"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

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.