Jesse Sergent has decided to retire from the professional sport at the age of 28 years. The Kiwi was hit by a neutral service car during the 2015 Tour of Flanders. He needed three operations to fix his broken collarbone and has struggled to regain form and fitness ever since.

"It's been a tough 12 months for Jesse, with that crash he had last year, with the car hitting him," his coach, Mike McRedmond, told Stuff.co.nz. "That was a big setback. They thought it would take six to eight weeks, but it took him three months because they ballsed up the operation. That put a dampener on his year and then he changed teams and going into a French-speaking team is a very hard transition."

Sergent signed with Trek-Livestrong's under-23 development team for 2009 and 2010. He signed his first pro contract with RadioShack. At the end of the 2015 season, he joined French Ag2r-La Mondiale team. He won a stage in the 2011 Eneco Tour. He also completed the 2012 Giro d'Italia and the 2014 Vuelta a Espana. His final victory came last year in the team time trial at the Tour of Alberta.

Sergent is expected to leave his base in Europe and return home to New Zealand.