Koos Moerenhout to end his career at Amstel Curaçao
The Amstel Curaçao is an unofficial end of the road-race season. The European ProTour calendar officially finished with the Giro di Lombardia in Northern Italy in mid-October, but the 90km Amstel on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao, part of the Kingdom
of the Netherlands, is a favourite final race (and tropical vacation) for the stars of the European peloton. It will prove to be a fine way for Koos Moerenhout to end his cycling career.
"Yes, I will ride one more race," said Moerenhout to Rabosport.nl. "This is really nice. It is a combination of vacation and riding a race. It is never a mistake to ride a competition under Caribbean 'circumstances.' It is also nice to show the
colours of Rabobank one more time."
The race is named for the Amstel Curaçao brewery, a lager-brewer founded in the Netherlands which has expanded to six locations in as many countries: two in Europe, two in Africa and two in the Caribbean. Alberto Contador won the race in 2007 and 2009 and
Andy Schleck won in 2008 and will return for another chance at victory, supported by his brother Frank and team-mate Jakob Fuglsang. Tony Martin was sought after for the event by race organiser Leo Van Vliet and will represent team HTC-Columbia.
“For tourism in Curacao, Germany is an important market,” said Van Vliet to wielerland.nl. “That’s why we have contracted a rider like Martin, so that we can get the necessary exposure in Germany. We are working closely with the tourism office in this way.”
Moerenhout will move to a Public Relations job with Team Rabobank after he retires. The rider has already begun working with the team’s cyclo-cross racers and his new career is essentially underway.
"Time is just flying by," said Moerenhout. "I really don't have time to reflect back, that will probably come in the dark winter months."
The 36-year-old two-time Dutch national champion announced his retirement while racing the Tour de France with team Rabobank and received a very supportive reaction, which inspired him to put it all on the table for the final months of his competitive career.
"Such a reaction was nice to see. When I decided to retire I put all my eggs in one basket and when things go right it is very nice. That gave me the feeling to end my career in a very nice way. That the people appreciate that means a lot to me as a racer
as well as a human being."
He went on to finish his season with a bang at the World Championships road race on October 3, where he finished in 13th.
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