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Retirements 2024
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 07-06-2025 14:22
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Unfortunately, there's a time every year in the MGUCI we have to bid farewell to riders who decided to retire at the end of the year. And after the 2024 season several riders have decided to hang up their helmets. Here are the most notable riders who won't be part of the MGUCI family as active riders:
 Aleksandr Pluchkin
4x Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt winner (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021)
3x PCT Individual rankings winner (2018, 2019, 2020)
2x Tour de Romandie winner (2010, 2021)
2x World Champion ITT (2015, 2019)
2x World Champion B (2017, 2019)
2x Vuelta a Colombia winner (2018, 2019)
2x Tour of Ukraine winner (2019, 2021)
2x Volta a Portugal winner (2020, 2021)
1x Tour of Hellas winner (2009)
1x Tour de Suisse winner (2012)
1x Tour of Oman winner (2012)
1x Tour de France winner (2015)
1x Vuelta a Espana winner (2015)
1x Giro d'Italia winner (2016)
1x Tirreno-Adriatico winner (2017)
1x Tour of Vancouver winner (2018)
1x Tour of California winner (2019)
1x Tour of the Middle East winner (2019)
1x Tour d'Andorra winner (2020)
What can be said more about Pluchkin. He won all three GT races and has 3 PCT individaual rankings under his belt. Add some minor races he conquered along his long career, there are only few that can really rival him. Be it riding for Team B&O, Metinvest - Dacia or Team Popo4Ever (and its previous guise of Nemiroff - ABBYY), Pluchkin was always one of the favourites wherever he appeared.
 Simone Ponzi
4x Amstel Gold Race winner (2015, 2016, 2018, 2019)
3x Giro di Lombardia winner (2015, 2016, 2018)
2x Tirreno - Adriatico winner (2014, 2018)
2x Liège - Bastogne - Liège winner (2015, 2017)
2x Clasica San Sebastian winner (2021, 2022)
1x Tour of Britain winner (2010)
1x Giro di Lago di Garda winner (2011)
1x Classique du Grand-Duché winner (2015)
1x Deutschland Tour winner (2015)
1x Fleche Wallone winner (2015)
1x Tour of Ukraine winner (2017)
1x World Champion RR Elite (2017)
1x Fleche Wallonne winner (2018)
1x Scandinavia Open Road Race winner (2018)
1x Strade Bianche winner (2018)
1x Badaling International winner (2020)
1x SAA Tour d'Afrique winner (2021)
1x Tour Down Under winner (2021)
If there's someone that could challenge PluBear for accolades - then Simone Ponzi is the prime candidate. His accolades speak for themselves - Ponzi for the most part dominated the classics scene between 2014-18. Unlike Pluchkin, he never won an individual season ranking, but has an Elite RR title he won in 2017. It'll be very different without those titans of MGUCI that's for sure.
 Rein Taaramäe
2x Tour de San Luis winner (2010, 2011)
2x Critérium du Dauphiné winner (2014, 2015)
2x GP Liechtenstein winner (2017, 2019)
2x Tour de Suisse winner (2017, 2020)
1x Vuelta a España winner (2019, 2021)
1x Ringerike GP winner (2011)
1x Vuelta a Burgos winner (2011)
1x Kenya Mountain Classic winner (2013)
1x Sibiu Tour winner (2013)
1x Paris-Nice winner (2018)
1x Tour de France winner (2018)
1x Tour of Tasmania winner (2019)
1x Vuelta a Colombia winner (2020)
1x Giro d'Italia winner (2020)
1x Tour de Romandie winner (2022)
Rein Taaramäe is another rider that will end his career. Like Pluchkin he also won the 3 Grand Tours at least once each, but never won a single race more than twice in his career. Rein was also 3rd in the worlds 3 times (twice in the B Worlds and once in the ITT). The Estonian was also close to win the PT individual ranking in 2019, missing out by 32 points. This is another rider that will be missed a lot next season in the peoloton.
