"My parents, family, everyone had booked tickets..." - Intermarché pro denied chance to do retirement race with the team

Kobe Goossens has retired from pro cycling this week but in no time he has already talked publicly about his last year in the peloton. His feedback is not the best, as he portrays Intermarché - Wanty's as rather unfair, with lack of communication and no racing schedule making it a rough ending to a career that saw its highlights in the Belgian team.

"I've discovered some kind of genetic defect, and that's making it difficult to get back to 100%," he explained in words to Sporza. The 29-year old has in this an explanation for his lack of performances over the past few years. Although never a top rider, he has had memorable moments in his career, being a quality rider in his under-23 years that include a GC win at the Tour du Jura.

But most notably, two consecutive wins at the 2023 Challenge Mallorca which really proved to be his climbing breakthrough. He wasn't absent from there, finishing 13th at Paris-Nice soon after and sixth at the 2024 Eschborn-Frankfurt, but his results slowly faded away and in 2025 he only had 19 race days.

Then like most Intermarché - Wanty riders, his career was left in a limbo. Many have reported that the team had assured a contract for its riders, whilst this was never a certainty. Goossens was only told he did not have a place at the Lotto-Intermarché merger very late, alongside others, and this hampered his chances of staying in the peloton. He is one of six riders who has so far retired since.

"Twelve riders were told very late that they had to find another team, and that means they might now have no contract or a lesser one, so I think better and more open communication would have been better."

However, Goossens' individual issues with the team are perhaps even a worst image to the management. His last race as a professional rider was in June at the Heistse Pijl, although he was completely unaware of this. For the remainder of his time with the team he was not selected to any race, and then had his heart broken after getting pulled out of what would be his retirement race at Il Lombardia.

"I asked for two more months to be allowed to race, but that wasn't granted. Ultimately, I was selected for the Il Lombardia. My parents, family, everyone had booked tickets, and then the management decided not to field me," he reveals. "It makes the ending bitter."