"The final straw was when I broke my collarbone" - Visma Briton on his final season and retirement
Cycling
Team Visma | Lease a Bike is one of the teams at the very top of the cycling world and so for Dan McLay to be signed last winter, it was a great opportunity for a rebirth in the scene. He was set to be a key leadout man for Olav Kooij - who is now also leaving the team - but the Briton struggled through the year and has retired. He now looks back on a successful but mixed career.
“I’ve gone into every season in the last couple of years with the mindset of seeing how it goes, and if it goes well I’d carry on," McLay said in words to CyclingWeekly. “I didn’t feel like I ever had great legs this season, and the final straw was when I broke my collarbone at the Renewi Tour. It’s already been a hard year to get a contract with so many teams uncertain about their future, so I made the decision to call it a day. Since then I’ve had no regrets and am looking forward to the future.”
McLay wasn't signed to be a winner with the team, but nevertheless it didn't prove to be the team's most successful signing. At age 33 and with 10 years racing at the top level, McLay decided to retire after considering it for several years already. In his palmarès 10 pro wins, including one at the 2019 World Tour-level Tour of Guangxi.
“Being a sprinter, the wins come a bit more than being another type of rider, but it’s true that not too many guys even win a handful of races as a pro. I think I’m like most cyclists in that it was a dream to be pro, and then when I got a sniff of it I started thinking I could do this or that, and hoped that I could win some races".
Wins are harder to come by
But his last triumphs came at the 2020 Volta a Portugal, and since he has been most notably recognized for being a quality leadout man for Arnaud Démare with the duo's collaboration at Arkéa. But he wished he would've won more during his pro years, taking into consideration his quality.
“I definitely dreamt of doing more than what I ended up doing, but that’s sport – if someone is more talented than you, they’ll win more; you’ve got to make the most of what you’ve got but I’m more than happy with what I did, especially because the wins got harder and harder to come by.”
However with Arkéa, he believes he reached his full potential quite well. “Arkéa is the team I spent most of my career at and it became my home. It was a small team at first but I got plenty of opportunities to learn at a lower level without being thrown into massive races.”
What follows now for McLay isn't certain but he would like to remain active in the sport. “I’m open to anything and have lots of small ideas but nothing concrete as of yet. I’d love to do something in the sport, but I’m not panicking to dive straight back into it.”
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