Ion Izagirre’s professional career has ended earlier than planned after the Cofidis rider fractured his left wrist in a training crash near his home in the Basque Country.
The 37-year-old had already announced that he would retire at the end of the 2026 season, with Il Lombardia on 10 October intended to be his final race. Wednesday’s crash means he will not start the remaining Italian races on his programme and will not get the farewell he had planned in Como.
Cofidis confirmed that Izagirre received treatment after the crash before being assessed by the team’s medical staff. The wrist fracture rules him out for the rest of the season, bringing his career to an immediate close.
Memorial Marco Pantani becomes Izagirre’s final race
There is at least an unusual symmetry to the way Izagirre’s final weeks have unfolded. His last race will now be the Memorial Marco Pantani on 12 September, where he took the 20th victory of his professional career.
Izagirre beat Giulio Pellizzari, Mikkel Honoré and Michael Storer from a four-rider group in Cesenatico, adding one more Italian win before what was supposed to be a final block of racing towards Lombardia.
The victory followed another memorable result earlier in the year at the GP Miguel Indurain, where Izagirre won for the third time. He also finished seventh overall at Paris-Nice and fourth at Itzulia Basque Country during a strong final season.
Il Lombardia had been chosen as the final stop. The 2026 Il Lombardia route runs from Bergamo to Como and features the double San Fermo finale, a course that would have suited Izagirre’s climbing and descending strengths.
A career with wins in all three Grand Tours
Izagirre leaves the professional peloton after a career spent with Euskaltel-Euskadi, Movistar, Bahrain-Merida, Astana and Cofidis. He joined Cofidis in 2022 and remained one of the team’s most reliable riders in hilly stage races and breakaway-heavy one-day racing through his final season.
His 20 professional victories include stage wins in all three Grand Tours. He won at the Giro d’Italia in 2012, at the Vuelta a España in 2020 and twice at the Tour de France, first in Morzine in 2016 and then at Belleville-en-Beaujolais in 2023.
That 2023 Tour victory came from a late solo attack after a day in the breakaway, ending Cofidis’ long wait for another stage win at the race. ProCyclingUK’s report from Izagirre’s Belleville-en-Beaujolais victory remains one of the clearest examples of the way he raced at his best.
He also won the overall classification at Itzulia Basque Country in 2019 and built a long record of strong results in week-long stage races, often combining GC ambitions with opportunities to attack for stages.
Retirement arrives 10 days earlier than planned
Izagirre had made his retirement decision well before Wednesday’s crash. He confirmed in December 2025 that 2026 would be his final professional season, giving him the chance to approach the year as a planned farewell rather than waiting for a contract decision.
That made Il Lombardia particularly important. Cofidis had been working towards keeping him competitive through his final Italian campaign, and the Monument was due to provide the last race number of his career.
The wrist fracture changes the ending, but not the shape of the final season. Izagirre leaves after winning twice in 2026, including the final race he started, and after adding another year of high-level results to a career that stretched across three Grand Tour stage wins, major stage-race success and more than a decade at the top level.
