Baguet and Marichal to stop

Two more veterans have announced their upcoming retirement from the pro-cycling peloton – Serge Baguet of Quick.Step-Innergetic and Thierry Marichel of La Française des Jeux.

They join others such as Giuseppe Guerini (T-Mobile) and Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) who have announced that they are ending their careers at the end of the season.

Quick.Step announced Baguet's retirement "with great respect, gratitude and a little bit of emotion." It said "Serge is a rider that has left his mark on an important part of the history of pro cycling and our team's recent past."

The 38 year-old turned pro in 1991 and rode for Lotto through 1995. He then rode for a year with Vlaanderen 2002-Eddy Merckx. Disappointed by his lack of results, he left the pro peloton and worked as roofer for three years, before returning to Lotto for the 2000 season. He joined Quick.Step in 2006. He had 16 wins in his career, including a stage win in the 2001 Tour de France and the Belgian National Championship in 2005.

Baguet will ride three more races this year; the GP Poeske Scherens on September 2, a derny criterium on September 3 and the GP Briek Schoote on September 11. He cited continuing back problems as a ground for his retirement.

Marichal decided to stop riding after being told he would not be offered a new contract by his French team, according to HLN.be. "In the current economic situation, with all those sponsors who are stopping, I would prefer to stop, too," he said. "After 12 years I still had the feeling that I could ride at the highest level for another year, but I do not want to ride for a smaller team. I want to stop with a big team."

The 34 year-old turned pro in 1996 with Cedico, and moved to Lotto in 1998. He rode for Cofidis in 2005 and 2006 before signing with Française de Jeux this year.