OFFICIAL: Two-time Grand Tour stage winner currently racing La Vuelta 2026 confirms retirement, ending one of Asian cycling's great modern careers

Alexey Lutsenko has confirmed that he will retire from professional cycling at the end of the 2026 season, bringing one of the most successful careers in modern Kazakh and Asian cycling towards its conclusion.

The 33-year-old NSN Cycling Team rider is currently competing at the 2026 Vuelta a Espana, his 16th Grand Tour and now the final three-week race of a professional career stretching back to 2012. Lutsenko revealed his decision in an interview with La Vuelta ahead of Thursday's Stage 6 from Alcossebre, the same location where he claimed his first Grand Tour stage victory in 2017.

Asked what it felt like to return to the location of that breakthrough victory, Lutsenko immediately recalled one of the defining days of his career. "More than seven years ago, in 2017. Yeah, yeah, I remember," he told La Vuelta. "For me, it was like my first victory in a Grand Tour. Yeah, I remember very well. It was a hard stage. Also, the last climb is a steep climb. And yeah, it's a good memory for me."

That 2017 success came when Lutsenko rode clear from the breakaway to take Stage 5 of the Vuelta, the first of two Grand Tour stage victories he would collect during his career.

When asked how the race and professional cycling had changed in the years since, however, Lutsenko used his answer to reveal that his own time in the peloton is almost over. "Now, cycling has changed a lot because everything has changed," he explained. "For example, five or six years ago, if your shape was the best, now you need to push more. It's double hard. But yeah, I'm so happy because it's my last year, my last Vuelta, and then I want to stop."

Lutsenko was on the attack only hours after making the announcement. La Vuelta recorded the Kazakh opening a gap after 16 kilometres of Stage 6 before being joined by Decathlon CMA CGM Team youngster Leo Bisiaux, although the move was eventually brought back as the battle to establish the day's breakaway continued.

There is no immediate move into another role already mapped out. After more than a decade at the highest level, Lutsenko intends to initially step away and spend time with his family.

"That's a good question," he replied when asked what he would do after retirement. "I think for me, maybe I need a couple of months to enjoy my family, and then we'll see. Maybe I come back to cycling, maybe some project."

This year's race is Lutsenko's fourth Vuelta and 16th Grand Tour, but it is also the closing chapter of a career overwhelmingly associated with Astana.

Lutsenko announced himself internationally in 2012 by becoming under-23 road world champion in Valkenburg, shortly before beginning the WorldTour career which would make him one of Kazakhstan's defining riders of his generation.

He subsequently became synonymous with Astana, progressing into the Kazakh team's WorldTour squad in 2013 and remaining with the organisation through to the end of 2024. He finally left after 12 seasons at the top level to join Israel-Premier Tech for 2025, with that structure now racing as NSN Cycling Team. Across the years that followed he collected 41 professional victories, with success across stage races, one-day races, time trials and Grand Tours.

Alongside his 2017 Vuelta triumph, Lutsenko claimed the biggest individual stage victory of his career at the 2020 Tour de France, attacking from the breakaway and riding alone to victory on Stage 6 at Mont Aigoual.

He also developed into a genuine general classification contender during the strongest period of his career. Lutsenko finished seventh overall at the 2021 Tour de France before returning a year later to take eighth, giving Kazakhstan consecutive top-10 finishes in the world's biggest race. He was also runner-up at the 2021 Criterium du Dauphine, where he won the individual time trial.

Among his other successes are back-to-back overall victories at the Tour of Oman in 2018 and 2019, the 2019 Arctic Race of Norway, stages of Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour de Suisse, as well as multiple Kazakh national road race and time trial titles.

His most recent victories came in April 2024 at the Giro d'Abruzzo, where Lutsenko won the mountain stage to Prati di Tivo before securing the overall title. He went through his first season away from Astana without a victory in 2025 and remains winless so far in 2026, although 12th overall at the recent Tour de Pologne showed signs of improved form immediately before the Vuelta.

This fourth Vuelta leaves Lutsenko with the remainder of the Spanish race and the final months of 2026 to add to a record already containing a world title, 41 professional victories, two Grand Tour stage wins and consecutive Tour de France top-10 finishes.