Ivan Basso has told Cyclingnews that he didn’t retire from cycling as a result of his testicular cancer. The former Giro winner says it was something else entirely that caused him to hang his wheels up.

“This hasn’t been a surprise for me and I’ve arrived at this point, step by step, ever since I decided to stop riding,” he tells Cyclingnews after an early-morning meeting with the team's sports directors at Tinkoff-Saxo, where he is now in the car, rather than on the bike.

“I made that decision with the people at this team, and also my family, but the people I work with now helped me. For me, this is a really important part of my life, after so many years on the bike.”

Basso says he was no longer having fun racing his bike, and that was when he knew he had to give up his racing career. Basso even went as far as to say he was afraid to race.

“It’s like going to the cinema and the lights go dark. So all of a sudden you don’t have the same adrenaline. Racing was like that for me, the lights had gone out and when that left me I gave into fear. It wasn’t a nice feeling and Steven de Jongh was one of the first people to notice this. I told him that I was afraid to race and that’s why I decided to stop. So going back to the cinema, if the lights are off and you want to start walking, you’re going to fall over. I just had to be honest, be smart and then use the friendly advice to stop.”

Basso was very keen to emphasise the fact that the cancer was not the reason he stopped racing.

“I want to say this: I didn’t stop racing because of the cancer. I could have come back from this, maybe not this year but if I’d trained in the winter then maybe I could have raced again next season. I used my bike in the last few months to keep things fresh and because I wanted to enjoy it. I wanted to stop my career with energy and for 38 that’s an old age to still be racing. For a normal life though 38 is still young and I have four children at home and I want to start my new career with a new start. You know, I actually feel like this is 1999 again and I’m a neo-pro.”

Basso says he will give his all to Tinkoff-Saxo in his new role. He says he will make mistakes but will get better as he gains more experience.

“I know I’m going to make mistakes and I know that I have to learn but I’m going to do all that and I’m going to help myself and those around me to get the best out of this situation. They’ve already helped me,” he says.