Six time Austrian Champion and former European champion Markus Pekoll has called time on his World Cup career after ten full seasons on the circuit.

Pekoll will still race Val di Sole and Cairns but he will not be returning to race in 2018. With 70 races under his belt, Pekoll never quite reached the podium but was scoring top tens as recently as Vallnord last year. He has also been relentlessly consistent having only missed two races in his career and having DNFs in another two. He did not finish outside of the top 20 in World Championships from 2010 to 2016.

What the future holds for the MS Mondraker rider is uncertain. “I will take my time to look at all the options, but I’m pretty anxious to see what’s now coming at me.” Markus is once more in mountain bike race action at the IXS Downhill Cup Final in Leogang and the Austrian enduro championships at the end of September. This will not be the start to a second career though, as he makes clear: “It will be just for fun!”

Pekoll has been on the MS team (both with Evil and Mondraker) since 20110. Markus Stockl said: “We always wanted an Austrian rider on the team as this was how we started… in 2010 we met Markus in a meeting where he was really convincing and we gave him a ride. We never regretted this decision as Markus had some great success with the team. Not having him on the team anymore will be a loss, but I understand his decision and his new focus as being a dad – good luck for you and your family.“