Swiss rider retires as planned, even after missing home World Championship
Swiss Patrick Calcagni (Barloworld) retires (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Swiss Patrick Calcagni retired today after ten years as a professional cyclist, his Barloworld-Bianchi team announced today.
During his career, Calcagni won the Swiss time trial championships, a stage of the 2001 Tour of Japan and last year's GP Pino Cerami one-day classic in Belgium.
"That was definitely the best moment of my career," Calcagni said of GP Pino Cerami.
Calcagni, 32, ended his career after a crash in Tre Valli Varesine August 18. A subsequent fractured collarbone forced him to miss the World Championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland, which took place just 18 kilometres away from his home in Lugano.
"I decided it would be a good place to end my career four years ago when they selected Mendrisio [as a host city]," he told Cyclingnews. "I would have ended my career anyway this year, but I wanted to do at home, at the Worlds. Unfortunately, it did not go like I had planned."
His compatriot Fabian Cancellara won his third time trial title Thursday and finished fifth in the road race Sunday.
Calcagni will start working in his father's steel construction business and continue to manage cyclists.
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