Michael Albasini has decided to postpone his retirement, which was to coincide with the Tour de Suisse in June, and extend his racing career until the end of the reformed season.

The veteran rider from Mitchelton-Scott was scheduled to retire after his 16th entry in his home race, but when the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the Swiss rider agreed with his team to race through the end of the year. Albasini will ride the original route this year in honor of the Tour de Suisse, which has enjoyed great success over the years.

"I want to finish my career with a number on my back, so I will continue after the summer when the season resumes," Albasini said in a message sent to Cycling News from his Mitchelton-Scott team.

"It has been a step-by-step process to get to this point. But that's the way my career ended and that's the way it is now. I can't end my career in Switzerland, and I can't take a vacation there.

"I had to get my motivation back. At first I had a hard time thinking about that and it took me a while to get over it. Now I am motivated to go through all the preparations again so that I can do at least one of the things I had planned at the beginning of the year."

Albasini clearly did not want to end his career with an e-race and retire; the 39-year-old, who has won three stages in the Tour de Suisse since starting his career with Phonak in 2003, is not a mouse click or online avatar. He wanted to finish the race in a real racing team environment, not a click of a mouse or an online avatar.

"First of all, I want to enjoy my last race. I want to enjoy my friends and the feeling I had during the race, and I want to keep the memories of my last race with me. Otherwise, I would forget even the name of my last race. [Like] training camp, or how good it feels to come home from a massage, or how good it feels to go out to eat and talk to everyone at the table. This season, I want to enjoy everything related to training camp and racing.

By riding this year's Tour de Suisse route alone, but with his family, Albasini will be able to train for the resumption of racing in August and September and pay tribute to his home race.

"It's really nice to have six or seven hours a day to get out and talk. When you're racing, you don't have as much time to have fun, so this way I can really enjoy myself with the many people who have been a part of my career."

While the Swiss rider has yet to decide on his race program for the remainder of the season, and much depends on whether the UCI can guarantee that he will resume racing in a safe environment, Matt White, Mitchelton Scott's directeur sportif, is a veteran He is happy to be able to count on the all-rounder.

"Alba is a foundational member of the GreenEdge family. Alba is a cornerstone member of the GreenEdge family. He has so much to offer our organization, both on and off the bike, and embodies the dedication, character, and respect we look for in our athletes," White said

.

"It's great to be given the chance to close out the season with a world-class race in an area where Alba has had incredible success over the years."