 Edvald Boasson Hagen
3x Colombo Classic winner (2017, 2018, 2019)
2x Amstel Gold Race winner (2011, 2013)
2x Tour of Tasmania winner (2015, 2018)
1x World U23 Champion (2008)
1x Quatre Jours de Dunkerque winner (2009)
1x GP Kanton Aargou winner (2009)
1x Tour de Slovenie winner (2009)
1x Fleche Wallone winner (2013)
1x World Champion Elite RR (2013)
1x Paris - Nice winner (2015)
1x Vuelta al Pais Vasco winner (2017)
1x Nelspruit Classic winner (2017)
1x Ringerike GP winner (2017)
1x Clasica San Sebastian winner (2017)
1x Manx International winner (2017)
1x Milano - Torino winner (2017)
1x Japan Cup winner (2017)
1x Tour of Norway winner (2018)
1x Badaling International winner (2019)
1x Milano-Sanremo winner (2019)
1x Giro di Lombardia winner (2019)
Edvald Boasson Hagen is the inaugural U23 champion in 2008 and since then his resume racked up several wins. But aside from his 3-peat in Colombo and winning twice Amstel Gold and Tour of Tasmania, his wins were spread out among various types of races. Still his career is considered one of the most decorated in the MGUCI history.
Well, that's it for now - those are the 4 major riders that retired after this season. At a later point we will look at riders that though may not be as decorated as Pluchkin, Ponzi, Taaramäe or EBH, they still deserve a mention.
Edited by ivaneurope on 09-06-2025 05:35
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 07-06-2025 22:04
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Classics Specialist
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Thank you Ivan for a nice overview of these MG legends. A lot of monuments, gts and wcs between them. A shame for pluchkin he was stuck in pct so long 
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| SotD |
Posted on 08-06-2025 08:11
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World Champion
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A great farewell! Thanks for the write-up Ivan! Some absolute legendary riders saying goodbye. Taaramae and Pluchkin are for me to of the biggest legends ever, having both won all three Grand Tours, as part of a very small and elite group of riders.
Ponzi and Hagen will also forever be remembered as some of the very best puncheurs in the history of the game. Ponzi even managed to perform quite a long while after he started his decline.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 08-06-2025 08:45
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15024
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I don't think that this has been done before, but it's definitely a great place to start with 4 man game legends.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| knockout |
Posted on 08-06-2025 08:46
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Grand Tour Champion
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Happy to be a part of Taaramaes history. Legend <3
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 08-06-2025 16:29
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Directeur Sportif
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Thanks Ivan for a great write up. Kind of a weird coincidence that both the retiring GT guys won each GT once.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| ember |
Posted on 08-06-2025 17:50
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Team Leader
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Eddy Boss <3
And eventhough he was part of our relegation, Taaramae still won us a GT that relegation season, back in 2021 |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 09-06-2025 04:43
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Tour de France Champion
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Thanks for the write-up! Quite the legends!
Did Taaramae not win the Vuelta twice or am I reading this wrong? I remember his last Vuelta win was after decline which is really impressive.
EBH was crazy at his peak. The game engine changing against pure puncheurs probably robbed him of a couple more wins in his later years, but his 85 hill was insane.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 09-06-2025 05:31
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Directeur Sportif
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baseballlover312 wrote:
Did Taaramae not win the Vuelta twice or am I reading this wrong? I remember his last Vuelta win was after decline which is really impressive.
If you see carefully, you'll see both 
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 09-06-2025 13:29
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16552
Joined: 27-07-2011
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AbhishekLFC wrote:
baseballlover312 wrote:
Did Taaramae not win the Vuelta twice or am I reading this wrong? I remember his last Vuelta win was after decline which is really impressive.
If you see carefully, you'll see both
No, I saw, I was just confused why the post and comments were saying he and Pluchkin both won each GT once each. Looks like it's fixed now though.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 13-07-2025 20:40
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3124
Joined: 09-05-2011
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Here are 4 more riders which we've decided to look on their MGUCI careers now that they've decided to hang their cycling shoes.
