Niki Terpstra, winner of Paris-Roubaix and the Tour de Flanders on Sunday, ended her road racing career in less than ideal fashion after an unfortunate crash in the final event.

Pustra of the Netherlands, who crashed in Sunday's Paris-Tour, finished 128th, more than 20 minutes behind winner Arnaud Demaret (Groupama-FDJ).

The Total Energies veteran ended a 30-year career with a Paris-Tour finish on Grandmont Avenue, where he was greeted by his family.

Terpstra, who has been a pro since 2007 when he began a four-year block with the now-defunct German team Milram after Quick Step (2013-2018) and Total Energies (2019-2022), is rumored to be considering a switch to gravel racing He has been rumored to be considering a switch to gravel racing. Either way, his last road race was a tough finale.

"I was doing well until the middle of the race, but I crashed and it hurt a lot," Terpstra told NOS about his last race.

"For the first 10 seconds I thought it was over. Yesterday [Saturday] I said it was going to be a dangerous race, but that's the dark side of cycling. That's unfortunately part of it."

Terpstra, a former national triple champion and a highly successful classic racer in the middle years of his career, had a number of accidents in the last few years of his career, with his last road victory coming in the 2018 Tour de Flanders.

Terpstra crashed badly in the same race in 2019 and again in the Tour de France that summer. Also in 2020, while training on the back of a bike, he crashed badly after swerving to avoid geese, requiring an airlift to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a concussion, collapsed lung, broken ribs, and broken collarbone.

Nevertheless, he recovered and continued racing with Total Energy for two more years.

Terpstra continued to participate in cycling after his retirement from road racing, possibly switching to gravel cars. 'But listen, I'm not done with cycling yet. Of course I'll keep racing: ...... Stay tuned!" he wrote in his retirement announcement.