Sonny Colbrelli is expected to announce his retirement on November 15, accepting that he can no longer race professionally after suffering a life-threatening arrhythmia at the Volta Catalunya in March.

According to sources from La Gazzetta dello Sport and Cyclingnews, Colbrelli admitted to friends and former colleagues at a recent end-of-season race in Veneto that he had made a decision regarding his future.

He has been able to ride his bike and train peacefully over the past few months, but accepts that it would be unwise to try to compete again at the highest level. Colbrelli's Barlene Victorious did not immediately respond to Cycling News, but according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Colbrelli will announce his decision at a press conference on November 15.

Colbrelli, who turned 32 in May, was arguably at the peak of his career, winning the Paris-Roubaix and European road race titles in 2021. However, he collapsed shortly after finishing second in the uphill sprint on the opening stage of the Volta a Catalunya on March 21, and only a nurse and a heart defibrillator saved his life.

The Bahrain Victorias team confirmed that Colbrelli was suffering from an unstable arrhythmia and fitted him with a subcutaneous defibrillator upon his return to Italy.

This helped to control his heartbeat and allowed him to ride his bicycle, but Italian law does not allow athletes to compete with a subcutaneous defibrillator in place. Danish soccer player Christian Eriksen also returned to competition with a subcutaneous defibrillator, but was not allowed to play for an Italian club and moved to England.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Colbrelli does not want to change his nationality or place of residence or compete again against UCI rules, and his health and family come first.

Colbrelli admits that he is lucky to be alive.

"A lot of people ask me how I am, and I say: I am happy, I am with my family," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport in an exclusive interview in April.

"I don't have much else to say. I'm not just saying that."

"Everyone knows that life is temporary. We don't think about it, especially when life is full and busy, like the lifestyle of a professional cyclist. In fact, when I woke up in the hospital, I had a hard time understanding what had happened. 21]

"At first I was angry and thought, "Why me?" or "What did I do to deserve this?" but they were impossible questions to answer"

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"To tell you the truth, when I wake up in the morning, I just try to smile. Our time here is limited and we only get one chance. We are lucky to be here.