The Perfect Ending

As Alberto Contador bids adios, Felix Lowe ponders the retirement options for the sport’s big names

- Felix Lowe

 Having largely fired blanks since winning the 2015 Giro d’Italia, Alberto Contador – El Pistolero – rode off into the Spanish sunset with two smoking barrels after being both sizzle and steak during last month’s Vuelta a España.

Days of fruitless attacks were capped by Contador going bananas on the Alto de l’Angliru to win the Vuelta’s queen stage and rise into the top five on GC. He plainly didn’t give a fig about finishing fourth, and instead milked the Madrid crowd on his final appearance as a pro.

Many people will say he should have retired earlier, at the peak of his powers, but who among us could really have turned down that $2m-per-year Trek contract and the chance, however slim, to wear a pink/yellow/ red jersey just one more time. His heroics on the Angliru were at least a fitting finale. And in terms of bowing out on a high, even the great Eddy Merckx failed to win a Grand Tour in his final three years before retiring at the age of 32 after a humdrum 1977 season.