21-Year-old Alpecin-Deceuninck rider ends career after witnessing fatal accidents: "Lost the fun of racing"

Kitzki is one of the winners of the Zwift Academy who ended up at Alpecin-Deceuninck. Jay Vine and Luca Vergallito are the success stories of this approach, while rower Jason Osborne, Australian Alex Bogna and now Kitzki are no longer competing in road races. Canadian Noah Ramsay, last year's winner, is also doing well.

“Probably not the kind of career end I had imagined...,” Kitzki said on social media when announcing his retirement from cycling. “After participating in my last race, the Giro Ciclistico Valle D'Aosta, and the associated death of Samuele Privitera, I decided to end my career as a professional cyclist.”

“After last year's Tour of Austria, where another rider died, I already had serious doubts about racing and was on the verge of quitting,” he said, referring to the death of André Drege in that race. “Nevertheless, I continued and largely suppressed what had happened. Unfortunately, after the Tour of Austria, I never became the racer I once was again.”

“I became increasingly concerned about my safety and felt increasingly uncomfortable in races, which in the medium term meant that I was never able to reproduce in races what I had worked so hard to achieve in training. Towards the end, races were unfortunately just an annoying side effect that you had to accept if you wanted to earn money from cycling.”

“I had completely lost the fun of racing, and the more chaotic a race became, the more brutally I broke down mentally,” the 21-year-old rider admits honestly. “Unfortunately, without the mind, the body only functions poorly. What happened in the Aosta Valley was ultimately just confirmation of my decision, and I can see how well I've been doing since I quit.”

"I  regret that I was unable to live up to some expectations as a professional cyclist and that my collaboration with Alpecin is now coming to an end. Nevertheless, I am certain that it was the right decision to stop. Nonetheless, I am very grateful for the opportunity I was given by my team Alpecin Deceuninck and Zwift,“ writes Kitzki, who rode the GP Emilia, Tre Valli Varesine, and Ster van Besseges with the main team of Alpecin-Deceuninck, among other races.

”I was able to learn from the best cyclists in the world and got to know many nice people on the team.In addition, I was able to significantly improve my physical condition thanks to my trainer Philipp Walsleben, even though I was never really able to show it in the races. I felt that this team is very aware of its responsibility towards young athletes and I never felt pressured in any way," said the German, expressing his gratitude.

“ I always enjoyed the training and the improvement process very much and hopefully I will find the time to cycle again occasionally in the future. Thanks to all my teammates, the entire staff,” he concludes.