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Emma Pooley to retire from cycling after Commonwealth Games Emma Pooley to retire from cycling after Commonwealth Games
(about 2 hours later)
The Olympic silver medallist Emma Pooley has announced she will retire from cycling after she competes for England in Sunday’s road race at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Emma Pooley, the cyclist who won silver for Great Britain at the Beijing Olympics, will retire from the sport after competing in the road race at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday, claiming Glasgow will be the “perfect opportunity” to bow out on a high.
The 31-year-old London-born rider, who won a time-trial silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 after helping Nicole Cooke to road-race gold, made the announcement on the Rouleur cycling website on Tuesday. Pooley, 31, who won the world time-trial title in 2010 and took three stages of this year’s women’s Giro d’Italia, did not compete for Britain in 2013 in order to complete a PhD in geotechnical engineering.
The 2010 world road time-trial champion said: “You have to go some time. I considered retiring after the London Olympics, but I didn’t feel like I was ready. I’ve been mulling it over, and came to the conclusion that the Commonwealth Games is the perfect opportunity – it’s a big event, it’s almost at home, and I want to go out properly, when I’ve planned it and have no regrets.” She has been with Belgium’s Lotto-Belisol team at the Giro but will ride for England on the final day of the Commonwealths alongside Lizzie Armitstead – as well as at Thursday’s road time-trial – in her last race before turning her attention to running and the triathlon.
Pooley opted out of the Great Britain team in 2013 to complete her PhD in geotechnical engineering. She also won the Lausanne Marathon last year and competed in triathlons before returning to cycling full-time in 2014 with the Belgian Lotto-Belisol team. “You have to go sometime. I considered retiring after the London Olympics, but I didn’t feel like I was ready. I’ve been mulling it over and came to the conclusion that the Commonwealth Games is the perfect opportunity. It’s a big event, it’s almost at home and I want to go out properly, when I’ve planned it and have no regrets,” Pooley told Rouleur magazine.
Pooley, who won three stages of the women’s Giro d’Italia earlier this month, added: “I’m very lucky in that I can make that decision. For a lot of people, the choice is made for them, either by injury or team dynamics. It’s a positive choice. The London-born athlete, who is based in Zurich, won the Lausanne Marathon last year and has often been outspoken about the lack of gender equality in cycling, campaigning for the return of a female Tour de France to run alongside the men’s event.
“After the first Giro stage win, there was a little bit of me that thought about carrying on until Rio 2016, but the decision was made. Maybe I had a good Giro because the weight was off my shoulders. Maybe it was the last chance saloon.” She has the chance to end her cycling career in front of a partisan home crowd this weekend, representing England one last time on the bike in a race that starts and finishes at Glasgow Green and takes in the surrounding countryside of North Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire.
Pooley began cycling while at Cambridge University. She won her university sporting blue for cross-country running and triathlon and took up cycling to cross train after a cross-country running injury. “Looking back, there are so many highlights. I’m super lucky to have been a professional cyclist, but there are other things I dream of doing as well. I’m 31, which is a good age for endurance sports and I’m sure I can do better in triathlon if I focus on it. I’m so excited about running through mountains,” said Pooley.
A fourth-place finish in the national road championships in 2005 got her noticed and she went on to represent Britain in the 2007 UCI World Road Championships, finishing eighth in the time trial and ninth in the road race, which earned her a place in Britain’s cycling squad for Beijing. “I’m very lucky in that I can make that decision [to retire]. For a lot of people the choice is made for them, either by injury or team dynamics. It’s a positive choice.
Zurich-based Pooley made her Commonwealth Games debut in Delhi four years ago. She is to race in Thursday’s road time trial before supporting Lizzie Armitstead’s bid for glory in Sunday’s road race. “I could never have done what I’ve done in the sport without the support of British Cycling. When I got a result they noticed it and supported me to get to the world championships and the Olympics, they built me a bike and took me wind tunnel testing. I’m hugely grateful that I’ve got to work with such talented people.
“Looking back, there are so many highlights,” Pooley said. “I’m super lucky to have been a pro cyclist, but there are other things I dream of doing as well. I’m 31, which is a good age for endurance sports, and I’m sure I can do better in triathlon if I focus on it. I’m so excited about running through mountains!” “After the first Giro stage win, there was a little bit of me that thought about carrying on until Rio 2016, but the decision was made. Maybe I had a good Giro because the weight was off my shoulders. Maybe it was the last-chance saloon.” Pooley, who started riding when she was 22, won the British time-trial championship in Monmouthshire earlier this summer and was lauded by the British Cycling president, Bob Howden.
She is poised to follow Cooke into retirement after the Welshwoman quit last year. Pooley has been an outspoken figure on the lack of gender equality in cycling and she launched a petition calling for the re-establishment of a women’s Tour de France alongside the men’s event in the summer of 2013. “Emma has been a tremendous ambassador for cycling both on and off the bike and for women’s sport in general, never far from the action wherever she applied her undoubted talents,” said Howden.
“At British Cycling she will be long remembered as a rider who gave her all for her team and she retires with the thanks and best wishes of British Cycling and our members.”