 Sam Bewely
8x East Midlands Cicle Classic winner (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020)
7x Paris - Roubaix winner (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021)
5x Strada Appia Antica winner (2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019)
4x Ronde van Vlaanderen winner (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019)
4x E3 Prijs winner (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
3x Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winner (2016, 2018, 2019)
2x Milano - Sanremo winner (2015, 2016)
2x Tour of the Battenkill winner (2018, 2019)
1x Tour of Wellington winner (2010)
1x Gent - Wevelgem winner (2013)
1x GP Moscow winner (2015)
1x Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha winner (2015)
1x Tour of Qatar winner (2017)
1x Rheden GP winner (2017)
1x Malopolski Wyscig winner (2018)
1x Tour of Northern Europe winner (2018)
1x Franceville Classique winner (2021)
1x Le Samyn winner (2022)
1x GP Kigali winner (2022)
One great omission from the previous roundup was of the King of the East Midlands - Sam Bewely. The New Zealander has won 8 wins there in 9 years, missing out on the 2017 to make it 9 in a row. He also had 7 wins in the Hell of the North - Paris-Roubaix, winning 4 in a row. He also dominated the Strada Appia Antica, where he won 5 times and also winning two other cobbled classics - Vlaanderen and E3, 4 times each. Throughout his entire run of dominance he achieved it while being the leader of Roman's Becherovka/Moser team. He later spent time with Heine's Mapei team before moving to tsmoha's Amaysim team once Mapei ceased opperations. While he wasn't the cobbled beast anymore, he still achieved a win here and there, winning his final Midlands and Roubaix with Mapei. And when the Australian-based Amaysim team also called it time on the MGUCI program, Bewely (now way past his glory years) found refuge in the upstart Adidas-Eurocash, which only lasted one season before the MGUCI denied the team license. Unable to find a team for 2024, Bewely had announced his retirement from the sport.
 Romain Sicard
2x Tour du Maroc winner (2018, 2022)
1x Tour of Romandie winner (2017)
1x Paris-Nice winner (2019)
1x Criterium du Dauphine Libere winner (2019)
1x Pro Hallstatt Classic winner (2020)
Sicard's best years were with CrueTrue's Orange Pro Cycling/Air France-KLM team where he won Tour of Romandie in 2017, Tour du Maroc in 2018 as well as Paris-Nice and Criterium du Dauphine Libere in 2019. He then moved to the Isostar team in their dominant years in PT, winning the Pro Hallstatt Classic while donning the lime jersey. His final 2 seasons however were with teams that unfortunately were relagated - he won in Morocco for a second time in 2022 for Strava, but wasn't enough to save the team from relagation and ultimately the team folded. His last hurrah was with the Genii Hyundai N Cycling team, but this time he failed to score a single race win. After no one picked him up for 2024, he decided to hang his cycling shoes.
 Marko Kump
1x GP Postojna winner (2013)
1x La Tropicale Amissa Bongo winner (2017)
1x Philadelphia International Championship winner (2017)
1x Torshavn GP winner (2020)
1x GP Izola winner (2021)
1x Frankfurt Eschborn winner (2021)
1x Euskal Bizikleta winner (2021)
Marko Kump's first win was all the way back in 2013, but it took him 4 more years to get another race win - with Isostar-Adriatic he took 2 wins (La Tropicale Amissa Bongo, Philadelphia International Championship) in 2017 during their PCT run. But in recent years the Slovenian has been more associated with whitejersey's franchise - in 2020 he won the Torshavn GP, while the following year he added 3 more race wins (GP Izola, Frankfurt Eschborn, Euskal Bizikleta). Kump's final year as an active rider was with the Tryg - Gobik team, but by then age had caught up with him and was no longer competitive.
