Some media had already announced that the statement was forthcoming and today Bruno Pires confirmed his retirement.

The Portuguese retires after 13 years in the pro peloton, waving goodbye in an open letter published on the Ciclismo Internacional site. He spent his final year in Team Roth which will drop to continental level and devote itself to young talents.

"I announce my retirement as a professional cyclist after several attempts to find a project or a team that would allow me to still have the motivation to be competitive,” he wrote. “I feel that I can turn the page, be proud and at peace to write another, different chapter. Everything begins and ends, life is like that. I have come to the end of my career which started when I was 14 years old and it ends at 35 years of age. It was not the way I imagined it because I wanted to be the only one to say what would be my last race as a professional cyclist but it will not happen that way. But it happened like this and nothing happens by chance.”

After a great and beautiful career, during which he rode for great champions like Alberto Contador, Pires bids farewell. He did not mention anything about his future career.