After a 17-year career as a professional, a serene Guillaume Boivin bowed out on his own terms, announcing his retirement after spending more than 140 kilometres in the breakaway on home roads in the elite men’s road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Montréal.
“That was definitely the last time you’ll see me racing through the streets of Montréal before retiring at the end of the season. As for the rest, it depends a bit on the last two or three weeks. It was a process getting here,” Boivin told media, including Cyclingnews, in the mixed zone on Sunday.
“But honestly, I think I’ve reached a place where I’m truly proud of the career I’ve had. I’ve had fun, 17 years as a professional, and I’ve lived everything I was meant to live. I’m moving on to other things, and I think that’s perfectly fine, too.”
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Those 17 years included winning the Canadian national road title three times, racing the Tour de France five consecutive years, as well as the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España, twice each. He also won the bronze medal as a U23 in Australia in 2010, and helped Michael Woods finish fifth at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
The news doesn’t come as a complete surprise, as the 37-year-old’’s contract with NSN Cycling was not renewed for 2027. The decision crystallised once he returned to Belgium after racing in the Grand Prix Cyclistes de Montréal and Québec.
“Last Monday, it was getting clearer and clearer,” he said. “I had just arrived, I said ‘Ah, I'm going to go and do the Oude Kwaremont on the cobbles’ because it's my favourite hill in Flanders. It was super sunny, it was the end of the day. I suffered a lot on those Flemish hills. Then, I don't know, I was serene, I was happy, then I said: ‘Well, it's over, it's okay’. Then since that time I felt better than I have felt in the last two months.”
Then, the next day he received a call from compatriot Derek Gee-West, telling him that he had to pack his bags and come back and race Worlds as Gee-West had to withdraw following a crash two weeks before.
“Sometimes you're in a good wave, things are going well for you, other years, things aren't going so well, and your luck has turned a little,” Boivin said. “I'm still disappointed for Derek. He, too, is home in Canada, and he can't experience this, but I respect his honesty a lot because he could also have tried to start.”
Boivin wanted to enjoy the experience at his ninth and last elite World Championships, and his first at home, as much as possible.
And that’s exactly what he did, first making his way into the early 16-rider breakaway before racing through the roads of Montérégie, the region where Boivin grew up and first started to ride.
“I know all the roads there by heart. I've rolled there probably hundreds of times. I was with Biniam Girmay, one of my good friends in the break. I had a little anecdote about each village we passed that I got there. I'm going to keep them for myself.”
After hours in the break, Boivin held on for three laps of the iconic Montréal circuit ahead of the hard-charging peloton, soaking up the cheers from the crowds before being reeled in, finishing off his race by high-fiving fans lining Côte Polytechnique.
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