Italian Sonny Colbrelli will end his professional cycling career at the age of 31. after the cardiac arrest suffered in Marchin the Volta a Catalunya, the Bahrain-Victorious team announced this Sunday.
“In view of the medical advice derived from the tests carried out, Sonny Colbrelli will retire from professional cycling, after having an internal defibrillator implanted due to the cardiorespiratory arrest suffered shortly after finishing the first stage of the Volta a Catalunya, on December 21 March,” reads the statement from the Bahrain team.
On March 21, the European and Italian long-distance champion suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest and had to be revived, after crossing the finish line in second place in the inaugural stage of the Volta a Catalunya. Colbrelli was then rushed to a hospital in Girona, Spain, and on March 26 transferred to the cardiology clinic at the University of Padua.
A few days later, an internal defibrillator would be implanted in the hospital of that Italian city, and at the time, Bahrain-Victorious revealed that the decision to place this basic life support device had been made by the cyclist himself.
“A year ago, around this time, I spent my days celebrating what was the most important victory of my career, in Paris-Roubaix. I never thought that a year later I would have to face one of the biggest challenges of my life. But it is my life and I want to be grateful for it, a life that I risked losing and that gave me a second chance.”
The Italian cyclist admitted that he never lost hope of continuing his professional career, although he knew that “the chances were minimal”.
“I knew it would be difficult to compete again with a defibrillator. In Italy it is not allowed. But I didn’t give up. I resumed activity under medical supervision and consulted several specialists, some of whom followed cases similar to mine, such as the soccer player Christian Eriksen, who, like me, has an internal defibrillator and has resumed his professional career. But cycling is not like football. We run down the street, we train alone, on often isolated paths, we do not play on a soccer field, where, if necessary, medical intervention can be immediate, ”he justified.
Colbrelli won Paris-Roubaix in 2021, the greatest feat of his career, in a year in which he consolidated himself in the world squad with victories also at the Dauphiné Criteria and the Tour of Romandy, among others.
Source: Observadora
