As the Vuelta a España peloton filed over the finish line on Madrid’s Plaza de Cibeles, it was a poignant moment for Jean-Christophe Péraud as the curtain fell on his career.
The 39-year-old Frenchman had marked out the Vuelta as his final outing and though he was scheduled to ride the World Championships team time trial next month, AG2R-La Mondiale are understood to be one of the teams boycotting the event.
Péraud started out on the fat tyres and suspension of a mountain bike, and won Olympic silver in Beijing in 2008 before a shock victory in the time trial at the French national championships in 2009 triggered a switch to the road.
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He turned pro with Omega Pharma-Lotto in 2009 and then spent six years with AG2R La Mondiale, the highlight being his runner-up finish at the 2014 Tour de France, where he became the first Frenchman on the podium since Richard Virenque 17 years previously. He was 10th – 9th after Alberto Contador was expunged from the record books – at his debut Tour in 2011 as a 34-year-old, and he won the Criterium International back-to-back in 2014 and 2015.
“I’m proud of what I’ve done, with my Olympic medal and my second place at the 2014 Tour de France. As a kid I dreamed of the Olympics. I’ve made my childhood dreams come true and more," said Péraud. "I don’t have any regrets… except, maybe, not having managed a whole Giro.”
Péraud eschewed the Tour de France in his final season in favour of a Giro-Vuelta double, but he suffered the disappointment of crashing out heavily on stage three in Italy.
— jicé peraud (@jice_peraud) September 11, 2016
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