Tony Gallopin will retire at the end of the 2023 season after a 16-year career in the pro peloton. Lidl-Trek made the announcement about the 35-year-old French rider on the first rest day of the 2023 Tour de France.

Gallopin is currently making his 11th appearance in his home Grand Tour after helping teammate Mads Pedersen win stage 8 in Limoges. Retirement was something I had been thinking about since last winter," Gallopin said. The training was a bit hard. I didn't make the decision then, but I started thinking about it," Gallopin said in a press release. And after the Classic, I made a lot of sacrifices and found that physically I was still at a good level, but mentally it was really hard."

"I discussed it with my team, my family and friends. The decision was very simple. It's been a long career and I'm ready to move on. I want to do something different, something new. It will be a new experience, because after 16 years as a professional rider, you never know what will happen. But I have lots of ideas."

Gallopin's 16 years as a professional have included wearing the yellow jersey in the Tour de France on Bastille Day 2014 and winning a stage at Oyonnax, stage 11 of the same Tour. Alongside this, he won the 2013 San Sebastián Clasica and the 2018 Vuelta a España stage 7 alone. He began his career with Auber 93 in 2008 and joined Cofidis two years later. Since then, he has ridden for RadioShack (2012-2013), Lotto Soudal (2014-2017), AG2R La Mondiale (2018-2021), and Lidl-Trek (2022-2023) to finish his career as a professional cyclist. 'I really enjoyed my last two years at Trek. Personally, 2020 and 2021 were hard seasons. It was like coming home, like being part of a family again right away. 'It was also a nice challenge to work with so much young talent on the team. I quickly found my place and really enjoyed the period. I especially enjoyed working with Matthias (Skjelmoes) this year and being able to ride the Tour Down Under with a young group of guys and to race in the Tour with guys like Mads (Pedersen). Along with Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Gallopin is another French rider who has been in the Tour peloton for the past 10 years and will make 2023 his last professional season. Pinot will finish his 10th Tour de France.

Gallopin is happy with his results over the past few years, despite missing out on the Grand Tour grand slam. "When I left home this year, I realized that this is my 11th Tour de France. It's great to have done all the biggest races in the world. I was second in the Giro and close," he said. In the Giro, I was second and close, but at the end of the day, I'm a pro. But at the end of the day, when I turned pro, I never thought I could accomplish so much, so I have no regrets at all and I can say I am proud of what I did." Gallopin will finish his career in Paris-Tours in October. As a kid, I went to see stars like Jackie Durant and Richard Vilanc, and I won the U23 championship in 2008," he said. So that's where I want to finish."