Sergio Henao seems to have called it a career
Sergio Henao seems to have called it a career
Sergio Henao seems to have called it a career, having told Colombia’s Antena 2 that he did not get any contract offers that were particularly appealing to him after the Qhubeka-NextHash team closed down at the end of last season.
Henao, 34, was a constant presence in the leaderboards of one-week races over the past decade, with a 2017 Paris-Nice overall win the most impressive achievement on a career palmares that also included three GC podium finishes and two stage wins at the Vuelta al País Vasco, a runner-up ride at La Flèche Wallonne, and a Colombian national road title. He also rode to one Grand Tour top 10, in his very first three-week racing appearance at the 2012 Giro d’Italia, before transitioning into a support-oriented role in those events.
A member of Team Sky between 2012 and 2018, Henao rode in support of Chris Froome as he won the 2016 and 2017 Tours de France and the 2018 Giro d’Italia.
Henao transferred to UAE Team Emirates after his time at Sky before joining the Qhubeka team in 2021. As that organization shut down its WorldTour squad at the end of the year, Henao’s time as a pro racer also seems to have ended.
“Realistically I think I am finished with my professional career, my career in Europe,” Henao told Antena 2, noting that while he did receive offers, none were sufficiently enticing enough to keep him racing.
“I wanted to continue in the WorldTour but I did not have any offers from a WorldTour team. Despite some close calls, in the end, nothing materialized. That is at the root of my decision to finish my career as a professional.”
The idea of continuing to look for a spot with a top-tier team to potentially resume racing after a season off is not particularly appealing to Henao either.
“It is difficult when one stops competing for a year to return to being among the elite in world cycling,” he said. “A year is difficult. The competitions, the rhythm, you can lose a lot.”
As such, Henao appears to be done as a pro racer.
“When I see the competitions, it gives me a bit of nostalgia, but that is life, it is a moment that had to arrive,” he said. “It was faster than what we had planned.”
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