On a wet stage finishing in Le Grand-Bornand in 2021, Dylan Teuns held off Tadej Pogacar for the second Tour de France stage win of his career. Five years on, no WorldTour squad was willing to put him on its roster for next season.
The 34-year-old Belgian confirmed the end of his career on Thursday evening in an Instagram post that closed a 12-season professional career. His contract at Cofidis expired at the end of 2026, and the final negotiation he had been waiting on did not deliver an offer.
Teuns had set himself a deadline. Earlier in October, he told the Belgian broadcaster Sporza he had one last conversation running and would give it until the end of the month before accepting that his career was over.
“Thirty-four isn’t really the age to retire,” he said to Sporza, “but if they force me, I have no choice.”
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He had already told his management he was ready to drop the leader role and ride for a younger team-mate, hoping that a domestique slot would keep him in the peloton. No team came back with a contract.
From La Planche to La Flèche
Teuns turned professional with BMC in 2014 and spent his career between that team, Bahrain Victorious, Israel-Premier Tech and, since 2025, Cofidis. His breakthrough season was 2017, when he won the Tour de Wallonie, the Arctic Race of Norway and the Tour de Pologne inside a few weeks.
The Tour de France brought his two biggest road victories. In 2019 he won on La Planche des Belles Filles, the Vosges climb that has become a regular feature of the race. Two years later, in 2021, he attacked out of a breakaway on a soaked Alpine stage, dropped his companions on the Col de la Colombière and descended alone to the finish in Le Grand-Bornand, with Pogacar second on the stage.
The childhood dream he described in his farewell post was a different race. In 2022 he won La Flèche Wallonne on the Mur de Huy, beating Alejandro Valverde in a sprint on the Belgian wall he had grown up watching. It was his last major victory. According to his Cofidis-era statistics, he closed his career with 14 professional wins.
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‘The love for the bike remains’
The last 18 months of his career were difficult. Injuries disrupted his 2025 season, and although his form picked up again in late 2026 with a sixth place overall at the CRO Race in September, it was not enough to persuade a team to invest in a 34-year-old climber for 2027.
“What a ride it has been,” Teuns wrote in his retirement message, according to reporting on the announcement. “It is time for a new chapter, but the love for the bike remains forever.”
His contract at Cofidis runs until 31 December 2026, at which point his registration as a professional rider ends.
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