An athlete who has been running at high levels for over 20 years quits. We are talking about the great Manuel Fumic.
Cannondale Factory Racing has announced that Manuel Fumic has retired. Manuel has raced for Cannondale for many many years. Immediately after the official announcement, the German cyclist communicated the news on his social channels. Due to a broken hand following a fall during the World Cup in Val di Sole, he had to anticipate his farewell, losing his last dance with Henrique Avancini at Cape Epic.
His career began when he was very young: in fact, the youth categories have always been in the saddle of MTB. In 2001 he began to get noticed by the insiders of the sector by winning the German national title among the U23 in the 1st year in the category (and then not losing even one among the U23). There will be 10 national titles at the end of their career.
From 2001 to 2004 Manuel raced with the T-Mobile Team, to then create a team with his brother (called Fumic Brothers) where he raced until 2009, before the definitive move to Cannondale. In 2004 he won the world title among the U23s,
Croatian parenthesis in 2009
Dark parenthesis during Manuel's career when, together with his brother Lado, they decide to affiliate their team (Fumic Brothers International) to the Croatian cycling federation. At the basis of the decision to abandon the German federation, the disagreement with the NADA (National Anti Doping Agency) rules, according to which the riders must provide their coordinates in advance to be subjected to possible surprise anti-doping checks.
Now these rules are the norm but at the time this stance by the NADA had caused a sensation and the Fumic brothers considered this rule as a strong violation of their privacy. Obviously it is a big loss for Germany as the Fumic brothers brought home 12 national titles to various podiums in various national and international competitions. Through the hot comments, therefore, various reasons emerge, including that of being able to prepare with the right serenity the 2012 Olympics in London. "We're professional atletes and should to be able to depend on thrustworthy and stable relationships. With the Olympic Games of 2012 set as a goal, we notice tha the Association of German Cyclists (German Cycling Federation) cannot provide us with such a relations. Despite the fact we always raced clean and never had irregular values during hundreds of tests. "
During his career, he participated in the 2004 Sydney Olympics (8th place), the 2008 Beijing Olympics (11th) and the 2012 London Olympics (7th). In 2013 it is 2nd at the XC World Championships struggling to the end with Nino Schurter. There was time, in the end of his career, to participate in both Rio 2016 (13th) and Tokyo 2020 (28th).
"It was a wonderful ride for me. In 23 years of racing across 4 continents, I have seen so many changes in the sport and in myself. It's been a long time since I've been able to have as much fun as I've been lately. I'm looking forward to spending more family time with my wife and kids, taking the bike out on weekends and not just training".
We leave you to a video of the Prologue that honors the great German athlete:
