Bart Voskamp bows out quietly

Dutch professional Bart Voskamp is another who has announced a low-key transition to retirement.

The 37-year-old, who turned professional in 1993 and rode for various incarnations of the TVM squad until 1999 before riding for teams such as BankGiroLoteri and Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf knew he was going to quit at the end of this year, and was prepared mentally for retirement. He didn't want a big farewell, preferring instead to take a walk around Groningen with some friends. He cites a Tour de France stage win, two Vuelta stage wins and victory in the Tour of Belgium as the highlights of his career. He was Dutch national time trial champion in 1999 and 2001.

The state of his team in 2005, Skil-Moser, helped convince him that the time was right to stop, saying, "Now, I am 37; consequently it's also a good time to stop - the organisation of my team Skil-Moser was not so good and the sponsor stopped their support of it." He isn't ruling out staying involved in professional cycling, possibly as a part of team management - but believes he needs to find what he has a talent for before committing himself to career in that field.