Sonny Colbrelli to announce retirement from pro cycling

Sonny Colbrelli has been out of competition for 7 months following the huge scare at the Volta a Catalunya, and it is given as a certain that he will be retiring from professional cycling at the end of 2022, with a press conference to be had in the month of November.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the Italian sprinter and classics rider will be announcing the decision in a press conference on the 15th of November. The information has neither been confirmed by Colbrelli himself or Bahrain - Victorious, with whom he raced this season, and for the past years where he had a very successful career.

Colbrelli collapsed after the finale of the first stage of this year's Volta a Catalunya. He lost conscious and had to be revived on scene, later to be hospitalized, where he was discovered to suffer from cardiac arrhythmia. He has since been using a subcutaneous defibrilator that may save his life in future events if it was to happen again.

Although the 32-year old has return to the bike, he is not allowed under Italian law to race with the device - and an attempt to race under the Swiss nationality appears to have not succeeded.

Colbrelli has had a career-best year in 2021 after a long career in the Bardiani team, and a move to World Tour in the 2017 season. Last year Colbrelli won the European Championships in his home country in Trento, an epic edition of Paris-Roubaix which featured mud all throughout, and also won the overall classification in the Benelux Tour, the Italian national championships and the Memorial Marco Pantani late in the season.

One of the most versatile riders in the peloton, Colbrelli has always been a consistent figure in the peloton. His palmarès also features wins at Paris-Nice, Tour de Suisse, Tour de Romandie and Critérium du Dauphiné.