'I had so much more left to give and dreams left to chase' – 22-year-old retires after failing to find a team

Twenty-two-year-old Belgian cyclist Senne Hulsmans has announced his reluctant retirement from cycling after failing to find a team for 2027.

The former Soudal Quick-Step development team rider wrote on Instagram on Tuesday that he had suffered from “multiple injuries, surgeries, endless hours of rehabilitation and a big crash this year”.

Despite the setbacks, Hulsmans, who spent the past season with the Dutch UCI Continental team VolkerWessels, hoped to continue racing into next year. He has now found himself forced to end his “cycling chapter”.

“With pain in my heart, I have to say goodbye to the sport that has been part my whole life,” he wrote. “Not because I stopped loving it. Not because I lost my passion. But because, unfortunately, I couldn’t find a team for next season.

“I never imagined this moment would come so soon. I still love cycling as much as when I first started. I had so much more to give and dreams left to chase.”

Hulsmans spent three seasons as part of Soudal Quick-Step’s development squad between 2023 and 2025. During that time, he won a handful of national races in Belgium, and a stage of the West Bohemia Tour, an under-23 stage race in Czechia.

In July this year, Hulsmans broke his scaphoid and had to undergo surgery for the fourth time in four years. Due to his injuries, he said, he found himself having to “start over while everyone else kept moving forward”.

“But every single time, I fought my way back. Not because I had to, but because I loved this sport too much to give up on it,” he continued.

“And maybe that’s what hurts the most. After everything I’ve been through, I never thought my journey would end like this. I wasn’t ready to stop. I still had the motivation, the passion and the hunger to keep going.”

Though the Belgian didn’t say what he plans to do next, he said “a new chapter is waiting for me”.

“It’s strange to say goodbye to something that has been your whole life, especially when deep down you still wish you could continue,” he said. “But when one door closes, another one opens.

“Thank you, cycling. For the victories, the tears, the lessons, the friendships and all the memories.”

The news follows that of 24-year-old Lotto Intermarché rider Robin Orins who decided last week to end his career, citing physical and mental struggles.

Likewise, 24-year-old Kim Cadzow, a rider for women's WorldTour team EF Education-Oatly, announced her retirement in July, saying riding her bike was “no longer my happy place” and had begun to feel “more and more like a punishment”.

In August last year, the former Zwift Academy winner Louis Kitzki, who graduated to Alpecin Decuninck’s development team, stepped away from cycling due to safety concerns.