 Michael Van Stayen
1x Tour Down Under winner (2014)
1x Strade Bianche winner (2014)
1x Race Horizon Park winner (2014)
1x Ster ZLM Tour winner (2014)
1x GP Lugano winner (2021)
1x Milano-Sanremo winner (2017)
1x GP Moscow winner (2018)
1x Paris Tours winner (2019)
We'll end up this roundup with Michael Van Stayen. 2014 was his best year in MGUCI, winning 4 races with the Venchi - Ferranti. He would had to wait 3 years for his next victory - Milano-Sanremo with the Evonik team. He stayed with Evonik for his next 2 wins - GP Moscow (2018) and Paris Tours (2019), with his final win being with the Carrefour-ESPN team in the GP Lugano in 2021. His final year in the MGUCI family was with the Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 05-12-2025 14:27
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 13-07-2025 20:58
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Directeur Sportif
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The Arrow from Dolenjska, what a rider he's been. Farewell to an amazing guy!
Thank you for the fantastic write-ups and the throwbacks it brought.
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 13-07-2025 21:15
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Classics Specialist
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Salute to Kumpi, the first real superstar to ride for us, will never forget him as a part of my legacy in this game.
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| Heine |
Posted on 13-07-2025 21:33
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Bewley one of the real great legends of the game
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 13-07-2025 21:33
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2797
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Some huge names leaving the game!
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 13-07-2025 22:01
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Classics Specialist
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I can't be the only one who finds it somewhat poetic that Roman leaves the game at the same time Bewley retires, 2 legends whose careers are so intertwined.
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| knockout |
Posted on 13-07-2025 22:20
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Grand Tour Champion
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For me, Sam Bewley is without a doubt the biggest MG legend there is. His 13 monument victories wont ever be challenged and he was unbeatable in his prime.
Defining Van Stayen solely based on his outright race victories reduces him too much. He was a stage hunting beast with countless stage wins. He's part of the 10+ GT stage win club with stage wins in each of three GTs. He won Green in the Tour de France and him and Demare together have basically created the archetype of a punchy sprinter. Absolute legend!
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 13-07-2025 22:42
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Classics Specialist
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100% Agree with knockout about MVS, his competitors didn't call him Monster Van Stayen for nothing, he terrorized races in his prime
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 14-07-2025 02:43
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Thanks for the post. Bewley (2016) and Kump (2018), also won the Worlds. I wondered about Bewley and the NCs. He only won two, 2010, 2011. I think his prime years must have been when weird guys won NCs because the list from 2012 to 2016 is
Westley Gough
Hayden Roulston
Alex Frame
Cameron Karwowski
Fraser Gough
Cameron Karwowki? After that Bennet and Atkins win the next 4.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 27-07-2025 15:16
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Here's the full list of retirements for 2024:
Spoiler Romain Sicard
Rein Taaramäe
Aleksandr Pluchkin
Sam Bewley
Marko Kump
Andrew Talansky
Timofey Kritskiy
Jose Alarcon
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Diego Ulissi
Simone Ponzi
Ivano Lo Cicero
Vadim Ratiy
Rigoberto Uran
Jonathan Bellis
Ricki Nelson
Teodoro Costagli
Oscar Guerao
Jarlinson Pantano Gomez
Evaldas Siskevicius
Sergio Luis Henao Montoya
Cesare Di Maggio
Jakub Novak
Tim Dees
Ben Swift
Michael Van Stayen
Blaz Furdi
Yoshimitsu Hiratsuka
Michel Sibilla
Pieter Vanspeybrouck
Jerome Baugnies
Alex Dowsett
Adrian Malori
Florentino Marquez
Arthur Vichot
Marcel Kittel
Alexandre Geniez
Boy Van Poppel
Roman Maksimov
Bruno Silva
Niki Ostergaard
Fabien Taillefour
Gregory Brenes
Maurice Schreurs
Jude Libert
Sep Vanmarcke
Winner Anacona
Jan Ghyselinck
Jesse Sergent
Serghei Tvetcov
Romain Vanderbiest
Adrian Honkisz
Artemio Moschella
Hugues Mottin
Behnam Khalilikhosroshani
Matej Vysna
Jens Keukeleire
Oleksandr Grygorenko
Darwin Atapuma
Tyron Giogieri
Yannick Stoltz
Mirco Saggiorato
Martin Hacecky
Chad Haga
We were only able to put a spotlight on eight riders, but there's a lot of famous and well-known names hanging up their bikes this time!
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