Will Oscar Freire take his retirement back for the second time?
Belgian cyclist Oscar Freire announced to leave professional cycling after the UCI Road World Championships in Netherlands.
The cyclist also noted that the only way for him to continue his professional endeavour in 2013 is by winning the 2012 UCI Road World Championships.
Oscar rode well during the Sunday race but could not occupy the top podium position which was his prime target.
Philippe Gilbert secured the top position after he completed the race in a total time of 6 hours, 10 minutes and 41 seconds.
Edvald Boasson Hagen finished four seconds behind at the second spot with Alejandro Valverde, John Degenkolb and Lars Boom achieving the third, fourth and the fifth positions respectively.
Freire could not secure any better than the tenth overall position after the race with Allan Davis, Thomas Voeckler, Ramunas Navardauskas and Sergio Luis Henao claiming the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth position respectively.
The three-time World Champion marked his first World’s appearance back in 1998 in Valkenburg and was positive to grab his fourth title in Holland this year.
“I finished 17th,” he told Cyclingnews while commenting on his debut appearance at the World Championships.
“There was a group away with the winners, but I’d punctured when the break went, and I was at the front of the next group that finished the course”.
“I wasn’t under any pressure, though, I was young and I didn’t care about anything. There were ten of us Spanish, a bigger team than you have now”.
“But I’d taken silver in the World Amateur Championships the year before (in San Sebastian) - I think that could have been a better result if I hadn’t punctured - and I knew then that World championships was going to be my thing”.
Oscar started his professional crusade with Team Vitalicio Seguros in 1998 and stayed with the team for a period of two years.
He also represented Team Mapei-Quick Step (2000-02), Team Rabobank (2003-11) and accepted an offer from Team Katusha in 2012.
It will be interesting to see, if Freire continuous riding at the top level of the sport or throws in the bucket on his excellent professional career in 2013.
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