Ben Swift to retire from pro cycling after 18 seasons – ‘I want to finish on my own terms’

Ben Swift (Netcompany Ineos) announced his plan to retire at the end of the 2026 season in a post on Instagram on Tuesday.

“Yeah, so this is it. I’ve decided to retire,” Swift said. “It’s been 18 great years, and never really in my wildest dreams thought I’d have such a long career and a successful career along the way. Having grown up as a kid, it was just a dream – it was always something that I never really thought would happen, but I never saw myself doing anything else, you know?”

A sprinter with the capacity to survive smaller climbs, Swift was runner-up in Milan-San Remo in 2016 and third in 2014. While Swift scored early career wins in the Tour of California, Tour de Romandie, Tour Down Under and Tour de Pologne, and was British road race champion in 2019 and 2021, he spent most of his years as a loyal teammate, road captain and mentor for younger riders.

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Swift said he decided to retire on a high note. “I still love riding my bike. I love the training, I love the racing, and I think I decided to finish this year because I still feel like I’m at a high enough level to enjoy the racing,” he said.

“There’s still plenty of racing left this year. I’ve got Tour of Britain, which is obviously my home race. It was my first, technically, professional race. I think it was only right to go back there and do Tour of Britain. I think it’ll be my 11th or 12th time riding this race, but it’s just so nice to be racing in front of your home crowds on your home soil.

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“So after Tour of Britain, I’ve got a few more in Italy, which is quite nice to be racing back in Italy. It feels like full circle – that’s where the whole journey started. We lived in Quarrata in Tuscany in my first six years – my first three years Under-23 and then my first years pro. So I’ve got a real strong connection to Italy, so I think that really goes quite nicely finishing there and going full circle.

“And then on to Paris-Tours, so a big one to finish with. So I want to finish kind of on my own terms, on a high, enjoy my racing, and just make the most of it, you know?”

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