37 year old bows out with goosebumps and a ceremonial win in Rotterdam
In the midst of the Rotterdam Six Day on Friday, Dutch hardman, Koos Moerenhout, celebrated his retirement as part of a ‘Friends of Koos’ omnium, which he of course won, over friends that included Maarten den Bakker, Michael Boogerd, Servais Knaven, and Steven de Jongh.
The Dutchman, who recently took 6th in the World Championship time trial and then followed that with 13th in the road race, admitted that he had goosebumps in his farewell celebration in Rotterdam.
“This is a magical moment. I’ve never been much of a winner or a real leader, but when you get such a farewell, it really is fantastic,” said the 37 year old to De Telegraaf.
Far from being washed up, Moerenhout enjoyed a solid 2010 campaign complete with a stage victory in the Eneco Tour’s queen stage and eventually second overall behind young German talent, Tony Martin. Moerenhout also managed 2nd place time trial finishes at both the Tour of Belgium and the Netherlands National TT, and a 6th in the Tour de France’s long time trial.
Moerenhout’s first got a sniff at professional racing as a stagiaire with Motorola in 1994 and officially kicked off his professional career with his country’s dominant professional team, Rabobank, in 1996. After four seasons with Rabobank, he moved over to Farm Frites, which then became Domo-Farm Frites, then Lotto-Domo, and finally Davitamon-Lotto. Moerenhout excused himself from the Lotto system in 2006 to make the unfortunate move to the ill-fated Phonak team, and once the team folded, returned to Rabobank to finish out his career.
The two-time Dutch road champion didn’t get to spend much time as an unemployed retiree. As his contract as a racer for Rabobank ran out on December 31st, he took up his new position with Rabobank as part of the squad’s management team.