Marta Cavalli 'hangs up her wheels' at 27 after a few tough seasons
Marta Cavalli and her team Picnic-PostNL have announced that the 27-year-old Italian is retiring from professional cycling after nine years of competing at the highest level of the sport.
"The last few years have been very difficult for continuous ups and downs, I have been chasing a condition for a long time that has never returned," Cavalli wrote on Instagram. "Legs aren't spinning as hard as I would like them to and motivation has gotten way off ... After a year with peace of mind I can say I don’t feel part of this world anymore and it’s time to say goodbye to the group because here my work is done."
Cavalli transferred to Picnic-PostNL for the start of 2025 after four years of mixed fortunes with FDJ-Suez. Her biggest results came in 2022 when Cavalli won both La Flèche Wallonne and Amstel Gold, before then finishing runner-up to Annemiek van Vleuten at the Giro d'Italia Donne.
Though 2023 saw wins at smaller French races, she never returned to the heights of 2022, and the ensuing years were plagued with both physical and mental health struggles. Cavalli finished her announcement with the words, "It’s time to discover the world from another angle and to live a life that is definitely more 'normal'. See you soon, amigos."
