Sacha Modolo has announced his retirement after a career with several WorldTour teams and 49 wins, including two stages of the 2015 Giro d'Italia.

A professional since 2010, Modolo raced for Lampre-Merida, UAE Team Emirates, EF Education, and Alpecin Phoenix before entering his final year with the Italian pro team Bardiani-CSF-Feizanne, where he became one of Italy's most successful He became one of Italy's most successful sprinters.

The 35-year-old Modolo announced the news via a Youtube video (opens in new tab) published on Spaziociclismo.

Besides his stage win at the Giro, Modolo has also won stages at the World Tour level in the Tour de Suisse, Tour de Pollogne, and Tour of Turkey, as well as multiple 2.HC events, plus GP du Canton d'Argovie and Marco Pantani Memorial, He also won prestigious one-day races such as the Coppa Agostoni.

An all-around sprinter, Modolo excelled at group sprints on tough climbs; as early as January 2, his Twitter account already described himself as a "former professional cycling rider."

"In my experience, you won't find anything," he told Spaziociclismo (open in new tab) in late December. I'm pragmatic. I'm pragmatic. I left the door open until this month.

Modolo expressed disappointment in the way his eventual team handled his departure. He said, "If I was going to retire, I wanted to decide for myself when and where, but they held me back a little bit until the last few races and then they didn't hold me back.

Modolo began his professional career in 2010 with the team then known as Colnago-CSF.

That early promise did not translate into major race wins in the Classics, and his precocious results in Sanremo proved to be perhaps the albatross of the sport. And, of course, he also won two stages in the 2015 Giro during his time with Lampre.

Modolo also won the Tour of Beijing, Tour of Hainan, and Tour of Qinghai Lake in Asia, and the Vuelta a San Juan in South America. His last victory in Europe came on stage 3 of the 2021 Tour of Luxembourg, where Modolo put his hands to his head in incredible joy as he won the final group sprint.