El Purito to stick around one more year?
Late additions to race calendar might have him reconsidering retirement.
He was supposed to retire after the Olympic Games road race, in which he finished fifth, and is instead contesting three Italian races culminating in Monument Classic Il Lombardia, but is Joaquim Rodriguez reconsidering hanging up the helmet? El Purito’s agent says his client’s late-season commitments might have him reconsidering retirement.
Rodriguez is one of many renowned WorldTour and Pro Continental riders slated to retire at the end of this season: Fabian Cancellara, Ryder Hesjedal, Jean-Christophe Péraud, Christian Meier, Michael Rogers and Frank Schleck. Last year Alberto Contador announced he was bowing out at the end of 2016, but two WorldTour stage race wins and a runner-up spot in the spring of 2016 saw him reschedule his farewell tour. El Pistolero will carry on with Trek-Segafredo next year.
Katusha’s Spanish star is linked to the new Bahrain-Merida team, where he’d join Vincenzo Nibali but general manager Brent Copeland denies the squad’s interest. Recently, Katusha announced that its license was moving from Russia to Switzerland for 2017. The team would also most likely have Alpecin as a title sponsor, now that Giant-Alpecin is changing to Sunweb-Giant. German powerhouse Tony Martin is transferring from Etixx-QuickStep as part of the new-look Katusha outfit.
El Purito is winless so far this season, although he was fourth in the Clasica San Sebastian, fifth in Pais Vasco and seventh in the Tour de France, his second best Tour result in five attempts. He has Katusha’s third most WorldTour points and is 16th overall in individual points. Second to both Ryder Hesjedal in the 2012 Giro d’Italia and Fabio Aru in the 2015 Vuelta a España, Rodriguez has come in the top-10 of twelve Grand Tours, including four podiums.
