Ruth Winder announces end of year retirement
Ruth Winder announces end of year retirement
Ruth Winder, 2019 USA national road champion, has announced she will retire from professional cycling at the end of 2021.
The Trek-Segafredo rider said in a video released by the team that she had been considering the decision for some time and settled on a post-Olympics exit from professional cycling.
“I’ve been on the verge of making this decision for a few years and just really feel at peace with it now in my heart,” Winder said. “I’ve reached so many of my dreams already but my heart misses home while I’m on the road so much of the year.”
Winder is selected for the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo and is excited to race the rest of the 2021 season before returning home to Colorado.
“As an American, or somebody who doesn’t live in Europe, you have to sacrifice quite a lot of your life when you’re over in Europe racing, it’s not that I don’t love racing anymore.”
Winder has been racing in the upper echelons of the sport since she was selected to race for Mara Abbott and the National team at the 2013 Giro Rosa. Abbott won the overall that year, and the following season Winder signed for UnitedHealthcare, a top American team.
In 2016 Winder went to the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games for the team pursuit, and after the games joined UnitedHealthcare once again to race on the road in 2017.
During her 2017 season, Winder was picked up by Team Sunweb to move to Europe for the following season. In 2019 she joined Trek-Segafredo and has been riding for the powerhouse team ever since.
Her most notable results include the overall general classification title at the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under in 2020, the 2019 National Road title, a stage of the Giro Donne in 2018, Brabantse Pijl in 2021, and various other accomplishments and podiums throughout her run in the professional peloton.
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