Mika Ahola Retires

Cycle News Staff | January 3, 2012
Five-time World Enduro Champion Mika Ahola announced on January 1 that he was retiring from the sport.The Finnish rider, who won his five championships consecutively starting in 2007, won titles in three different classes (E1, E2 and E3). He is also a seven-time winner of the ISDE with Team Finland and a three-time individual winner of the event.

“I gave it my all, and even though the sport took a lot, it also rewarded me with more than I could have ever imagined when I first started,”Ahola wrote in an email that he sent out on New Year’s Eve.

At 37, Ahola won last year’s E3 title on a Honda to become the oldest-ever World Enduro Champion. He’s also the first rider to win in all three classes of the World Enduro Championship.

“I have fulfilled my ambitions and I feel that it is time to move on and see what else the world has to offer,” he wrote.

Ahola started his career with Husqvarna before moving to TM and VOR. For the 2004 season the Finn went back to Husky for two more seasons before spending the last five years with Honda.