Having been unable to find a new team for the 2014 season, veteran Andreas Klöden has decided to end his career. The double Tour runner-up will take a small break for 6 months before determining what to do in the future.

One of the most decorated Tour de France riders in the past decade has decided to end his career as 38-year-old Andreas Klöden has decided that it is time to hang up the bike. Having not been offered a new contract by Trek that takes over the license from his current Radioshack team, the German has been unable to find a new team for 2014 which has influenced on his decision to start a new chapter in his life.

Klöden rose to prominence when he won the Paris-Nice in 2000 and quickly emerged as one of the greatest stage racing talents in the world of cycling. He won the Vuelta al Pais Vasco later that year but quickly found into a role of luxury domestique for teammate and close friend Jan Ullrich. He won a bronze medal behind Ullrich and Alexandre Vinokourov - both were Telekom teammates - at the 2000 Olympics.

Despite being content with the job as a support rider, Klöden finished 2nd behind Lance Armstrong and ahead of teammate Ullrich in the 2004 Tour de France. One year later he crashed out of the race but in 2006 he took over captaincy duties when Ullrich was forced to withdraw due to his involvement in the  Operacion Puerto. Klöden went on to finish 2nd behind Oscar Pereiro and if he hadn't allowed the Spaniard to gain more than 30 minutes on one day, he would probably have been declared winner of the Tour when Floyd Landis was stripped from his title.

When Ullrich ended his career, Klöden signed with Astana and was one of the big favourites for the 2007 Tour de France. A crash dashed his hopes of success and he ended up leaving the race when teammate Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping.

He went back to his domestique role, first for Alberto Contador at Astana, later for Lance Armstrong at Radioshack. In 2011, he had a revival when he finished 2nd in Paris-Nice and won the Vuelta al Pais Vasco for the second time in his career. He was riding very strongly in that year's Tour but had to abandon after a bad crash. In 2012 and 2013, he never found his best legs but showed his class when he finished 2nd on one of the big mountain stages in this year's Tour de France.

Klöden still hasn't decided what his future career will bring. "First I will take a 6-month break, then we'll see," Klöden told Weserkurier.

Klöden's image has been tainted by the repeated allegations of doping. An expert commission which had looked into alleged doping on the T-Mobile team claimed that Klöden had been involved in blood doping during the 2006 Tour de France when he was reported to have travelled to Freiburg for a blood transfusion. Klöden has denied any wrongdoing and has since had a strained relation to both the German cycling federation and the German press. "I have nothing to admit," he told Weserkurier.

Klöden's final race was the USA Pro Challenge in August.