Miguel Martinez, the dominant rider in the world of XC racing in the late 90’s has retired from professional racing at the age of 30. Martinez heralded a new era in XC racing with his light build and tremendous early success. In 2000 he was Olympic MTB champion and although he later spent a couple of season road racing, he spent the last few seasons racing solely off-road. His last race was the Roc D’Azur race in France where he rode round at an easy pace escorted by his friends Julien Absalon and Cédric Ravanel, among others.