Movistar rider never successfully returned to racing after 2016 crash
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Adriano Malori (Movistar) on the front of the Toscana peloton(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Adrian Malori with his wife Elisa and Cristian Salvato of the Italian ACCPI riders assocation(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Adrian Malori (Movistar)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Adriano Malori back on the bike(Image credit: Movistar Team)
Adriano Malori enjoys a moment outside with his partner Elisa(Image credit: Twitter / Radsport)
Adriano Malori (Italy) took the silver medal in the elite men's time trial at Worlds(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Adriano Malori announcing his retirement at the Movistar press conference (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Adriano Malori announced his retirement from professional cycling during Movistar's rest day press conference at the Tour de France in Antonne et Trigonant on Monday.
"Today Adriano Malori 2.0 starts," Malori announced. "My career as a cyclist finishes here." Malori suffered neurological damage in a crash at the Tour of San Luis in 2016, and has not been able to successfully return to cycling.
Malori started the GP de Montreal, GP de Quebec and Giro della Toscana at the end of last season, and made two further attempts at racing this year. His final race was May's Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, which he abandoned on the opening stage.
"From the day of the crash at the Tour de San Luis in 2016, I've fought a battle. I won the battle but not all the way. The doctors, as I said in the documentary we made a few months ago, were amazed by my recovery, and I hope my example can continue to be an example for all those who suffer from serious problems," he said at a press conference at the Tour de France, surrounded by his teammates and team staff.
"I want to thank the Movistar family, riders and support staff alike, who have always been close to me, as a rider and as a man. I'll always have a green 'M' on my heart. And all these people, all these friends, know that if they ever come by Parma, they'll always have a nice meal paid for them."
Malori already has a jump start on his new career. "I've already started to study to be a coach, and the Italian Cycling Federation is helping me a lot," Malori said.
"The goal I had in my life was to do something special in the world of the bike. I cannot do it as a racer and it will be another way."
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Decision
Malori did all he could to return as a rider, but admitted that the "the results of this year are very clear for everyone. In Alentejo I could only cover 80 km and at Castilla y León, 30. Trying this was the only way to know if I could return. I can still go on a bike perfectly well, but competition is no longer for me.
"However, my recovery has been impressive. That's not me saying it: those are the doctors' words.That's the first good thing I get out of all these months: that people who have this kind of ailments can be inspired by a figure who has recovered as none have done before. This is the important thing in my story: a message of hope for people."
Malori's life changed forever in an instant during the fifth stage of the Tour de San Luis in January 2016. At the head of the peloton, he hit a pothole in the road and crashed, suffering head injuries. He was placed briefly in an induced coma before being transferred to a specialised clinic in Buenos Aires. Three weeks after the crash, Malori was flown back to Europe, where he remained in hospital for eight days before transferring to a rehabilitation center. By mid-April he was on a stationery bike as part of his rehabilitation programme.
At the end of August 2016 he announced that although he would continue to need physiotherapy, he would start in the GP Quebec and GP Montreal the following month, but he did not finish either race.
Malori completed stage 1 of the Giro della Toscana but abandoned on the second and final stage. He suffered a further setback when he broke a collarbone in a crash at Milan-Turin.
This season, the 29-year old started and abandoned both the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon and the Vuelta ao Alentejo.
A native of Parma, Malori joined Lampre as a stagiaire in August 2009 and stayed with them through the 2013 season, before joining Movistar. A time trial expert, he was U-23 world champion in 2008, was second in the Elite time trial Worlds in 2015, and won his national title three times. Malori won the Bayern Rundfahrt in 2013 and won the closing time trial of the Vuelta a Espana in 2015.
