Kaitie Keough Announces Retirement from Professional Cyclocross Racing
The Little Badger leaves an impressive legacy in the sport, both nationally and internationally
Prior to the start of the current cyclocross season, Kaitie Keough announced the 2021/22 campaign would be her Laatste Ronde as a professional cyclist. After a tough crash at the start of World Cup Waterloo, Keough decided to call it a career after Wednesday’s World Cup in Fayetteville.
Keough posted on Instagram on Thursday that she is retiring from the sport. She wrote the following in her announcement:
I tried like mad for two years, searching for a way to get my fire back. The fire that’s needed for race days. I finally had the guts to admit to myself that it doesn’t make sense to keep forcing something that clearly isn’t burning within anymore. It’s not fair to me and it’s definitely not fair to the team around me. Underneath the grief, I feel relief.
While this is a few months earlier than when I wanted to finish and not the exact way I had visioned going out, I am leaving this sport with grace. I am celebrating the fact that I get to close this story with the most wonderful memories and accomplishments.
Keough, who was born in Wisconsin and is nicknamed “The Little Badger,” signed with the Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld team as a young racer in 2010 and has raced with the team every year since then.
In retirement, Keough leaves an impressive legacy in the sport of cyclocross.
She won the 2018 Jingle Cross World Cup.
She finished 2nd in the World Cup overall in 2017/18.
She finished on the podium 5 times at U.S. Nationals.
She won 13 UCI cyclocross races.
And she finished as high as 6th at the World Championships in Bieles in 2017.
We have enjoyed having Keough as part of the cyclocross community and have enjoyed covering her as an athlete in the sport. We certainly wish her the best in her post-retirement endeavors.