'I managed to become one of the best cyclists in the world' - Michael Woods to retire
Michael Woods has announced he will bring down the curtain on his career at the end of this season. The 38-year-old Canadian, who came late to cycling after a promising career as a runner, shared the news in a personal blog where he reflected on both the privilege and the dangers of life in the peloton.
Woods’ career was remarkable for both its late start and its longevity. Once an elite middle-distance runner, he only switched to cycling at 25 yet went on to carve out more than a decade at the top of the sport. His palmarès includes three Vuelta a España stage wins, a Tour de France stage on Puy de Dôme, a World Championship bronze medal in Innsbruck, and a podium at Liège–Bastogne–Liège.
Looking back on more than a decade in the peloton, Woods described the sheer strangeness of his profession. “Riding around France, while literally billions of people watch, is my job, and that is nuts,” he wrote. “What puts food on my table and a roof over my head has been riding a bike 30,000–35,000 km every year across all parts of the globe, for the entertainment of others.”
“As lucky as I have been to do this job, it also has its downsides. Cycling is a ludicrously dangerous sport,” Woods continued. To illustrate, he recalled a question he once asked team staff: how much would they be paid to drive 70 days a year at 50 km/h in a T-shirt and shorts, four to five hours a day, and twice a year be pushed out of the car without warning. “Not one of the staff said less than 500k, and not one said more than two years. I am now 11 years deep into doing this sport as a profession, and another two as an amateur. The toll it has taken on my health has been significant, and the time I have spent away from my family has been long.”
Woods is not the only rider to highlight the dangers. Earlier this week Tim Declercq also announced he will retire at the end of 2025, telling Het Nieuwsblad that fear of risk now outweighs his appetite for racing. “Yes, I no longer dare to take the risks I used to take. The danger weighs on me quite a lot and with fear you cannot race,” the Belgian said. Like Woods, Declercq also admitted that becoming a father had changed his outlook on the sport.
Woods has felt the same tension, with family life often clashing with the demands of professional cycling. “Being a father, in particular, has shown me how at odds being one of the best riders in the world is with being a good dad,” he said. To avoid illness before races, he often skipped kissing his kids at school and more often than not slept in a separate room from his family.
Despite those sacrifices, Woods leaves the sport with memories of hard-earned triumphs. “This maximal focus has taken me to winning a bronze medal at the World Championships, second place at a monument, and a stage victory at the world’s biggest bike race,” he wrote. “Considering I started this sport at 25 years old, on a $1,000 bike gifted to me by my parents, knowing nothing about it, is insane. I thought, ‘I was once one of the best runners in the world, why can’t I be one of the best cyclists in the world?’”
That ambition, he stressed, would never have been realised without the people around him. “Through an incredible amount of support from many people, I was able to realise that goal. I managed to become one of the best cyclists in the world, and it is a journey I am damn proud of.”
With that pride also came acceptance. “As they say, though, all good things must come to an end,” Woods concluded. “I still have big ambitions and plans for the coming years that will involve exploring new arenas in endurance sports. I've got some epic plans, so stay tuned for these. But, for the reasons mentioned above, I have made the decision to retire from professional road cycling at the end of this season.”
