Alaphilippe, Quintana and Mollema bow out as cycling bids farewell to 10 big names in 2026

Nairo Quintana went into stage 15 of the 2016 Vuelta a España leading Chris Froome by 54 seconds, with a week left and a time trial still to come that Froome was expected to win. The stage covered just 118.5 kilometres from Sabiñánigo to Formigal, with three climbs and little to suggest the race was about to be turned on its head.

Alberto Contador attacked almost from the start. Quintana went with him eight kilometres in, with Jonathan Castroviejo and Rubén Fernández for company. Team Sky had controlled the race for a fortnight, but suddenly found themselves without anyone at the front to bring the move back.

Froome had won the Tour de France five weeks earlier. At Formigal, he finished 18th on the stage, 2:40 down and riding alone. Gianluca Brambilla took the win, with Quintana three seconds behind. The Colombian's overall lead grew to 3:37 in a single afternoon. Froome clawed back time in the time trial four days later, but not enough, and Quintana won the race by 1:23.

It was his second Grand Tour victory after the 2014 Giro d'Italia. He had finished second at the Tour de France in 2013 and 2015, but never won the race he had spent so much of his career trying to conquer.

Quintana announced his retirement in March, bringing an end to a career that included 51 professional victories. He had hoped to finish at the Vuelta, the race he won in 2016, but Movistar left him out of their squad in August.

His final race was the Giro dell'Emilia on 3 October, the same race he had won as a 22-year-old in 2012.

Pello Bilbao reached his peak at 33. "Everything went in progression, and I can say that until 33 years old I didn't arrive at my peak," he told Domestique before Il Lombardia.

His early years as a professional were spent a long way from the front of races. Then came two Giro d'Italia stage wins in 2019 and a Tour de France stage victory in 2023. He never won a Vuelta stage, leaving him one victory short of the distinction of winning at all three Grand Tours.

He tried again on the final day in Granada, committing to a move before the finale with Matthew Brennan marking him. "Obviously I was not going to do the job for him."

The missing Vuelta win does not bother him. "If someone remembers me, it's not going to be because I joined that select club in the last moment of my career."

Bilbao described those three weeks as the best of his career, despite failing to win a stage himself. Bahrain Victorious took the mountains jersey through Santiago Buitrago and a stage victory through Jakob Omrzel, who won at Calar Alto from a breakaway that included Bilbao.

Omrzel said afterwards that having Bilbao and Buitrago alongside him gave him the confidence to attack.

Bilbao announced in April that he would retire at the end of the season. After 16 years as a professional, he signed off at Il Lombardia, having spent much of his career as one of the most reliable riders in the Grand Tours.

Steven Kruijswijk had the 2016 Giro d'Italia within reach. Three stages remained and he held a comfortable lead when he crashed into a snowbank on the descent of the Colle dell'Agnello.

He got up and finished the stage, but the pink jersey was gone. He lost more time the following day, slipped behind Alejandro Valverde and eventually finished fourth overall.

Three years later, he finished third at the Tour de France, the only Grand Tour podium of a career spent entirely within one organisation. He joined Rabobank in 2009 and stayed through the team's various names, finishing with Visma | Lease a Bike.

His final Grand Tour began in Monaco, where he lives, on a time trial course that passed his front door. In Granada, the peloton gave him a guard of honour before the final stage of the Vuelta, alongside Magnus Cort, Bilbao, David de la Cruz and Jesús Herrada.

Kruijswijk spent much of his career working for others, but his own results were enough to establish him among the strongest stage racers of his generation.

For all his achievements, that crash at the 2016 Giro remains the moment that most clearly defines what might have been.

Six Vuelta a España stage wins, two at the Tour de France and one at the 2023 Giro d'Italia completed Magnus Cort's set of Grand Tour victories. He built his career on winning from sprints, uphill finishes and breakaways.

He announced his retirement in June, then became Danish road race champion for the first time just a few days later. The title gave him one more reason to enjoy his final Tour de France, his eighth appearance at the race.

"I don't want to squeeze everything out and finish the sport struggling at the back," he told Domestique in August.

Cort made his Vuelta debut in 2016 with Orica-BikeExchange, winning two stages and helping Esteban Chaves finish third overall behind Quintana and Froome.

His first Grand Tour stage wins came from bunch sprints, but he became just as dangerous in the breakaway, capable of picking his moment and holding off the chase.

Unlike many retiring riders, Cort has no immediate plans for a new role in cycling. He leaves without a job lined up and intends to spend the winter in Andorra.

Julian Alaphilippe announced his retirement on 21 August, bringing his career to an unexpected early end after the Tour de France. His final race had already come on the Tour's last stage in Paris on 26 July.

He won two world road race titles, at Imola in 2020 and Leuven in 2021. In Belgium, he kept attacking on the home team's roads until the opposition could no longer bring him back, becoming the first rider since Peter Sagan to successfully defend the title.

His other major victories included Milan-San Remo and Strade Bianche in 2019, three Flèche Wallonne wins, the Clásica de San Sebastián, six Tour de France stages and the Tour's mountains classification.

But it was his remarkable run in yellow at the 2019 Tour that arguably captured the imagination of cycling fans more than anything else.

Alaphilippe wore the yellow jersey for 14 days and carried the lead deep into the final week. His challenge finally unravelled on stage 19, when Egan Bernal distanced him on the Col de l'Iseran before extreme weather forced organisers to stop the race.

For much of that July, Alaphilippe had been the unexpected centre of the Tour de France, taking on the world's best stage racers in a battle few had expected him to sustain.

