New Zealand rider Michaela Drummond has announced the end of her professional cycling career, closing the chapter on more than a decade competing at the highest level across both track and road disciplines.
“Today marks the end of my career as a professional cyclist,” Drummond wrote. “This was for the little girl with big dreams. She can be proud. Thank you for the ride.”
The 27-year-old from Te Awamutu leaves the sport with a palmarès that reflects rare versatility. Few riders of her generation combined elite-level track success with consistent progression on the road in the way Drummond managed across her career.
Drummond first emerged as a standout talent on the track. As a junior, she became world champion in the team pursuit in 2015, part of a New Zealand quartet that also set a junior world record. She followed that breakthrough with further junior world medals in 2016 before stepping into the elite ranks, where she would go on to collect four World Championship medals between 2017 and 2023.
Her track achievements included bronze medals in the team pursuit at the World Championships in 2017 and 2019, before a career highlight in 2023 when she claimed silver in the team pursuit and bronze in the scratch at the World Championships in Glasgow. She was also a consistent presence on the podium at World Cup and Nations Cup level, and added Commonwealth Games silver medals in Birmingham in 2022.
Alongside her track career, Drummond steadily built herself into a respected road rider. After securing her first UCI contract in 2017, she balanced international track commitments with domestic and European road racing, gradually shifting more of her focus toward the road in the later stages of her career.
That transition paid off in the final years of her professional journey. In 2023, she claimed a stage victory at the Tour cycliste féminin international de l’Ardèche, before moving to Arkéa-B&B Hotels Women for the 2024 season. Racing with the French squad, Drummond enjoyed her most successful road campaign, winning a stage at the Région Pays de la Loire Tour and taking two stage victories at the Tour of Portugal. She also became New Zealand criterium champion in 2024, underlining her speed and race craft.
Drummond represented New Zealand at the highest level on multiple fronts, including the Olympics, World Championships, Commonwealth Games, and Grand Tours. She rode both the Tour de France Femmes and the Vuelta a España, experiences that rounded out a career defined by adaptability and resilience.
As she steps into the next chapter beyond professional racing, Drummond leaves with the respect of teammates, rivals, and the wider cycling community, having fulfilled the ambitions of that “little girl with big dreams” and more.
