After the merger between Cannondale and Garmin-Sharp has left no room for him on the roster, Koldo Fernandez has decided to end his career. The Basque did his last race at the Vuelta a Espana and won his last race in 2010.

Koldo Fernández de Larrea did his last race in the Vuelta a Espana. The 33-year-old Basque has decided to put an end to his career after 11 seasons, eight with the Euskaltel-Euskadi team and the last three with Garmin-Sharp.

He ends a career that was marked by two phases and lots of crashes. In the first, he rode for Euskaltel-Euskadi, raced as a sprinter and took all eleven victories of his time as a bike rider, most notable a stage win in the 2007 Tirreno-Adriatico. In the second, he was a domestique for Tyler Farrar, Andrew Talansky and Daniel Martin at Garmin-Sharp. However, he has now confirmed to Biciclismo that his time as a professional has come to an end. He did 11 Grand Tours, 6 Vuelta, 4 Giros and a single Tour.

Fernandez joined Euskaltel-Euskadi in 2004 and did not win until the 2007 Tirreno where he finally raised his arms in Civitella del Trento. The following two years, 2008 and 2009, were the best in terms of results, with eight victories. His palmares is completed by three stages in the Volta ao Algarve and one in the Vuelta a Burgos, Vuelta a Castilla y León, Vuelta a Murcia and Euskal Bizikleta, the one-day race Circuito de Getxo (2009) and the Tour de Vendée (2009 and 2010), his last victory.

Crashes have hampered his career, especially in recent years. He hit the deck in the 2009 Eneco Tour and the 2010 Bayern Rundfahrt and Paris Bourges and most recently in the opening team time trials of the 2013 Vuelta and the 2014 Giro.

He has been close to a stage win of the vuelta twice. In 2007 he was second behind Oscar Frerire in Reinosa and in 2010 he was beaten by Farrar in Lorca. In 2008, he was third in a Giro stage behind Mark Cavendish and Daniele Bennati. At the Spanish road race championships, he wa third in 2010 and second in 2011 and 2012. He best classics results were fifth in the 2009 Vattenfall Cyclassics and sixth in the 2009 Gent-Wevelgem.

After he joined Garmin-Sharp, his role changed. He lost weight to become a better climber and even though he was initially signed as a lead-out man for Farrar, he ended as a kind of bodyguard for Talansky and Martin on the flatter stages. He briefly returned to his role as a sprinter when he finished sixth in this year's stage to A Coruna.