‘A hell of a run’ - Former US National Time Trial Champion Lawson Craddock announces imminent retirement

Lawson Craddock
Lawson Craddock (Image credit: Getty Images)

Former double US National Time Trial Champion Lawson Craddock has announced that this will be his final season as a professional racer.

The 32-year-old from Houston said via his Instagram account that it had been a “hell of a run” but that he would be handing up his wheels at the end of 2024.

A valued team worker and all-rounder, Craddock’s two top moments of success came with back-to-back National Time Trial Championships in 2021 and 2022, although his climbing talents also saw him feature regularly in mountain breakaways in the ten Grand Tours he has raced to date.

At the 2023 Tour de France, the Jayco-AIUIa rider secured a fourth place on the Mont Blanc stage behind Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) after taking part in a daylong move across the Alps, while at the 2019 Vuelta, he finished third in a breakaway through the Pyrenean foothills to Urdax behind Euskadi-Murias rider Mikel Iturria. 

“One final trip to Europe with the fam.” Craddock posted on Instagram this week beneath a shot of himself with his children at Houston airport. “It’s been a hell of a run, but I’m excited to say that 2024 will be my last year in the professional peloton.

“There are so many people to thank but none more than my wife and children. I’m so blessed to have them by my side and can’t wait to see what the future in store for us.”

Alasdair Fotheringham

Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The IndependentThe GuardianProCycling, The Express and Reuters.