British under-23 rider Cormac Nisbet has said quitting cycling has brought "a bit of freedom and happiness" back into his life.
The 19-year-old, who spent this year on Soudal Quick-Step's development squad, announced his decision to step away from the sport on Sunday evening, writing in an Instagram post that the lifestyle "didn't bring me happiness".
Speaking to Cycling Weekly, Nisbet said the response to his post has been "pretty overwhelming", but he has "no regrets" about making the decision.
"It's a big one," he said. "Once you make it, there's no going back. You can't undo it. I wanted to be certain of it.
"When I look back at it, I realise that I don't think that professional lifestyle suits me that much, and it's such a dangerous sport. Nowadays, if you're not 100% committed, there's no real point in risking your life at the Conti level to pursue it."
At the start of this season, Nisbet said he was involved in a lot of crashes that left him at a low point. He was due to stay with Soudal Quick-Step's development arm for another year, with a view to then turning professional, but has now ended his contract.
"It's obviously a massive decision to make, but ultimately, there's a lot more to life than bike racing. If it doesn’t make you happy, and you’re not enjoying it anymore, then you’re not going to be a great bike rider," he said.
Part of his reason for quitting, he explained, came from a lack of "mental stimulation".
"It's really hard to stay stimulated because everything's done for you," Nisbet said. "You have your own sponsors through the team, your coaching is done, you have no control over the people around you in that sense of things. I think some people really enjoy that, the fact that everything's done for them and all they have to do is worry about riding their bike. But I felt I needed something more mentally stimulating, and I wasn't getting that through cycling."
Another thing that played on his mind was the "danger side" of the sport.
"Just being in the peloton, I've always had a bit of fear," he said. "We've had multiple tragic deaths over the last couple of years, across all levels of cycling, and very little seems to be done about it. There's a lot of things that I feel could be implemented by governing bodies, or those in power, that would probably make the sport a lot safer.
"There's no perfect answer to it. I kind of fear that the sport could go into a phase like Formula 1 went into in the 80s and 90s, where serious injury and death start becoming common."
Last June, Bahrain Victorious rider Gino Mäder died after he crashed on a descent at the Tour de Suisse. The sport witnessed another tragedy this July, when Norwegian André Drege died after a crash at the Tour of Austria.
"Inherently, cycling is going to be a dangerous sport," Nisbet said. "I guess you can take that risk-reward balance if you're in the top 10, 15, 20 riders in the world, earning multi-million [pound] salaries and having really good treatment, but the reality is I didn't believe I could reach that level in particular."
After finishing the Tour Alsace last month, the teenager spent a few weeks at home in Buckinghamshire contemplating the future of his career. "It had been brewing for a while," he said. "I wasn't getting happiness from my racing for a while."
Since stepping away, he says, "I feel as though I’ve got a bit of freedom and happiness back into my life. I always wanted to stop at a point where, once I'd made that decision, I would still go and ride my bike for fun the next day.
"I did that Instagram post that evening, and the next morning, I went out for a two-hour spin with a mate and just enjoyed cycling. I didn't want to lose that love for the sport.”
Nisbet explained he is now "casting a lot of fishing lines out" to see what career he might pursue next. Alongside his training and racing, he has run his own YouTube channel documenting his life in cycling, and has collected almost 90,000 views across his videos. He also has his own video-editing business, and is considering going to university to study economics.
"I still love watching cycling, I still love riding my bike, and I didn't want that to be lost if I persevered and really fell out of love with cycling," he said. "I've run out of desire to make it to the WorldTour ranks and to the professional ranks, but I still love riding and racing my bike. It's just looking at it from a different perspective."
