Tristan Charboneau Announces He's Stepping Away From Professional Racing
In a surprising announcement, former GEICO Honda rider Tristan Charboneau announced he is stepping away from professional racing.
In a very honest and open Instagram post, Charboneau admitted that he didn’t take training serious enough during his time as a professional.
“I have a lot of regrets with racing, I wish I would’ve worked harder,” he wrote in part. “I rarely worked out, and when I did workout it was halfass. Always ate the worst food possible for myself as an athlete. I took the talent I had on a motorcycle for granted. I regret that, very much.”
Charboneau, just 20 years old, turned professional with GEICO Honda at the 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross opener at Hangtown. After a brief stint with the team, the Washington native moved to Europe to compete in the EMX250 class in the FIM Motocross World Championship.
In 2017, he finished fifth overall in the championship and won twice (Portugal and Switzerland). He signed with the ASTES4-TESAR Yamaha Official EMX250 team for 2018, but missed the entire season due to a knee injury.
He wrote that he has a job lined up now as a fabrication welder.
Below is his full statement:
This isn’t something I want to post, but I have to so here it goes, I have had an awesome 16 years in this sport. Traveled all around the world, accomplished a lot of goals, seen a lot of amazing places and met a lot of amazing people that I will never forget. Motocross has been the only thing and most important thing to me all of my life. But I’ve come to realize that my body can’t handle that stress anymore. Through all of the broken bones, torn muscles, ligaments, tendons, etc. and always cutting injuries short to get back to racing. I have a lot of regrets with racing, I wish I would’ve worked harder. I rarely worked out, and when I did workout it was halfass. Always ate the worst food possible for myself as an athlete. I took the talent I had on a motorcycle for granted. I regret that, very much. I’ve got a job now close to home as a Fabrication Welder, just trying to enjoy the real world for once. I just want to thank everybody that was always there for me through the good times and the bad times no matter what. My family for always being behind me with love and support. Huge thanks to the Woods family for giving me hospitality and training over the years. The Harrison family for always having my back and helping me out. The Irwin family for the hospitality and wrenching. John Wessling for always trying to push me with training, Mike LaRocco for believing in me and giving me the chance, Frausto, Moore, Bratcher, and many more. It’s been a great career. Thank you to you all.
