Ilnur Zakarin announced the somewhat premature end of his cycling career on his Instagram. Zakarin, a former Grand Tour contender, had been a member of the Gazprom-Rusvelo team since 2021, but a UCI ban on Russian teams following his country's invasion of Ukraine led to the team's collapse and left him without racing options.

"I am officially announcing my retirement from a career in cycle sports," Zakarin wrote. 'For more than 20 years I have experienced different competitions, successes and obstacles, accomplishments and failures. Now I am ready to move on. This is a new stage, a new beginning."

The 32-year-old Zakarin began his cycling career with Rusvelo in 2013 after a stint as a trainee with Katusha; after finishing in the top positions, including three overall stage race wins in 2014, Zakarin was brought over to Katusha's WorldTour team, where he stayed for five seasons with the team.

While with Katusha, Zakarin won the Tour de Romandie (2015), the Giro d'Italia (2015, 2019), and the Tour de France (2016).

However, Zakarin struggled to reach his potential and missed the 2016 Rio Olympics after the IOC attempted to ban all Russians with previous doping violations following the Russian state doping scandal.

In the Grand Tours, he was inferior in downhill technique, and in the 2020 Tour de France, he missed out on a potential stage win when Nance Peters broke away from him on the Peyresourde pass on stage 8.

The team also suffered bad luck. Katusha sold his World Tour license and management company to Sylvain Adams' Israel Cycling Academy after co-title sponsor Alpecin moved to Mathieu van der Pol's team in 2019. Zakarin moved to the CCC team, but the 2020 pandemic killed the Polish shoe company that supported the team; the CCC team disbanded and sold its top-level license to what is now Intermarke Wantigover.

Zakarin returned to Rusvelo and ran the full 2021 season, his best result being second place at the Russian Championships. The team's forced suspension spurred the process.

In his last race before the team disbanded, Zakarin crashed at the Volta a Comunita Valenciana and suffered a concussion.

"A new chapter in my life begins, but it is still tied to the sport," Zakarin wrote, explaining that he would work with the Ainex Club in Cyprus.

"This is something I really love and something I am willing to dedicate myself to."