19.11.2022 – source: Facebook
After 25 years of cycling Søren Nissen has made the decision to call it a day! After much deliberation, 2022 is his last year as a professional mountain bike rider. He started cycling in 1998, together with a childhood best friend in his local club.
Original quote from Søren Nissen: “In the beginning I gave everything to road cycling after being inspired by the big stars in the late 90s. Marco Pantani, Jan Ullrich and Lance Armstrong were the top riders and my biggest idols. For more than 13 years I pursued the dream of becoming the next star in road cycling. I did my best and also had some good results. The stage win at the Tour of Slovakia is one of those results that I still remember well. I started with Continental teams in Luxembourg and later in Italy. That’s how I saw and experienced so much of the world.
However, I was still missing the last good results that could have taken me further in my career as a road cyclist. After the 2009 season, I made the decision not to pursue my dream of road cycling any further. I moved back to Denmark, took a “normal” day job and thought this was the end of my cycling story.”
In 2011 he started mountain biking, he moved back to Luxembourg and ended up in the Italian UCI MTB team “Corratec Elettroveneta”. During a 2-year stay in Italy, he had the opportunity to participate in all major mountain bike marathon events in the world. From the 2014 season he started to organize himself. Since 2018 he has represented his new country Luxembourg 11 years in mountain biking, focusing mainly on the long distance marathon races.
His career and achievements:
- 10 national championship titles in the 3 main off-road disciplines (XCM, XC, CX) (2 titles in Denmark and 8 titles in Luxembourg).
- 4 UCI XCM World Series races.
- Overall and stage wins in some of the biggest MTB stage races in the world (Swiss Epic, Brazil Ride, Belgian Mountainbike Challenge, Crocodile Trophy, Vuelta Ibiza, La Santa Lanzarote, Samarathon).
- Over the years he has won almost 100 victories in races all over the world: Costa Rica, Iceland, Israel, America, Australia, Africa, Brazil and Mexico, Germany, Belgium, France, Netherlands.
Original statement Søren Nissen: “A funny fact that would speak for the downside of my years in cycling: I calculated that I spent almost two years of my life in hotels around the world”.
Now 38 years old, he decided to retire athletically, but without noting that in one way or another, however, he will always be active.
Original quote from Søren Nissen: “And if I could, I would definitely do it all again!
And what’s next? I have a few ideas and plans for the future, how it should go on. Anyone who knows me well also knows that I’m not the type to just sit around and watch the trees grow.
Guys and girls – that’s it for now”.
