Although he’s just 31 years of age, Joost Posthuma has announced his retirement from professional cycling. The Dutchman has spent the last two years as part of the Leopard Trek and RadioShack Nissan Trek set up and is quitting due to a lack of offers from big teams.
"I have no team and what I'm going to do next year is not exactly clear yet,” Posthuma wrote on his website. “A few weeks ago I made the decision and decided that I am ready [to quit]. I'm ready for a new challenge.”
Posthuma says he held talks with many teams including Vacansoleil-DCM, but could ultimately not find a place because of his lack of UCI points. In order to stay in the WorldTour, teams are being forced to look elsewhere for riders with points such as winners of the UCI Asia and Africa Tours.
This creates a tough situation for experienced domestiques like Posthuma as their sole purpose is to ride in support of team leaders.
"There are teams that I think I could certainly be beneficial to. You can see that the points system of the UCI does not work,” he said.
“Take for example Lotto-[Belisol]. They had an Iranian ride for them this year…he totally did not belong in the ProTour but was persuaded to join by his points,” referring to Mehdi Sohrabi, who was the winner of the Asia Tour last year.
Posthuma’s best result this season was an eighth place finish in Bayern-Rundfahrt. He has spent the majority of his career on the Rabobank team where he notched up a stage win in Paris-Nice, and the overall in Sachsen Tour, Driedaagse van De Panne, Tour de Luxembourg and Vuelta a Andalucia.