Barbero retires at 31: “I would have signed a career like this”

Carlos Barbero leaves professional cycling. After more than a dozen victories, the 31-year-old from Burgos, who was currently without a team since his contract with Lotto ended at the end of last season, decided to leave. “It is not a decision that you get up in the morning and say well today. In the end it is a process. Until January was the date that I had set. It was done and done. Life goes on”, The former cyclist told AS a few hours after announcing his decision on social networks with an emotional message. “It has been 11 years of which I am very proud and I would have signed a career like this when I jumped to professionals ”, he added.

Orbea, Euskadi, Caja Rural, Movistar, NTT (later Qhubeka) and Lotto were their teams, spending a total of six seasons on the World Tour. “There are riders who end up very burned and have not touched the bike in years. It will not be my case, ”she explained. The taste for what is, and will be, his sport will remain intact: “Cycling teaches you values, life lessons. To get up after a fall and continue working from the next day. I have it clear, I was a loyal companion and I leave with my head held high. I can look anyone in the eye”, he recounted emotionally. The turning point that marked his career the most was when the Qhubeka announced his disappearance in 2021. At that time, Barbero had a contract to continue on the World Tour, but then he was left without a team, “one of the hardest moments. Last May the Lotto resorted to his services until the end of the season, but in December it ended. AND now goodbye is final.

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“Leaving it at 31 years old is it soon? It can be seen from two points of view. I have had teammates much more talented than me who have retired before. And you see others with less talent and they are still there. In the end it is a path that everyone has their own and mine is this. You can never be comparing yourself to others. My withdrawal could have been earlier, but it could also have been later,” he said.. On balance, the best and worst moments of these eleven years remain to be seen: “The first day they told me that I was going to be a professional was very nice. Also a victory or a position of honor, or when you have worked for a colleague. On the opposite side, there have been bad times of falls, and more when you have seen more or less closely a death of a professional colleague”. Now, a new life: “To study and do some things that I have pending. I’m going to be entertained, that’s for sure”.

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