Dan McLay retires after final Visma year: “I got to play for Barcelona — you can’t turn that down”

Dan McLay arrived at Visma | Lease a Bike with the expectation to be the main lead-out man for Olav Kooij. After a difficult year with ups and downs, the British sprinter decided to call it a day and retire from professional cycling. An unexpected twist, perhaps, but the 33-year old Brit remains at peace with his decision, and opens up about his beautiful and perhaps unusual career.

McLay turned pro in 2015, at age 23, with Bretagne - Séché Environnement, the forerunner of Arkéa-B&B Hotels. After three strong years with the team, he earned a WorldTour spot with EF Education-First, but after two seasons, he returned to his old love, where he stayed for another five years - before spending a year riding for Visma | Lease a Bike.

His greatest successes came with the French team, so it was not a surprise he returned to Arkéa Samsic in 2020. From then on, however, the realities of cycling hit home. 'I’ve gone into every season in the last couple of years with the mindset of seeing how it goes, and if it goes well I’d carry on,' McLay told Cycling Weekly.

The decision to retire was not one swiftly taken, and had its reasons. 'I didn’t feel like I ever had great legs this season, and the final straw was when I broke my collarbone at the Renewi Tour. It’s already been a hard year to get a contract with so many teams uncertain about their future, so I made the decision to call it a day. Since then I’ve had no regrets and am looking forward to the future.'

In total, McLay managed to rack up ten victories. The Brit was not a man who won big or often, but can still look back on a great career. 'Being a sprinter, the wins come a bit more than being another type of rider, but it’s true that not too many guys even win a handful of races as a pro. I think I’m like most cyclists in that it was a dream to be pro, and then when I got a sniff of it I started thinking I could do this or that, and hoped that I could win some races.'

The dreams of becoming a pro rider was - as with any rider - all encompassing. 'I definitely dreamt of doing more than what I ended up doing, but that’s sport – if someone is more talented than you, they’ll win more; you’ve got to make the most of what you’ve got. But I’m more than happy with what I did, especially because the wins got harder and harder to come by.'

McLay's career highlight came in 2016. In his Tour de France-debut, He racked up four top 10-finishes, as well as finishing 3rd in stage 6. Earlier that year, he won at the GP Denain, the best win of his career. Not so much because of the race itself or the competition, but because of the way he won it. McLay looked to be boxed in, but still managed to snatch the victory after some unbelievable maneuvers.

McLay will never forget that moment. 'I remember being out of position and doing a big kick to get through some gaps and then a few doors opened for me,' he looks back on the win in northern France. 'At no point did it ever feel anything crazy. It was only when I saw the video did I see how it looked and it ended up being this iconic sprint.'

McLay could have ended his career at Arkéa-B&B Hotels, but ultimately opted for a final adventure at Visma | Lease a Bike. 'It would have been nice to finish at home with Arkéa, but at the same time I got to play for Barcelona for a year and you can’t ever turn that down. It was pretty cool to work with some of the biggest names in cycling.'