Rowe reveals shock decision to retire at 28
Olympic gold medallist says she has no regrets Decision comes despite best season on the road
Dani Rowe said she was looking forward to developing her coaching business and doing more media work after announcing her shock decision to retire from cycling yesterday aged just 28.
The London 2012 Olympic gold medallist, who switched from track to road three years ago and has just enjoyed her most successful road season, insisted she had no regrets about her call.
“On the contrary,” she told The Daily Telegraph. “I’m looking out of my window and it’s pouring with rain outside, and I’m thinking, ‘Yay, I don’t have to go out on my bike’.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Rowe added. “It has not been an easy decision. But I feel so privileged to be going out on my own terms. I’ve had so many people [in my career] tell me I wasn’t good enough. So, it’s amazing to be able to go out on a high. I’m really happy.”
Rowe shot to prominence as part of the women’s pursuit team who took gold at London 2012, setting a world record with team-mates Laura Kenny and Joanna Rowsell Shand.
The Hamble-born rider, who has since relocated to South Wales, said that was “undoubtedly” the highlight of her career, but what made her most proud was the fact that she had shown such resilience.
Rowe came back from glandular fever in 2009, suffered a life-threatening crash in November 2014, was dropped by the Great Britain track cycling team and then overlooked for the road race in Rio. But each time, she bounced back, and her results on the road were starting to become seriously impressive.
Rowe took bronze in the Commonwealth Games road race in Australia this year representing Wales (she married Matt Rowe, brother of Luke Rowe, the Team Sky cyclist, last year), and then finished on the podium at this summer’s OVO Energy Women’s Tour, one of the most prestigious races on the women’s calendar.
Rowe would certainly have been a great help to Lizzie Deignan – Britain’s likely leader – in next year’s Road World Championships in Yorkshire. But she insisted she had no qualms about missing that event, or Tokyo 2020.
“Obviously, I had a really good season on the road [in 2018] but I had to weigh everything up and, for me, I looked at next year and thought about how it could go. And I thought, ‘Best-case scenario, I could win the Tour of Britain or the Tour of Flanders’.
“But I asked myself, ‘Is that going to make me any happier than this season, which was so unexpected?’ And I’m the kind of person who puts everything into being the best I can be, on and off the bike. It’s too hard to do it when I can’t guarantee that I’ll do any better or it will make me feel any better. I think a lot of people keep going for the sake of it.
“A lot of people have said, ‘How can you not want to go on to Tokyo?’ And I’m like, ‘I’ve done it’. Nothing can top London 2012.
“But maybe I’ll be in Tokyo in a different capacity. Yorkshire, too. I’m going to be there, for sure. Just not on my bike. So, I think it will be the best of both worlds.”
Rowe said the desire to start a family at some point was also a factor. “I’ve had about 10 messages asking whether I’m pregnant and the answer is, ‘No. I’m not’. But of course, motherhood comes into it.
“It’s a big thing. I’d love to be blessed with kids one day. For now, I’m in discussions about doing more media work, because that is something I really want to get into.
“I’ve also just started coaching a young rider which I’m really enjoying. I really enjoy the mentor role. My friends always used to call me the agony aunt of the group and I think that’s something I’m good at. I’m also doing a PT course at the moment, and we’re expanding [her coaching business] Rowe and King to look at strength and conditioning.
“So, there’s a lot going on. I couldn’t be happier. I think that’s another reason why it’s the right time for me [to retire]. Because I’m still in such a great place, mentally. I don’t hate the sight of my bike.”