“I’m a little bit in mourning right now,” is how Ion Izagirre describes his current situation, as he contemplates a much more abrupt, painful and downright unlucky end to his 17-year career than any pro would wish for.
In any other circumstances for the 37-year-old Basque racer, an accident and injuries suffered on Wednesday when out training would have been a major setback to his plans, but by no means impossible to overcome. But this time round, the broken left wrist that Izagirre ended up with after falling during training has much more serious long-term consequences.
In a flash, and barely ten days before Il Lombardia, his plans for a dream farewell to his days as a roadracer at the last Monument of 2026 have all gone up in smoke. That he was in excellent condition – witness his victory at the Memorial Pantani a month back – only makes it all a tougher pill to swallow. But it’s the completely wrong-footed ending to his career that is what is perhaps hardest to handle of all.
“I was out training, doing one of my last rides for the last races of the year,” the Cofidis pro told Cycling News, “and on a downhill that was a bit wet, my back wheel went from underneath me.
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“I was trying to stop myself from going down as I fell and that’s when I broke my wrist. It doesn’t hurt, and I had a splint put on it at the hospital. But that was that.”
The injury made it out of the question that he could start the three Italian races he had left on his program as a pro, Coppa Agostini on October 4, Tre Valli Varesine (October 6) and Il Lombardia (October 11) – where he has two top ten places in his career, including a fourth in 2024. As ends of careers go, so close to the finish line, you’d need a heart of stone not to feel that this was a truly harsh twist of fate.
What made it worse, the Cofidis racer told Cycling News, was that he was in great condition “and hoping to do something good to round it all off with a good taste, at least give it 100% and finish my career, too, riding a bike, not like this.”
"But that's how it plays out sometimes. You never want it, never expect it, but sometimes that's just what happens."
Il Lombardia clearly is a Classic that suits him, too and after the big boost to his motivation he'd had from winning the Memorial, he was raring to get back into racing one last time.
"The Italian races I'd done before, I was going well, but I wasn't at the level I wanted, maybe because of the heat or whatever. I couldn't show what I'd got," he said.
"But then the weather changed; it turned rainier and cooler, and my body really responded, and in Pantani I was always up there, getting in the moves and so on.
"Then in the last moment, when four of us went ahead, I could play it out well in the sprint. So by then I knew I was on a roll, and it made me feel confident for what was to come."
A turn for the worse
That could hardly have changed more dramatically after his accident on Wednesday, out training alone and building his form one last time. His morale now, he agrees, is that of feeling jodido - screwed.
"Yes, above all yesterday when it all happened. I dunno, I just couldn't believe it. When I couldn't hold the handlebar with my left hand, I realised it was Adios to my season and my career. The world caves in on you.
"I didn't want to finish my career with a plaster on my wrist. I wanted to finish it enjoying my racing in the Italian races. But it's not going to happen that time."
His only way of trying to fight back against the misery is, as he says, that he's received lots of messages of support and sympathy, also reminding him that he's had an exceptionally good last season and to try and focus on that.
They're not wrong, either. Apart from Pantani, Izagirre had both been consistent and taken another top-level one-day race, the GP Miguel Indurain, along with a fourth place overall in the Itzulia Basque Country, a seventh in Flèche Wallonne and a sixth in Eschborn-Frankfurt this season. He also raced the Tour de France - a race where he's twice been a stage winner - taking part in breakaways up until the last day in the Alps.
"But maybe it's a bit too soon to try and feel upbeat," Izagirre said, "instead right now you could say I'm in mourning. It's just a feeling of being hurt and demotivated, disappointed with what happened.
"Maybe further down the line, looking at things more objectively, I'll value this last season, what I've done in it, a lot more."
What now?
If road racing is now out of the question - and with it the celebrations and farewell dinner he and the team had planned after Lombardia - he hasn't totally lost hope of perhaps ending the very last chapter of his career as he wanted. That will be a cyclo-cross event held each year on October 25 in his home town of Ormaiztegi in the Basque Country. "There are still 25 days and let's hope that's possible that I recover in time," he said, "maybe that way I'd finish it all off at home."
"I've been able to race it in the last few years, which is something that wasn't possible before then because the teams were more worried about the risks of crashes and injuries and so on.
"But when I've been able to do it, I've done it, and this year even more so, as it's my last chance. Let's see if I'll be able to do it again, for one last time."
After that, what is out of the question, he said, is turning to an alternative career in gravel or cyclo-cross in the future. His only 'career plan' right now is to be with his family and then, he reckons, other ideas will come up. But in terms of racing, as he said, "When I hang up my wheels, that's me done for good. I'll go on riding a bike out of pure pleasure, and as a fan of the sport."
"Cycling has given me a lot, and I think it'll help me clear my head if I need it in the future, too, by simply riding the bike. But without any need of being out there doing series, training hard and so on. Just choosing the day and the place and the time and the people I want to be with. It'll be another world."
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