Olympian retires to take up cycling team role

Olympic silver medallist Dan Bigham says he is retiring from competing at the top level of cycling to focus on working for a professional cycling team.

Bigham, from Stone in Staffordshire, was appointed head of engineering at Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe.

“It’s been one that I’ve mulled over for a long amount of time and really try and weigh up the pros and cons,” he said.

He said he first started considering the move a few months ago, before the Paris Games.

Bigham said he had a countdown calendar on his phone for the Olympics and that led him to consider what came next for him.

“Opportunities started to come at me quite quickly and you have to think a bit more about the future and what that truly looks like,” he said.

“With Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe, it’s not an opportunity or an offer that comes round very often.”

Bigham said he was “quite happy” with his decision to retire

Bigham described his experience at the Olympics as a “bit unsatisfying” having won silver not gold in the men's team pursuit cycling final.

“Obviously you go there to win and to be so close, you know it’s possible,” he said.

“For my family, my friends, for my entire support network, it’s a huge amount of sacrifice and commitment to try and do that again.

“At the same time, I love my engineering, I love helping other people to go fast and win bike races and now is quite a good time to step back and to help the next generation.”

He said he had ideally wanted to pursue a gold medal at the next Olympics in 2028 but was “quite happy” with his decision.

Bigham won gold in the individual pursuit at the European Track Cycling Championships in January and was part of the gold-winning men's team pursuit squad at the same event.

He broke the men's world hour record in 2022, a year after his wife and fellow cyclist Joss Lowden broke the women's record.