Mike Woods has announced he will retire from professional road cycling at the end of this season. The Israel-Premier Tech rider closes a career that includes a Tour de France stage victory, bronze at the World Championships, and second in one of the five Monument Classics, achievements built on late entry into the sport and a relentless focus on improvement.
Woods has spent the past five years with Israel-Premier Tech, becoming a fixture in mountain breakaways and a respected teammate. He also opened a window into the modern peloton through his Tour de France blog this summer, writing candidly about what the race demands.
Why now: family, risk and the shape of a cyclist’s life
In his epilogue, Woods sets out the calculation behind retiring. Cycling has given him a livelihood and a stage, but the trade-offs have grown sharper with parenthood and the sport’s risks.
“Almost every time I race a bike, there is a point where I am flying along in a line of riders at 70 km/h, and I think, ‘A million years ago, we were monkeys.’ Even if you dropped somebody from 100 years ago into the modern peloton, they would be so confused about what is going on. This sport is crazy, and has morphed into something so far from our original purpose as animals that anyone not born in the past century would not understand it.”
He does not sugar-coat the danger. “Cycling is a ludicrously dangerous sport,” he writes, describing how often riders hit the ground across a season and the level of risk most people would accept to mimic that in any other job. The family compromises also weigh heavy: avoiding kisses from his children before races to dodge illness, sleeping in a separate room to maximise recovery, and living to a performance plan that touches every corner of home life.
Photo Credit: GettyFrom late starter to Tour stage winner
Woods came to cycling at 25, a former world-class runner handed a $1,000 bike by his parents and the idea that if he once competed with the best on the track, he could learn to do the same on two wheels. The results justify the journey. He won a stage of the Tour de France, stood on the World Championships podium, and finished second in a major Classic. At Grand Tours he became known for his timing on steep finales, and for wringing every last second out of selective days.
He is quick to share credit. “Through an incredible amount of support from many people, including my wife, my parents, my coach and mentor of 12 years, Paulo Saldanha, my team, my boss and biggest supporter, Sylvan Adams, my main man and soigneur Jon Adams, my many great teammates – particularly the guy who suffered most with me over the past five years, Guillaume Boivin – and incredible staff, the Ottawa cycling community, people like Luc Mahler who convinced me to start racing, the numerous great directors, like Juanma Garate, who taught me how to be a true pro, and organisations, sponsors, and teams like B2Ten, Vince Caceres and The Cyclery, Louis Garneau, Bruno Langlois, Jonas Carney, and Jonathan Vaughters, who thought outside the box and took a chance on signing me, I was able to realise that goal.”
Looking ahead to new endurance challenges
“As they say, all good things must come to an end,” Woods writes. He hints at what comes next without lifting the lid completely. “I still have big ambitions and plans for the coming years that will involve exploring new arenas in endurance sports. I’ve got some epic plans, so stay tuned for these.”
The note he ends on is gratitude. “There was a time in my life when I would lie in bed at night, staring up at the ceiling, thinking, ‘What have I done? Where did I go wrong?’ To go from that place to where I am today, I feel eternally grateful. So, to all the people who have helped me along the way – whether it was a simple encouraging message, cheering me on from the side of the road, or individuals like Nick Vipond and Kevin Field, who didn’t burst into laughter when I told them I wanted to make the Olympics in 2016, or Paulo and Sylvan, the two people who changed the trajectory of my entire life – I want to say thank you. Thank you for it all.”
