A SPECIAL moment with his family in the feed zone then rolling across the line with two of his team-mates - Mark Renshaw's professional cycling career came to a fitting end on Saturday.
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After 16 years as a member of the road peloton, the eighth stage of the 2019 Tour of Britain marked the last time Renshaw will pin on a world tour race number.
Though it did not end with a stage win for himself or one of his Dimension Data team-mates, crossing the line in Manchester after 166 kilometres in 105th, it is a day he will long remember.
His son Will acted as a soigneur and handed him a water bidon on route - Renshaw even pausing to give him a quick hug - before greeting more family members a couple of metres further up the road.
The Bathurst talent went on to roll across the finish line arm-in-arm with team-mates Bernie Eisel and Mark Cavendish.
"We spoke about it before we rolled in. They're great chaps, two of my best team-mates ever, so I'm really happy to finish together with them," Renshaw said.
"I already cried in the race, I won't lie to you.
"It's an emotional time and I think it will get more emotional now in the next 24 hours."
Cavendish, a man who Renshaw spent much of his career working for in bunch sprints, was delighted to share the moment with the Bathurst talent.
"After 10 years, I'm a bit sad ... but it's been wicked mate, all those years, all those memories together," he said.
They were memories created in 17 Grand Tours and 18 Classics over the years.
