I’m a former Tour de France star and national champion… now I’m making my own way in new career as coffee shop owner

FORMER Tour de France rider Christian Meier quit cycling and now has a new career as a coffee shop owner.

The Canadian, 39, retired from the sport back in 2016 following an impressive career at the top level.

GettyChristian Meier rode the 2014 Tour de France[/caption]

Instagram / @espressomafiaMeier, centre, ditched cycling at the age of 31 and now owns a coffee shop[/caption]

He won the Canadian national road race title in 2008, before he went on to appear in five Grand Tours – the last of which was the 2014 Tour de France where he placed 121st.

While his best years may well have been ahead of him, he opted to hang up his bike at the age of just 31.

But the years that have followed have seen Meier pursue several new career paths.

They have included ultra-running in which he won the prestigious 150km TDS race in Chamonix last year.

He has also founded a sustainable clothing brand alongside English businessman called Tom Austen.

But it is the acquisition of two coffee shops in Girona – where he now lives – that caught the eye as the most unusual of Meier’s post-cycling pursuits.

And the Canadian, who runs La Fabrica Girona and Espresso Mafia alongside his wife, Amber, explained the decision to leave cycling for new ventures as something fuelled by “getting too comfortable”.

Speaking to BBC Sport, he said: “It got to the point in cycling where I started to feel like I was doing the same races, and getting too comfortable.

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“l felt like I was no longer growing. At the same time, with coffee, everything was so new and so young and there was huge scope for me to grow and move forward.”

He then went on to add: “I think it’s that Buddhist concept of just having a child’s mind more in your life.

“A child’s mind is full of curiosity; it has not yet had things imposed about what you can and can’t do.

“As a child, your imagination is: ‘I want to go to the moon’. But most people maybe pick something easier to do, you know?

“But I just have a mindset of firstly being a little naive and then, just going for it.

“Sometimes being naive helps you make those steps and then you figure out the roadblocks as you go.”

Meier wanted more to life than simply being a professional cyclistGetty

Instagram / @espressomafiaHe owns Espresso Mafia in Girona[/caption]