Niki Terpstra retires from professional cycling - "It was the last time the public would go wild because of a sports performance by me"

A win with Yoeri Havik in the Six Days of Rotterdam marked Niki Terpstra's final race as a professional cyclist.

During the post-race interview, Terpstra was quite emotional. "The last two laps were very special. Because that was the moment, I realised it was the last time the public would go wild because of a sports performance by me. Normally you assume it will happen again, but this was the last time. It made me slightly emotional," he told Ziggo Sport.

A decade-long friendship between Terpstra and Yoeri Havik added to the significance of the event. “I am particularly happy with and proud of Yoeri. I started cycling with him at a young age. The fact that we are standing here now is a result of hard work,” said Terpstra.

Havik became emotional as well, but he managed to express a few words. "This is so special. It's Niki's last race, and then I get to win with him... It's really super cool. Luckily I wasn't dealing with that in the final. Otherwise, I couldn't have kept my head. I still had to go so deep. I'm very happy that it worked out,” concluded Havik.