'I finally understood I couldn't get back to where I was' — Ysland retires at 24 after years of battling ulcerative colitis

Anne Dorthe Ysland has announced on Tuesday that she is retiring from professional cycling at the age of 24. The talented Norwegian rider has been dealing with health problems for some time and has now made the decision to put her own wellbeing first. Her teammate Kamilla Aasebø also shared an update after her serious crash at Paris-Roubaix Femmes.

Ysland, who finished thirteenth in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 2022 at just twenty years old, took to Instagram to tell her story. "The doctors advised me to stop professional cycling after I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. For years I tried to show them I could manage, and I received enormous support from the team. But after the season opener in 2026, I understood that this was not going to work for me."

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, meaning Ysland's body has been dealing with persistent inflammation in the intestines throughout this period. While medication controlled her symptoms for a long time, it could not stop the underlying disease from progressing. Over time, the inflammation continued to worsen — even while she was under treatment.

"The medication worked as symptom relief for a long time. It allowed me to train and race, and I thought I had the situation under control. But in reality, the disease kept developing. Eventually, the medication no longer worked the way it had before, and my symptoms started getting worse again," said Ysland, whose final races came in Australia in January, after an earlier break from the sport.

"I had stayed positive for so long, but the feeling of racing in Australia was terrible. I didn't feel like I was even competing. I had worked so hard, I had used every possible medication to prevent symptoms, yet I was one of the first to be dropped."

"I felt awful during training and even worse during races. It was a huge blow that my body wasn't responding to all the hard work and the good period I had been through. That was the moment I started to give up," she explained. "After I returned from Australia, my symptoms became much worse and the medication stopped working as it had before."

"After new hospital tests, I was told that the inflammation in my intestines had never been as severe as it was now — not even during the full course of treatment. That was a turning point for me. I realised that the medication had primarily been managing the symptoms, while the disease itself had continued to develop."

"When the treatment stopped working, I had no choice but to take a step back and listen to my body. This, combined with the fact that I could no longer perform at the required level, made me understand it was time to stop. I finally understood that I would not be able to get back to where I once was."

Ysland shares her story in the hope that fans can understand the invisible struggles that riders face. "Living with my illness is like an invisible disability — one I cannot get rid of. Although I have tried to return to my best, to how I performed in 2022, it is demoralising to see how great the risk is for my life outside of cycling."

"By pushing so hard, I have sometimes ended up in a worse situation than I would want," she said. "I know it is a taboo subject, but when my symptoms are at their worst, I cannot go outside without knowing there is a toilet nearby."