\u201cThe last year and a half has been quite turbulent. I\u2019ve been cycling\u2014living the cycling life\u2014since I was five or six years old. A huge part of my identity is tied to the sport. My first priority now is to find some stability in my life,” he admits.<\/p>\n
“At the very least, I know which direction I\u2019m heading in, and I know that my time as a professional cyclist is over. That uncertainty is gone now.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Bram](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/bramwelten-6ae37d4950e03.jpg@webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
Bram Welten at the 2025 Giro d’Italia, one of his final races as a professional rider<\/p>\n
Welten continues to suffer from a fractured vertebra<\/p>\n
Welten suffered a fractured vertebra over years and a half ago, and described the consequences that the injury had on him: \u201cWith the knowledge I have now, I would, of course, have done things differently. It turned out that the piece of bone didn\u2019t grow back, because I didn\u2019t give my body enough time and rest. If I had known sooner that it was a fracture, I certainly would have rested much more and wouldn\u2019t have kept going while dealing with these issues”.<\/p>\n
This prove detrimental for his ability to cycle, Welten raced for the final time at the inaugural Copenhagen Sprint in June 2025, and has spent the last half of his contract with the World Tour structure off the peloton.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the time, I didn\u2019t know. It felt like any other minor ache\u2014something that would just go away on its own. Do I blame myself? No, definitely not. But knowing what I know now, I would have handled it differently,” he assures.<\/p>\n
“I kept racing despite the pain. I was certainly in discomfort, but I couldn\u2019t link it to what eventually turned out to be the actual diagnosis. I don\u2019t regret it, though. I\u2019m quite pragmatic about these things. You could ask \u2018what if?\u2019 about everything you\u2019ve ever done in your life, but that doesn\u2019t really get you anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
No proper goodbye from cycling, but a landmark memory<\/p>\n
The last race in which Welten was able to complete stages was the Giro d’Italia that year, where on stage 4, he helped the team into one of its most recent World Tour victories. That day, he was a leadout man for Casper van Uden, the winner in Lecce.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a young rider, you really want to become a professional and race in the Tour de France (which he did in 2024, ed.). I managed to do that. I also really wanted to secure a professional victory, and I achieved that as well. And then, of course, there was last year\u2014with Casper van Uden at the Giro d\u2019Italia. Things hadn\u2019t been going very well leading up to it, but then, at the perfect moment, everything fell into place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us as a team\u2014and for me personally\u2014it was a major goal. That stage win with Casper is something I\u2019ll always remember. And to think, I did it with a broken back”. This was the third-to-last race day that Welten has ever completed, on the 13th May 2025.<\/p>\n
The Dutch sprinter turned professional in 2018 with Team Fortuneo – Samsic (which would later be known as Ark\u00e9a). Aside from his own ambitions as a fast rider – his sole pro victory came at the 2021 Tour de Vend\u00e9e – he has spent a lot of time racing as a leadout for Arnaud D\u00e9mare, and then later on for the likes of Fabio Jakobsen and the aforementioned van Uden.<\/p>\n
Welten to remain in the cycling world<\/p>\n
But Welten will remain in the cycling world. Where exactly remains a private matter: \u201cI\u2019d rather leave that to the organization that offered me the position; they\u2019ll be making an announcement soon. But it will definitely be within the cycling world,” he confirms.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s a new challenge that I\u2019m really looking forward to. I think it\u2019s a good fit, and I\u2019ve been given plenty of space to discover whether that\u2019s truly the case,” Welten, who adds that he has taken up running as a substitute type of high-intensity exercise, explained.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ve realized that I\u2019m still incredibly driven when it comes to the world of sports\u2014it gives me a great deal of energy. I want to approach my next challenge with that same motivation and fighting spirit. Beyond that, however, I also need to rediscover myself”.<\/p>\n
“Who am I, really? A huge part of my identity has been cycling. I\u2019ve come to realize that there is, of course, much more to life than just riding a bike\u2014thankfully so, I might add,” he concluded. “Ultimately, you have to find a rhythm in your daily life, too. I think I\u2019m well on my way to finding a good balance in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Many people were used to seeing me at races, and then, suddenly, I hadn’t been in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[268399,4985,101,112041,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-817985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-bram-welten","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-team-picnic-postnl","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}