"Much-loved" Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl director Brian Holm retires

After a decade at Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team, 59-year-old Dane Brian Holm has announced he is retiring from his role as Sports Director.

The 1990 Belgian national champion, admitted that after being involved in the sport for so long, the prospect of retirement scares him a little, “To do the last race with the team, to be honest, is a bit strange. I’ve been with the team 10 years, and a sport director for 23,” Holm told an official team video. “To stop it, to be honest, it’s a bit scary.”

After a career in the peloton that lasted from 1986 until 1998, Holm later admitted in his 2002 autobiography that he had used EPO's during the 90's. As a Sports Director however Holm vowed to make up for his past mistakes and help cycling become a drug free sport.

Diagnosed with colon cancer in 2004, Holm underwent surgery and successfully recovered, coming away from his near-death experience with a new lease on life, “Cycling, it’s like a family. There are fights, but you have to fight to move forward. And if you’re falling, you always know someone is there to grab you.”

After completing his final race at the Tour of Luxembourg, the man who Mark Cavendish once described as the “best sport director I ever worked with” will now look to continue his budding political career in Denmark.