Four months after announcing her retirement from professional cycling, Australian champion Grace Brown has concluded her career with a win at the Crono des Nations individual time trial in France.
Brown, who represents the ARA Australian Cycling Team, dismounted from her bike on Sunday saying: “It’s done. It’s time for the rest of life.”
On social media, she celebrated the end of her stellar career, writing:
“My head is swimming with thoughts, and my heart is in knots of emotion about this last race. I can’t quite describe the joy and sadness I feel, all in one.”
“It was an honour to win wearing the World Champ rainbow bands on my Olympic Champ gold bike. A perfect image of this perfect year 🤩🌈 I have more to share about my retirement, but for now, I want to say a big thank you to the whole @fdj_suez team, who made my final race day incredibly special. It’s really hard to say goodbye. I will miss you all so much!”
The 32-year old Victorian native announced her retirement in June by posting a video on social media, saying she would see out the rest of the 2024 season with her UCI Women’s WorldTour team FDJ-Suez before calling it a day.
“I know that I could have many more years in cycling but I really miss my life in Australia with my husband, my family, my friends and it’s something that is harder and harder to leave,” she said in the video.
“I’m really content with everything I’ve achieved, it’s far beyond what I ever expected. I’m really excited for the next chapter of my life but at the same time I’m really sad to leave this world behind.”
“But it’s not over yet I still have some really big goals that I want to achieve this year. And I will continue racing with FDJ-Suez until the end of the season. So please continue your support and let’s see if I can sign off in style.”
Brown kicked off her final season in January this year by winning the Australian national time trials in Mount Helen. In April, she won the Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes one-day classic in Belgium, describing the victory as “an amazing day.”
“I wanted to be in that break,” Brown said in the post-race interview. “We always know that a strong break can go in the middle section of a race. I felt on my limit on the climbs towards the end, but once I survived Roche-aux-Faucons I thought, ‘it’s on’.”
A few weeks later, she achieved two stage wins and a victory at the three-day Bretagne Tour stage race in France before going on to win the individual time trial at the Paris Olympics — Australia’s first Olympic gold in road cycling in twenty years.
She didn’t stop there. Last month, she won the world time trial championship title in Switzerland for the first time in her career, after finishing second in 2022 and 2023.
“It honestly feels like I’m in a bit of a dream these last couple of months,” Brown said after her win. “These big goals that seem ambitious but I’ve just been able to get out on the road and do it and realise those dreams.”
A few days later, she was part of the squad that won gold in the mixed team time trial world at UCI world championships in Zurich.
“A lot of people are saying that,” she added. “I just feel really, really lucky to have had the end of my career like this. It’s special.”
Brown began her sporting career as a runner before transitioning to cycling in 2015 due to injury. She started racing with St Kilda Cycling Club in Melbourne and made her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, finishing fourth in the time trial.
In 2022, she won gold in the women’s road time trial at her first Commonwealth Games appearance in Birmingham.
She placed at her first UCI Road World Championships podium in Wollongong, and last year came in second at the world championship title at Glasgow. This year, she won her fourth national time trial title, after also winning in 2019, 2022 and 2023.