At the Simac Ladies Tour, the final European Women's WorldTour race of the 2024 season, the women's peloton will be waving goodbye to several riders as they hang up their wheels in retirement.
Among their number will be two riders on the Human Powered Health squad, Audrey Cordon-Ragot and Alice Wood.
Frenchwoman Cordon-Ragot is calling time on her 17-year career at the six-day Dutch race. Along the way, racing for teams including Vienne Futuroscope, Wiggle High5 and Trek-Segafredo, she has scored 21 victories including nine national titles.
"I've tried not to think about it too much," Cordon-Ragot said ahead of the race, which kicked off with a time trial on Tuesday.
"I've managed to stay focused and still train hard so I'm proud of myself for having that focus which was really important for me this year to keep that motivation.
"For sure it's going to be special because it will be the last time I wear it in a race," she added, referring to her French national time trial champion's jersey. "I'm so proud to wear it whenever I can."
Alice Wood is retiring from racing after a nine-year spell in the peloton taking in stints at Drops and Canyon-SRAM. The 29-year-old can count British road and time trial titles among her five professional victories.
"It's a weird feeling to know this will be my last race. I still feel this is the perfect time for me to end my career," Wood said.
"I have often had some good results at this race and in the Netherlands, so hopefully, I can end on a high."
Cordon-Ragot and Wood began their final race in the women's peloton with 16th and 42nd place in the 10km time trial in Gennep, won by Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-Sram). The race continues with a 155km sprint stage to Assen on Wednesday afternoon.
