The Lampre Merida general manager Brent Copeland confirmed according to VeloNews that age was the deciding factor to not re-signing Chris Horner. The 43-year-old rider known a difficult year in 2014 with a heavy crash and his untimely departure from the Vuelta a España.

“The main reason came down to his age,” Copeland explained. ”It was difficult to convince everyone within the team to keep him. There are only places for 25 riders on the team, and it’s not always easy to keep everyone happy. It’s unfortunate, because Chris is a fantastic rider and person, but his age was the deciding factor.”

The last season, the American rider was nearly killed in a accident. Despite many heavy injuries, he was back to lead the Italian team at the Tour de France and he finished with 17th overall. He fought for the overall at the Larry Miller Tour of Utah and finished second. Unfortunately, Horner tested for low levels of cortisol in pre-race of the third grand tour. Even if UCI rules allowed Horner to start, the Mouvement pour un Cyclisme Crédible (MPCC) forbidden the American to race.

“I must be honest, that wasn’t a factor at all,” Copeland said. “We had to respect the rules and regulations of the MPCC, and we pulled him out of the Vuelta. That was a very difficult decision, because it boiled down to pulling him out of the Vuelta, or puling ourselves out of MPCC. If we were in the same situation again, we’d make the same decision. That was unfortunate, but that didn’t affect the decision to sign him or not.”

“When you sit down and look at it, he’ll turn 44 this year, it was not easy to convince everyone to keep him. It was not a decision of just one person,” Copeland added. “I am the same age as Chris, but when I saw how dedicated he was, how much he focused on training, how he worked on stretching and core strength, and how professional he is, hat’s off to him. He could show a lot of young riders how it’s done.”

This year, Chris Horner will race with the American Continental team Airgas Safeway Cycling.