On Sunday, Jens Voigt ended his 17th and final Tour de France. While the legendary German will still ride the Tours of Utah and Colorado, he is already feeling like his career has virtually over.

"When I crossed the line in Paris, I rode a little further on and then sat down by the barriers to take everything in. I realised that I would never race again into Paris with so many people there to cheer us. That moment will never come back," he told Cyclingnews.

Voigt only learned of his place on the Tour team a week before the Yorkshire Grand Depart but he vowed to attack, taking the mountains jersey after the first day and attack right till the bitter end on the Champs Elysees.

"I'm happy that I did the Tour, but I know I'm not as strong as I wanted to be," he said when asked to assess his performance over three weeks.

"The Tour has been one of the biggest chapters in my life and it's closed now. I counted it the other day and I did 340 stages. I cut the ones out that I didn't finish. That's nearly a year of racing the Tour de France," he told Cyclingnews.

While Voigt is sad that he has ridden his final Tour, there is also a mixture of relief for the 42 year old as well.

"There's some relief mixed in there because I know that the suffering is over. There are no more scary downhill sections or pain in riding but I'm also a little frightened by what the future will bring. There's new pressure on me because I've got my family and six kids to feed so I need to make sure I'm out there working."

"The Tour was particularly hard this year with the weather and the crashes. I'm glad that I got to race it one more time but I'm also happy that I don't have to go back because I realise that my body has slowed down. I couldn't catch the breakaways like I wanted to or like how I used to. When I was younger and stronger, there were times when I could make things happen and if I wanted to be in the break I could just do it. There was some luck and in all of that but it was getting harder and harder and my body just wasn't responding to the challenge in the way that I wanted to."

But Voigt went down in a blaze of glory, sticking in an attack on the final stage on cycling’s most famous avenue.

"I think a few people expected that I would show myself off the front, like it was me against the peloton one last time. It wasn't a gift though. I had to go full gas and make it happen. There was some talk about the bunch letting me lead onto the Champs Elysees but it was clear to me that it wasn't going to just happen. Plus I didn't want a present. All my life I didn't get gifts, if I wanted something I had to work for it."

"There's a whole bunch of mixed emotions but the glass is half full so instead of crying because it's over I'll smile because it happened."