Demaret retires at 28

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French team Cofidis has lost two of its riders to retirement this week-end: David Moncoutié, who ended his final Vuelta a España in Madrid on Sunday, and Jean-Eudes Demaret, finished the last race of his career at the GP Fourmies. Demaret, although only aged 28, has also decided to hang up his bike.

"GP Fourmies, last race of my career. My head is ready to move on to something else, even if I still have one year left with Cofidis," the Frenchman tweeted on Sunday.

Demaret has stage victories at the Tour de Picardie, Etoile de Bessèges and Circuit de la Sarthe to his name, but he contracted Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammation of the bowels, following his participation in the Tropical Amissa Bongo in 2010. This ended his season, and Demaret's convalescence and come-back to the sport was difficult. Nevertheless, he returned to a win at Estonian one-day race SEB Tartu Grand Prix (1.1) at the end of May 2011.