Former Spanish national double champion Ruben Plaza, a stage winner of the Vuelta a España and Tour de France, has chosen to retire after a career spanning nearly 20 years and 26 victories.

The 39-year-old, who has ridden for the Israel Cycling Academy for the past two seasons, did not finish his last race on Saturday at Il Lombardia.

The 39-year-old from the Israel Cycling Academy said in a press release, "I have spent half of my life in this race.

"Enough is enough. Enough is enough. I've done all I can do. It's time to move on."

Born in the Alicante region of southeastern Spain, Plaza became a junior-level road race and time trial national champion in the 1990s.

Plaza's first professional victory came in 2003, at the age of 23, in a Spanish national championship road race.

In 2005, Plaza won the first of his three Grand Tour victories in the final time trial of the Vuelta a España, finishing fifth overall; ten years later, in the 2015 Vuelta, Tom Dumoulin lost the overall victory to Fabio Al in the last minute in Madrid He took a memorable stage win on the stage through the Sierra.

The same year, Plaza also won the transition stage of the Tour de France on a late attack en route to the town of Gap, which was the high point of his career.

Plaza was initially linked to the 2006 Operacion Puerto doping scandal, but was later acquitted by a Spanish court, as were many other riders; in 2010, he told Cycling News that the anti-doping investigation had "ruined my career ruined my career."

He was also acquitted by a Spanish court, as were many other athletes.

However, despite his pessimism, Plaza did in fact return to top-level racing after two years of racing for a second division team in Portugal in 2008 and 2009.

During this time, Plaza won his home race, the 2008 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. Plaza also won another road race title in 2009, and had impressive results in the national championships, including six podium finishes in time trials.

In 2010, Plaza turned down an offer from Astana to return to Caisse d'Epargne and remained with the team after the team switched sponsors to Movistar and subsequently signed contracts with Lampre, Orica GreenEdge, and Israel Cycling Academy.

Plaza's last of his 26 career victories was the overall win of the 2018 Vuelta a Castilla y León.