MONTREAL — Guillaume Boivin closed a 17-year professional career on his own terms, announcing his retirement after spending more than 140 kilometres in the breakaway on home roads in the elite men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal on Sunday.
The 37-year-old Canadian was serene in the mixed zone after his ninth and last elite World Championships, his first at home. "That was definitely the last time you'll see me racing through the streets of Montreal before retiring at the end of the season. As for the rest, it depends a bit on the last two or three weeks. It was a process getting here," Boivin told media, including Cyclingnews. "But honestly, I think I've reached a place where I'm truly proud of the career I've had. I've had fun, 17 years as a professional, and I've lived everything I was meant to live. I'm moving on to other things, and I think that's perfectly fine, too." Those 17 years included three Canadian national road titles, five consecutive Tours de France, two starts each at the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana, a bronze medal as a U23 in Australia in 2010, and helping Michael Woods to fifth at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
The news was not a complete surprise. Boivin's contract with NSN Cycling was not renewed for 2027, and the decision crystallised after he returned to Belgium following the Grand Prix Cyclistes de Montreal and Quebec. "Last Monday, it was getting clearer and clearer," he said. "I had just arrived, I said 'Ah, I'm going to go and do the Oude Kwaremont on the cobbles' because it's my favourite hill in Flanders. It was super sunny, it was the end of the day. I suffered a lot on those Flemish hills. Then, I don't know, I was serene, I was happy, then I said: 'Well, it's over, it's okay'. Then since that time I felt better than I have felt in the last two months."
The next day he received a call from compatriot Derek Gee-West, who had to withdraw from Worlds following a crash two weeks before and asked Boivin to pack his bags and return to race. "Sometimes you're in a good wave, things are going well for you, other years, things aren't going so well, and your luck has turned a little," Boivin said. "I'm still disappointed for Derek. He, too, is home in Canada, and he can't experience this, but I respect his honesty a lot because he could also have tried to start."
Boivin made the most of the opportunity, slipping into the early 16-rider breakaway and riding through Monteregie, the region where he grew up and first started to ride. "I know all the roads there by heart. I've rolled there probably hundreds of times. I was with Biniam Girmay, one of my good friends in the break. I had a little anecdote about each village we passed that I got there. I'm going to keep them for myself," he said. After hours off the front he held on for three laps of the Montreal circuit ahead of the hard-charging peloton, soaking up cheers before being reeled in and finishing his race high-fiving fans lining Cote Polytechnique.