HIGH ACHIEVERS: Michael Woods signs 2-year extension, plans to retire with Israel-Premier Tech cycling team

By Martin Cleary

Ottawa’s Michael Woods came late to the World Tour cycling party at age 29, but it’s hard to believe he’s already confronted “the retirement question” and formulated an answer.

Woods, who turned 37 in October, was scheduled to have his contract with the Israel-Premier Tech team expire at the end of the year.

But after talking with Sylvan Adams, team co-owner and a long-time friend, over the past year, Woods has agreed to a two-year contract extension to compete in the 2024 and 2025 seasons before riding into retirement with Israel-Premier Tech.

After having “a great season” in 2023, which produced his first stage win at the Tour de France, Woods is eager, excited and somewhat concerned about his retirement contract.

“Just over a year ago, we sat down to talk about extending and we basically just made a deal that I’m going to retire with this team,” Woods said in a one-on-one interview produced by the Israel-Premier Tech team.

Woods was a national and international track runner before injuries sidelined him and took him to cycling in 2013. He joined his seventh pro team in 2021 with Israel Start-Up Nation, which was a World Tour team.

“I’m going to retire when there’s no more left to give,” Woods explained in the interview. “Like I said, I don’t want to be racing my bike, if I’m not performing at the highest level.

“I want to be excited about going to races and I am right now. So, we’re going to extend until I’m ready to be done. It’s an amazing privilege to know that I’m going to kind of finish under my own power, having been in the sport for eight years (on the World Tour) now.”

But Woods also realizes having a two-year contract in his back pocket could be troublesome.

“I realize how lucky I am to have that support from Sylvan, that support from the team,” Woods continued. “But that being said, it’s really nice, but also a bit scary.

“Normally, a nice incentive is actually being on a contract year, heading to re-sign and being hungry. It almost could be a bit of a concern like just getting complacent because I don’t have to go after that next contract.

“But that’s the reason why I made this deal with Sylvan; that if I’m not hungry, I’m not going to keep going. And I’m still hungry, so I want to take on this year.”

According to procyclingstats.com, Woods is slated to enter three one-day classics in mid April – Amstel Gold Race, April 14; La Fleche Wallonne, April 17; and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, April 21.

He has competed in those three races a combined 20 times and earned 10 top-10 finishes as well as a second-place result in the 2018 Liege-Bastogne-Liege and a third in 2020 La Fleche Wallonne.

In May, he’s scheduled to race the Giro d’Italia for the third time in his career. While racing for Team EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale, he posted a personal-best stage result, a second-place showing, in 2018, and recorded a fifth in 2017, wearing Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team colours.

“One of the reasons why I extended with the team is I don’t want to be racing my bike if I don’t feel like I’m not competing with the best riders in the world,” said Woods, also a contender to represent Canada at his third Summer Olympic Games in Paris next summer. “Then, I don’t want to be racing anymore. I think life’s about pushing yourself, exploring, doing new things, trying new things and testing yourself.

“And if I’m not doing that here, then I want to move on. But I feel like I am still improving. There are still some things that I’d like to achieve as a rider.

“I want to get a stage win at the Giro. I’ve won two stages at the Vuelta (a Espana, 2018 and 2020), and now with one at the Tour. I finished second at a stage in 2018, which was the last time I did the Giro. I’ve never won a stage at the Giro and that’s added some fuel to the fire, to the excitement of this season.”

Here are some interesting numbers about Woods’ season in 2023:

· 60 – number of days racing

· 9,632 – number of kilometres travelled

· 17 – number of single- or multi-stage races

· 14 – number of top-10 finishes

· 28 – the number of seconds he finished ahead of the runner-up in Stage 9 of the Tour de France

· 2 – the number of times he has won the La Route d’Occitanie-La Depeche du Midi General Classification.