The Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling team announced on Wednesday that Olympic gold medalist, former time trial world champion and multi-time German national champion Lisa Brennauer will end her successful career in professional cycling.
The Tour de France Femmes closed out her time with the Women's WorldTour team as Brennauer will compete with the national team in her final race at the European Championships in Munich.
The versatile 34-year-old enjoyed success both on the road and in track racing, winning the time trial world title in 2014 and excelling in stage races, one-day events and team time trials. Among her 58 professional wins were nine German titles on the road, World (2021) and European titles (2020) in the Mixed Relay, three World titles in the Team Time Trial (2013-2015) and on the track, the Olympic title in the team pursuit, European titles in individual and team pursuit.
In addition to stage race wins in the Thüringen Ladies Tour, Boels Ladies Tour, Women's Tour, Festival Elsy Jacobs and two titles in the Challenge by La Vuelta, Brennauer chalked up podiums in major one-day races like the Tour of Flanders and Gent-Wevelgem, as recently as last year.
Even though Brennauer showed winning form this year by taking the German time trial title, she said the time was right for retirement.
"There wasn't one special day where I suddenly thought, I want to stop cycling, rather I think it's a process I've been going through over the last years and thinking about my future and other plans I have in life," Brennauer said in a team statement. "Now, I am at a point where I feel like the time is right for me.
"Munich is going to be a great event for my final race being very close to home in Bavaria so there are a lot of family and friends who can come and see me. I figured it's the perfect race I could wish to finish my career at."
Brennauer has spent the better part of her life racing, coming up through the junior ranks and taking her first World Championship title in the junior time trial in 2005 at 17.
"I think that sport has formed me as a person. You're part of the team and you learn how to work as a team and to achieve goals together," Brennauer said. "It also teaches you how to get through the downsides of life in general, not only as a cyclist, and how to get back to where you want to be. I think that it has shaped me as a person and I'm very grateful about that.
"There are so many great moments in my career that I can look back on fondly. Of course, my very first victory came as a surprise when I became junior world champion in 2005, although I think that my most emotional victory was last year's Olympic Games where we won the team pursuit. But, there are so many nice moments throughout my career when I look back.
"I'd like to thank everyone at Ceratizit WNT Pro Cycling for their belief in me and for giving me the freedom to pursue my dreams on the track alongside the road. I was already at a crossroads in my career before but the team helped me find my love for cycling once more and I'm really proud that we've been able to share some amazing experiences together over the past few years."
