THREE-time Olympian and reigning national road champion Jack Bobridge has succumbed to the effects of rheumatoid arthritis and retired from cycling.

In an exclusive interview with The Advertiser, Bobridge said racing and training at the highest level had taken a heavy toll on his body and it was no longer fun.

The 27-year-old will not be in Ballarat to defend his national championship in January and is already moving on with life after cycling in Perth.

He retires with two silver medals from three Olympics, four Commonwealth Games gold medals, four world championships, and still holds the 4km individual pursuit world record that many thought was unbreakable.

He left Europe and a professional contract with Trek-Segafredo in September citing family reasons and fatigue following the Rio Olympics in August.

Bobridge was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2010 but has been able to manage the chronic condition while still riding. Now its mounting toll and a readiness to move on with the next phase of life has led him to retire.

“Since the (Rio) Games and backing off the training and racing load I’ve found my arthritis has been 100 per cent better and I’ve been able to get off all meds (medication) as well,” he said.

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media_camera Jack Bobridge is congratulated after winning the first stage of the 2015 Tour Down Under. Picture: Sarah Reed

I’m still on the bike three times a week but in terms of the arthritis it’s been way less stressful on the joints and body.

“I chose to come back to Australia last year to concentrate on the track, and when I went back into the WorldTour this year it was one last stab at it.

“I don’t really care what anyone else thinks I could have done or what I’ve done, I only went back to Europe this year to finalise things in my own head and I found it wasn’t enjoyable with the arthritis and the pain.

“The stuff you have to go through in the Grand Tours (2016 Giro d’Italia) and racing, it’s just not fun.

“There’s pain in my feet, hands and my back. When you get the flare ups your body is fighting it and a Grand Tour is hard enough as it is.

“Obviously I love the bike, the racing and the lifestyle, but I’ve got a two-year-old (daughter) now and I could drag on for three or four years but come 40 or 50 the damage it’s going to do and the arthritis in my body ... I don’t see sport is worth it.

“I’ve had a good career, I’ve got good results and done Comm Games, Olympics and worlds, road and track, I’ve lived a good life in Europe and to me the decision is pretty easy, and since I made it I haven’t thought twice about it.

“I haven’t thought ‘am I doing the right thing?’ and I suppose after a few months of not racing if you haven’t got that hunger I guess you know it’s the right decision.”

media_camera Australian cyclist Jack Bobridge's during his attempt to break the hour world record in 2015. He came heartbreakingly close, but failed by just 500m. Picture: Ian Currie

Adelaide born and raised, Bobridge is now living in Perth, where he is about to open his new gym and cycling fitness centre.

He says although 27 might be relatively young to retire from the sport, he is content knowing he got the most out of himself in a 10-year career.

Bobridge had a reputation as a kamikaze-style rider with an all-or-nothing mentality that saw him break the IP world record in 2011, win a stage of the Tour Down Under and two national road titles at Buninyong, and come agonisingly close to breaking the world hour record last year.

“The races I have won have been by what some people would call stupidity, but other people call it ballsy or whatever else,” he said.

“It’s always been by not holding anything back and that was my motto or the way I was brought up, just leave it all out there.”

He says his proudest moment on the bike was breaking Chris Boardman’s IP world record with a time of 4mins 11 secs in Sydney.

“That over everything was pretty special because I remember the first track worlds I did (American) Taylor Phinney beat me and we went to an after-party and he said to me ‘why don’t you just control yourself in the first 2km and you could probably win?’

“And I said ‘well, if I keep doing this every time I get further and further, so what about the day when I don’t die and I ride fast?’

“In Sydney that morning that’s what I’d been training and racing for.

“With world records — I don’t know anyone who can say they’re going to go to this track on this day and break a world record, those things just happen when everything comes to play on the day.

“I’d been going to worlds for three years, nationals, Oceanias, I lost a shit load of races to be able to break a world record by riding what some people called stupid.”

The obvious thing missing from his career is an Olympic gold medal after three attempts at beating Great Britain in the team pursuit on the track.

Bobridge and Australia were fourth in Beijing in 2008, second in London in 2012 and second in Rio this year.

media_camera Jack Bobridge of Australia celebrates after winning the men's 4000m individual pursuit final at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games in 2014. Picture: Clive Rose (Getty Images)

“I think I’ve just come to the realisation that it didn’t happen,” Bobridge said.

“Three attempts, this year was only 0.8 of a second off, London was three seconds and Beijing we were fourth.

“But it’s funny because my grandfather was a state champion, my old man was national champion and I was world champion — I can’t jump two in front, I could only jump one.

“Maybe one of my kids can add the Olympic gold.”

He said he would not be lining up in Ballarat as the defending road champion in January because to even be there he would have to commit to a full summer of training.

“I’ve never gone to Buninyong just to roll around or be a number or because I’ve had the jersey,” said Bobridge who won the green and gold jersey in both 2011 and 2016.

“I go there to win and if I don’t think I’m in the form or condition to win, I won’t turn up.

“To win Buninyong and have good form you need to start three months out and it’s hard work; you have to put in some serious hours to get around there.”

His focus now is on the “Bobridge Cycle and Fitness Studio” which he hopes will open in Perth in mid-December when renovations are complete.

It will offer spin bikes for cyclists from beginner to advanced and virtual trainers for the more serious riders, which simulate cycling on a TV screen.

“I’m going from being an athlete and being coached to the other side and trying to help other people reach their goals,” Bobridge said.

JACK BOBRIDGE CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

media_camera Australia’s Michael Hepburn, Jack Bobridge, Sam Welsford and Alexander Edmondson pose on the podium after winning silver in the team pursuit racing at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. Picture: Eric Feferberg (AFP)

TWO Olympic silver medals (2012, 2016)

TWO national road championships (2011, 2016)

FOUR Commonwealth gold medals (2010, 2014)

THREE track world championship gold medals (2010, 2011)

ONE road world championship gold medal (2009)

ONE individual pursuit world record (2011)

TWO professional road stages at Tour Down Under and Eneco Tour (2010, 2015)

reece.homfray@news.com.au