"The dark side of cycling" - Niki Terpstra crashes and finishes last on final pro career

Niki Terpstra was one of the riders who put an end to their cycling career in Paris-Tours. Unlike many others who dream of a perfect finish in their last professional race, Terpstra was not so fortunate. After crashing hard, the Dutch rider ended up finishing last.

"The first ten seconds, I thought: this is it. But I just keep going, too," Terpstra told NOS. He continues, "Until halfway, it was going well, but then I crashed, and it hurt pretty bad. I've never cycled well again. It doesn't feel good. I said yesterday that it was going to be dangerous, and that's the dark side of cycling. That's part of it, unfortunately."

He finished in 128th place, almost 20 minutes behind the race winner Arnaud Démare. Nevertheless, it was a happy moment for the TotalEnergies rider as he celebrated with his wife Ramona and the children, who were waiting for him at the finish line.