Being a grand tour veteran with 9 Tours de France under his belt, Egoi Martinez has been known as one of the strongest and most loyal domestiques in the professional peloton. However, the demise of his Euskaltel team has left him without a team for 2014 and as he now considers retirement, he has started wondering whether he did his job as well as he had thought.

For several years, Egoi Martinez has been known as Samuel Sanchez's trusted lieutenant, having been assigned the important task of safely bringing his captains through stages in all terrains. His loyalty may not have given his much freedom to chase  personal success but it is testament to his importance that he has been selected for 9 Tours de France in a row before following Sanchez in the decision to skip this year's edition of the world's biggest race.

With the Euskaltel team folding at the end of the year, Martinez's time as a professional bike rider may now have come to an end. In early November, the 35-year-old still hasn't signed a contract for the coming season and he has started to realize that it is an immensely difficult task to find a team at this time of the year.

"There are not many teams that have room for me and where I think I can make a contribution," he told Biciciclismo. "I'm not a winner and it is late in the season. Now I just have to think and wait. I want to stay optimistic and don't want to close any doors but I am aware of the situation. I have started to look to a future without cycling, looking for new opportunities and trying to change my mental approach."

Martinez had been riding for Euskaltel for most of his career, with only a two-year stint at Discovery Channel breaking his relationship with Basque team. While he has mostly put his personal ambitions on hold in the second part of his career, he showed his class when he finished 9th in the 2008 Vuelta a Espana after wearing the leader's jersey for several days.

His loyalty and commitment was rewarded at the end of the season when he realized a life-long dream of getting selected for the Spanish team for the world championships. Paradoxically, that race may have been the final one in his professional career.

Despite his recognition, his bleak future has made him question his own abilities.

"I found my job as a domestique and I felt very valued," he said. "For the first time, I rode the world championships. All this is a source for joy for me. But I also think that my lack of offers may be because I didn't do things as well as I thought or maybe people didn't see my work. That small doubt will not let me enjoy my career entirely.

"I will decide when it is time to end my career but I won't do so hastily," he added. "My dream was to decide when my body couldn't respond physically to the challenges or when my head could no longer handle the stress of being a professional cyclist. However, I felt better than ever towards the end of the season."

Martinez won a stage in the 2006 Vuelta a Espana and won the Tour de l'Avenir in 2003.