Two days ago Frederik Kessiakoff ended his time as an Astana rider as he officially retired from professional racing. Now he criticizes the Kazakh team heavily.

Fredrik Kessiakoff has lost the desire to ride and has finished his career. Now he criticizes his former Astana team heavily in an interview with Radisporten.se.

"A big reason why I felt so bad was that I was under pressure from the team. I got a letter home from the management saying that I was not good enough at the races, that I was not giving everything and that I was a bad teammate," the Swede says.

After a long career, Kessiakoff has decided to retire.

"It has been building over the last few years. I was banging my head against the wall but I came nowhere."

"It was no fun. The goal was to become better and maybe even the best. But when you are on a plateau at a poor level and far away from the targets, you feel that you don't have the energy that is required to continue.

"I just felt that it was an awful mix of everything. It was time to move on," he says in a long interview.

Fredrik Kessiakoff rode at two Olympics as a mountain biker and won a bronze medal. As a road cyclist, he won a stage in the Vuelta a Espana and wore the polka-dot jersey for seven days in the Tour de France. But after a few tough years, he has left the Astana team and decided to retire.

In the interview with Radiosporten, he criticizes the Kazakh team heavily. He is convinced that the management did not help him to rediscover the joy and success.

"I think the team handled it in a pretty bad way and a big reason why I felt so bad, was the pressure from the team. I tried to push myself but did not get any support. They thought I was lying on the couch and was lazy, or that I was holding something back in the races.

"I got a letter home from the management saying that I was not good enough at the races, that I was not giving everything and that I was a bad teammate. It came at a time when I felt I did some good efforts so it was a strange communication. It is a Kazakh team with a different mentality and very hierarchical. We were hired to ride a bike and had to stay quiet. It was difficult, there was a clash of cultures, and I'm sensitive to that stuff. It has been really tough.

"It hit me hard and I saw it as a personal attack. Nothing in the letter was consistent with my reality. The first letter came shortly after I had a big crash and was forced to do a race which the doctors recommended me to skip-

"They sent me to a race a few weeks later. My wounds were very open but I did my best. I abandoned during the last stage when I woke up with a fever. Then I got a letter that claimed that I had not given everything and been a bad teammate."

The letter made him afraid.

"There were warning and they were able to withhold parts of my salary. I had fear but it did nothing to motivate me. It was just negative."