Bert De Backer joined Vive le Vélo tonight for the second day in a row as an analyst. When Karl Vannieuwkerke asked him how long he wanted to remain a professional cyclist, De Backer came up with a surprising answer. “Six more months, I’m going to stop at the end of the year.”
“I wanted to look at it year by year and decide every time at the end of the year whether I wanted to stop. That had been going on for a while now. I now feel that the curiosity about what is to come is greater than the energy I would have to put into deciding over the next three months whether or not to continue.”
“My ego has already been racing for two years. I don’t need to do an extra year and prove myself. But it will be weird to have to look for something else anyway. That will be the case next year, but in 10 years’ time too, because cycling itself is fantastic.”
“I had a fantastic time on my mountain during my altitude internship in Andorra. There I had a lot of time to think. The last few days I talked about it with my wife. I could do it for a long time, I think, but there would be 10 teams don’t come with a contract either.”
“If I had to look for a team for another 3 months, that would also take away a lot of fun from my last months as a rider.”
There is not yet a plan for after his sporting career. “I hope I can surprise myself. I was lucky in recent years that I was paid to do my passion. I believe it is still possible. What that passion will become, we have to wait and see.”
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