His final major victory came at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec in September 2025, when he attacked late and rode alone to the finish.

Alaphilippe leaves with two rainbow jerseys and a career defined by attacking when others were content to wait.

Damiano Caruso went to the 2021 Giro d'Italia as a domestique and emerged as a Grand Tour podium finisher.

Mikel Landa crashed out on stage 5 at Cattolica with a broken collarbone and ribs, leaving Caruso to take on greater responsibility. The Italian began finishing near the front on mountain stages until his position became a genuine general classification challenge.

He won stage 20 to Alpe Motta alone, the final mountain day of the race, and finished second overall in Milan, 1:29 behind Egan Bernal.

At 33, Caruso had delivered the biggest performance of his career after years spent working for other leaders.

He went on to finish fourth overall at the Giro in 2023 and fifth in 2025. He was 39 when he brought his career to a close at Gran Piemonte on 8 October, where the peloton formed a guard of honour for him and Jacopo Mosca.

His 2021 Giro remains the defining achievement of a career that took him from a supporting role to a Grand Tour podium.

Caruso is now set to remain in the sport, joining Bahrain Victorious' sporting staff in 2027.

Rain was falling on the road from Megève to Morzine at the 2016 Tour de France, with the Col de Joux Plane the final obstacle.

Ion Izagirre crested the climb in a group of three with Vincenzo Nibali and Jarlinson Pantano, dropped both on the 12-kilometre descent into town and won by 19 seconds.

It was the first Spanish stage victory of that Tour, on the day Chris Froome sealed the overall title.

Seven years later, Izagirre went alone with 30 kilometres remaining at Belleville-en-Beaujolais, on a stage that had been attacked from the start. It was his second Tour stage victory and another reminder of his ability to judge exactly when to make the decisive move.

He also won stages at the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, alongside overall victories at Itzulia Basque Country and the Tour de Pologne. His career took him through Euskaltel-Euskadi, Movistar, Bahrain, Astana and Cofidis.

At 37, he was still winning. He took the Memorial Marco Pantani and the GP Miguel Indurain in 2026 before a fractured wrist threatened to bring his career to an end without a final appearance.

He recovered in time to start Il Lombardia on 10 October, his last professional race after 17 seasons.

His brother Gorka had already retired in 2024. Ion's final appearance in Como brought another chapter of the Izagirre family's long presence in the professional peloton to a close.

The 2019 Il Lombardia had been running for five hours when Bauke Mollema attacked on the Civiglio with 18 kilometres remaining.

The group of favourites let him go. Alejandro Valverde, Egan Bernal and Jakob Fuglsang were among those behind him, but none wanted to chase at the expense of the others.

Mollema held on by 16 seconds into Como, becoming the first Dutch rider to win Il Lombardia since Hennie Kuiper in 1981.

It was the biggest one-day victory of a career that spanned 19 professional seasons.

His palmarès also included the Clásica de San Sebastián, Trofeo Laigueglia, the Bruno Beghelli, two Japan Cups, a Dutch national time trial title in 2022, two Tour de France stages and a Vuelta stage.

He also finished third overall at the 2011 Vuelta, winning the points classification.

Mollema had initially said the World Championships in Montreal would be his final race, but he continued racing into the autumn, eventually bringing his career to an end at Il Lombardia on 10 October.

Dutch national coach Koos Moerenhout had watched the retirement plans change.

"He kept that story up for a long time, until he fancied it again," he said.

In the end, Mollema signed off in the same race that had delivered the greatest victory of his career.

Ben Swift came close to one of cycling's biggest one-day prizes on more than one occasion, finishing second at Milan-San Remo in 2016 and third in 2014.

He won British national road race titles in 2019 and 2021, a world scratch race title on the track in 2012 and competed at the Beijing Olympics as a teenager.

His 18 seasons as a professional included 15 years with the British team through its various names, with two seasons at UAE Team Emirates in between.

In the latter part of his career, Swift became a road captain, helping younger riders navigate the demands of the WorldTour.

"I want to finish kind of on my own terms, on a high, enjoy my racing," he said.

Swift announced that 2026 would be his final season. His last race was Paris-Tours on 11 October, bringing an end to a career that began in 2007 and ran through Team Sky, INEOS Grenadiers and Netcompany-Ineos.

With Geraint Thomas now part of INEOS management, Swift's departure marks another farewell to a rider closely associated with the team's rise and its defining years in professional cycling.

Almost all of Alexey Lutsenko's professional career was spent at Astana.

His biggest day at the Tour de France came at Mont Aigoual on stage 6 in 2020, when he broke clear of his breakaway companions and rode alone to victory.

He had won stage 5 of the 2017 Vuelta a España at Alcossebre in similar fashion and went on to finish seventh overall at the 2021 Tour.

His career brought more than 40 victories, including two overall wins at the Tour of Oman, the Giro di Sicilia and the Tour of Türkiye in 2023, as well as the Memorial Marco Pantani and Circuito de Getxo.

But his final victory came in a different setting.

Lutsenko announced his retirement on 23 September after winning the Asian Games road race in Japan. It was his sixth Asian Games gold medal, following victory in the individual time trial earlier that week.

At 34, he became Kazakhstan's most successful athlete in Asian Games history by gold medals won.

"Compared to before, everything has changed in cycling," he told Cycling Pro Net. "You would have to ride twice as fast."

After 15 seasons as a professional, Lutsenko leaves with a record stretching from the WorldTour to the Asian Games, and a place in Kazakhstan's sporting history secured with one final gold medal.