General Cycling Discussion - What happens to X pro`s ------

----, mainly road racers, when they retire, do they mostly still take an active interest in cycling, eg: recreational cycling or have they had enough by then , burnt out & take up golf ect ?:beer:

Commentators or advocates perhaps.

Judging from post carreer photos, eat a lot.

Switch disciplines? :)

i seem to remember reading that gianni bugno is doing helicopter search and rescue... stephen roche and steve bauer have cycling tour companies... greg lemond, bernard hinault, eddy merckx and francesco moser make bikes... as does roger de vlaeminck... a whole lot go on to be directeurs sportifs and managers of pro teams... jonathan boyer went on to... well... let's not talk about that...

Do they go do coaching?

it depends what you mean by "coaching," exactly. in cycling, the top man directing a team on the road is the directur sportif, while the overall management is done by the manager [managers are frequently also ds'es].

franco ballerini [m. paris-roubaix] manages the squadra azzuri, bjarne riis manages team csc, and sean yates and johny weltz are two of his dses, almost the entire management structure of team telekom, from walter godefroot to olaf ludwig are ex-racers... and the same is true of almost every else team in the peleton.

Ex Festina riders go to Columbia and advise the drug cartels on the best way to use drugs.:rolleyes:

I know Sean kelly still likes to race, Roche has a holiday company, I think Robert Millar commentates .

That interesting ,I was readin a book by Phil Legget & he writes that Eddie Mercx would go for a weeks cycle tour with his old rivals & team mates through the wine making regions of France, sampling the the fare as they went, & of course staying at the best chateau,s & hotels along the way , sounds great.:beer: :beer:

A lot of them open bike shops. I am sure that a lot of the bike shops in europe are owned by ex-pros. SOmeone here on the boards mentioned a shop in Denmark run by a former pro/olympian. Or they work for bike companies designing bikes or make their own! ANd a lot of them go to work in development programs.

There's at least one physician, Eric Heiden.

Well, Eddie Mercx now makes bikes. He's also as big as a lorry now, but can still ride fast.....

Originally posted by D*Alex
Well, Eddie Mercx now makes bikes. He's also as big as a lorry now, but can still ride fast.....
Must be all that wine :D :beer:

It's good that the hotel Stephen Roche owns isn't in the US--it's be pretty hard to rent rooms at the "Roche Hotel!"