Belgian rider Stein Devolder, a two-time winner of the Tour of Flanders, said he has no regrets about retiring, realizing that at 40 years old he is old enough to be a father to other professional riders.

"In all these years I never had the feeling that I was 10-15 years older than my colleagues," Devolder said this week in an interview with the Belgian website Sporza.be at his home in Belgium.

"But now I realize that I'm old enough to be a father to other racers. They weren't even born when I started racing. And I thought about it a little bit, and I realized I was getting older.

"I'm at an age now where I don't regret quitting," DeBordel admitted. If I had stopped five years ago, I might have thought, 'If only I had done it a few more years. But I'm 40 now, and I don't think there's anything in this sport that I haven't already seen or experienced."

Devolder, who won Flanders in 2008 and 2009 and spent his final season in 2019 with Dutch star Mathieu van der Pol's Corendon Circus, is looking forward to working in the field of agricultural machinery, which has always interested him He revealed.

"It's always been a passion of mine since I was a kid, and after my cycling career I knew I wanted to work in that field.

"I mainly enjoy driving and working on machines and learning as much as I can. I live in an agricultural area, so there are plenty of opportunities"

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"I've tried to follow the latest developments in agricultural machinery throughout my career and I'm looking forward to getting started.

However, Devolder has no intention of turning his back on cycling altogether and plans to continue to enjoy riding his bike.

"It's going to be a different kind of cycling," he said. I don't have to think about the pressures of training or racing. I don't have to think about the pressure of training or racing, especially if the weather is good, because I won't have to ride in bad, windy weather. If the weather looks too bad, I can say, 'Let's go tomorrow.