in the spotlight.

He had previously won a stage at the Tour of the Alps and the GC at the Adriatica Ionica, but nothing had prepared him for stage 7 of the Dauphiné that year where he attacked from the group of GC riders and took a strong win in La Plagne, over 30 seconds ahead of strong climbers such as Richie Porte and Miguel Ángel López. The next day he would join the day's breakaway and take the stage win in Les Gets, beating Jonas Vingegaard in the Dane's final race before turning into a superstar with a second place at the Tour de France.

There were plenty suspicions of his performances at that time, perhaps what marked his career the most. It was never shown however that there was any wrongdoing from the climber. A few months later he finished third at the Vuelta a Burgos, moved to EF Education-EasyPost and took his final win as a pro at the Gran Camiño. It wouldn't be the last the cycling crowd would see of him, but his inconsistencies grew larger and in his two years with the American team he only managed to score a few notable results, which did not see him get renewed at the end of 2023.

With a full-scale invasion erupting in his home country as well, he gained further notoriety as he was the most notable Ukrainian professional rider. In 2024 he returned to his Italian ways with Team Corratec - Vini Fantini but never got to show the legs he had in the past. His final race was at the Tour of Slovakia where he finished outside the time limit at the opening team time-trial.