Dominique Rollin announces retirement from racing
The Canadian athlete from Boucherville, Quebec made the announcement via his Facebook.
Dominique Rollin, the Cofidis rider from Boucherville, Quebec, has retired from the pro scene once again. The Canadian athlete made the announcement through his Facebook.
Making the call to bow out of pro cycling, he said in a post, is simply a matter of shifting priorities. “After a short return to competition,” he said, “I came to the decision to leave the world of competitive cycling. I am more than grateful for the opportunity and the trust received from Cofidis who allowed me a year back on the bike.
“I was thrilled to be allowed making a living out of my passion,” Rollin explained. “I’ll be keeping this love of cycling alive on a recreational side from now on.”
As observers are aware, this isn’t the first time that Rollin’s career has been at a crossroads of sorts. The last time the Quebec cyclist hung up his helmet, it was at the end of the 2013 season, after riding with FDJ from 2011. When the French team didn’t offer to renew his contract, Rollin—who had previously raced in both Toyota-United and Cervelo Test Team colours—was out of contention for the 2014 season, until he joined the ranks of Cofidis for 2015. He was by joined on the squad by former FDJ riders Nacer Bouhanni and Geoffrey Soupe.
Despite coming to so many forks in the road, though, Rollin’s career has been one marked by one apex after another. His breakout season in 2005 saw him take first in the first stage of the Tour de Beauce, while his 2008 season was guilded with achievements like placing first in stage 4 of the Tour of California as well as first in sprints classification. Competition at the Vuelta and the Giro d’Italia also feature among the Boucherville cyclist’s stats.
In retiring from the sport this year, Rollin announced, he has other goals and priorities in mind, while confirming that he’ll still be in the saddle in a recreational capacity. And those goals are strikingly different from those one may set before a stage race with a mountain finish.
“I am currently renewing with another passion which I left aside for the duration of my cycling career,” he explained. “Since the start of this year, I made my way back in the kitchen. I am currently working to regain and solidy my knowledge around the cuisine and will be doing so right here,” he said, saying that he’s returning to his other love of cooking and catering at his home in Spain.
“May this new year be filled with great surprises and ventures like mine will be!”
