What an incredible career from 🌈🇨🇿Zdeněk Štybar 🇨🇿🌈 He paved the way for the multi-disciplined generation of CX roadies that entertain us year-round He won some of the biggest races in the world (on & off the road) Could he also be a future @unboundgravel champion? 💯🏆👑
"99 percent of the time it will be my last career race in Tábor" - Zdenek Stybar certain that he will retire at home Cyclocross World Championships
CyclocrossWednesday, 29 November 2023 at 13:30
Zdenek Stybar is a rider that grew out of Cyclocross. The Czech rider was World Champion three times, the first in 2010 in the Tabor circuit close to home. Now, 13 years later, he sees the World Championships return to the Czech Republic and that will be his last race as a professional cyclist.
"I want to leave it open, because there are still one or two options that I am still dealing with. That's why I'm keeping that one percent there for good. However, 99 percent of the time it will be my last career race in Tábor. I'm already internally prepared for it and I have head set so that Tábor will be the last race of my career," Stybar told Ceska Televize.
The 38-year old has not been able to achieve the same results on the road for the past few years, and he hasn't found a contract into 2024. Throughout the past few months he had already pondered on the possibility of hanging up the wheels, and seeing how the situation has develop, he's become certain of it. However before he does he will still race this winter, on the field where he became a star in cycling. He's set to make a return to Cyclocross and try to build as best as possible for the World Championships in Tabor - where he should find a place as part of the home team.
"It's hard to estimate at the moment, but if I take last year's results as a basis, it was somewhere around fifteenth place without specific preparation. The level is getting better and better every year, however, I believe that with the specific training I would have it could have been better for me too," he tells. "It would be great to end it all in the top ten, but you also have to be realistic: the two weeks before Tábor will probably be very hectic, especially if I really end my career there. But in my head and in preparation, I'm doing everything as if I wanted to win. And it drives me on even in training."
The Czech rider has had a tremendously successful career even without taking cyclocross into consideration. Winner of a Tour de France stage, Renewi Tour, E3 Saxo Classic, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and several other high-level races, he retires as one of the best classics riders of the past generation. This year he had to undergo a surgery to correct a problem in the iliac artery which has hampered him and he missed a lot of racing. His late-season return to racing wasn't enough to convince a top team to sign him.
However Stybar says that the Mountain Bike event 'Cape Epic' is a big goal and could actually be in his schedule post retirement. Regardless of that plan coming along, he definitely does not plan on staying away from the sport. "Some gravel races, bike races, marathons and the like. But mostly just for fun, because I don't see the point in preparing for it by training every day, then I could go to another team down the road," he concludes.
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- I counted 16 riders under 24 out of 43 that started. Once was only 16 ! Two of the top riders are Zoe and Schreiber and both under 23 yet that have done 50 min races in the past with the elites so I think it's just bad clock management. Let them race 50 freakin' minutes! One more lap could have made a big dffierence most times in the podium and winner.frieders319-11-2024
- He needs to finish out his contract and then go hit MTB and Cross/Gravel really hard, that's where his heart is.awp18-11-2024
- Pidcock is starting to sound like Froome now.Sweep18-11-2024
- I think this was because there were junior women in the race. If a race has junior women am pretty sure it has to be less than 45 minutes. I believe a rule is coming in for next season that will fine organisers that don't put on a junior women's race a fine equivalent to the prize money. So fingers crossed we should see more longer elite and junior women's races from next season.NorrisHippocampe18-11-2024
- Of course he CAN. Big salary in cycling is not when you win but when they talk about you (and your team / sponsors). For every news about Jonas, MVdP or Wout there are 10 times more(!) news about Pidcock (like everyday for last 2 months?). Since cycling is advertising sport not competitive sport (in terms of from money comes from) Pidcock is winner and GOAT - change my mind. ;-)averagecyclist18-11-2024
- Why do the women CXs keep getting short changed with the length of theor races? They could have easily done another lap to put them at 50 minutes which is their time limit. Yet another CX race where they fail to reach this when they had a chance to. Come on ... the math isn't that hard to figure out lap times and divide into 50 min!frieders318-11-2024
- All pro cyclists are massively underpaid! The amount of riding and physical exertion they put their bodies through is crazy compared to other sports. I can't think of any other sport where you are physically active at a very high level of power output for hours on end each day.Pogboom17-11-2024
- When I was working for Starkist/Heinz my manager quit. So the next week my group was put under another manager. During our first meeting he asked if there was anything we needed to tell him. I said that I would be out the following week on vacation. He said "I don't know if I can let you go on vacation". I replied, "You can't tell if I can go. You can only tell me if I can come back".Sweep17-11-2024
- :-)Sweep17-11-2024
- What a mess there :-)
DareDevil17-11-2024