According to Cyclingnews, it has been confirmed that USA Pro Challenge will be the last professional race for Jens Voigt before the crowd favourite will call it a career following nearly twenty years of racing
No one could be certain if Voigt was really going to quit professional racing this season after the 42-year old German has postponed his decision about hanging up his wheels several times. However, everything suggests that long and beautiful career of this inspiring rider will really come to an end this year, as he has confirmed it before participating at the Tour of Utah this week.
"I think my fan base is almost the biggest here in the US, so why not finish here?" Voigt, 42, told Cyclingnews.
Claiming that he will be ready to pick up a last minute call and support his Trek Factory Racing team if needed, he plans to bid farewell to his devoted fans during the USA Pro Challenge in several ways, including last attempts to claim stage victory in his well established, “crazy, stupid” style and preparing special geocaching game with valuable rewards.
"Of course, if the team is in need of some riders for some races, I can jump in and still help out. But the plan is that this would be sort of like comng to an end here."
"Since I am a big geocaching fan, I made some special coins and I'm going to hide them somewhere," Voigt said. "They say 'USA Pro Challenge 2014, goodbye and thank you, Jens Voigt.' So I'm going to hide a few of them, maybe throw a Trek shirt or Trek jersey in there, or maybe a race number from the Tour de France. We're going to hide them somewhere during, before or after the stages, and hopefully fans can go and find them and keep them as a souvenir."
"The fans have been a strong part of supporting me for all of my career and helped me also to go through some tougher times," he said. "So I really feel I owe them for supporting me for all these years, and I'm really happy that they stood by my side."
"There's no need to save energy anymore," he said. "I can throw it out whenever I want, just see what our tactics say and what the plan is for the team. If I get the freedom to go, I'll definitely want to go out and show my face, and hopefully, yeah, try to grab a stage win somehow."
Even though it hasn’t been decided what Voigt’s occupation would be after quitting professional career, he has lately suggested that he would consider staying involved in cycling, preferably working as an expert in media connected with a discipline.
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