Lutsenko to retire at 33 after struggling with cycling's new reality: 'You would have to ride twice as fast'

Alexey Lutsenko will retire from professional cycling at the end of the 2026 season.

The 33-year-old Kazakh rider has decided to call time on a career that began in 2013 and saw him spend more than a decade as one of Astana’s most important riders.

Lutsenko turned professional with Astana in 2013, having already underlined his potential by winning the under-23 road race world title in Valkenburg a year earlier.

He remained with the Kazakh team until the end of 2024, becoming one of the most recognisable riders of the Alexander Vinokourov era and building a palmarès that stretched from Grand Tour stage wins to overall victories in stage races.

Since leaving Astana and joining the team now known as NSN Cycling, Lutsenko has struggled to rediscover the level that made him a successful rider in the peloton.

“Compared to before, everything has changed in cycling,” Lutsenko told Cycling Pro Net. “Five or six years ago you could arrive at a race in your best shape and think you could win. Today that is no longer possible. You would have to ride twice as fast as you did then.”

Lutsenko claimed his first Grand Tour stage victory at the 2017 Vuelta a España, winning stage 5 to Alcossebre from the breakaway.

Three years later he took what was arguably the biggest victory of his professional career at the Tour de France.

On the road to Mont Aigoual, Lutsenko rode clear from the breakaway and held off his rivals to win stage 6 of the 2020 Tour. It was his first stage victory in cycling’s biggest race and confirmed his ability to deliver on difficult climbing terrain.

His best Grand Tour general classification result followed one year later.

Lutsenko finished seventh overall at the 2021 Tour de France, the strongest three week performance of his career. That same season he also finished second overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné, where he won the individual time trial and ended the race just 17 seconds behind Richie Porte.

Those performances represented the high point of Lutsenko’s ambitions as a general classification rider, but his success was never limited to the Grand Tours.

Lutsenko won the Tour of Oman in both 2018 and 2019, taking three stages on his way to the overall title in the latter edition.

He also won the Arctic Race of Norway in 2019 and remained a regular winner in shorter stage races and demanding one day events throughout his Astana years.

Even late in his career he continued to add victories.

In 2023, Lutsenko won the Giro di Sicilia and the Tour of Türkiye, while also taking victories at the Memorial Marco Pantani and Circuito de Getxo. A year later he won the Giro d’Abruzzo, including a stage victory on his way to the overall classification.

His career also included six Kazakh national titles, three in the road race and three in the time trial, alongside two Asian Games time trial titles and road race gold in 2018, cementing his place as one of Kazakhstan’s most successful riders of his generation.

Across his professional career, Lutsenko collected more than 40 victories.

For now, Lutsenko has no firm plans for life after racing.

“I’m going to spend some time with my family first and then we’ll see,” he said. “Maybe later I will return to cycling in another role.”

A return to familiar surroundings could still be one possibility.

Daniel Benson recently reported that Lutsenko could rejoin Astana in 2027 as a sports director once his contract with NSN Cycling comes to an end.