Olympic silver medallist Emma Pooley has announced she will retire from cycling after she competes for England in Sunday’s road race at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The 31-year-old London-born rider, who won a time-trial silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 after helping Nicole Cooke to road race gold, made the announcement on the Rouleur cycling website yesterday morning.

The 2010 world road time-trial champion told Rouleur: “You have to go sometime. I considered retiring after the London Olympics but I didn’t feel like I was ready.

“I’ve been mulling it over and came to the conclusion that the Commonwealth Games is the perfect opportunity — it’s a big event, it’s almost at home, and I want to go out properly, when I’ve planned it and have no regrets.”

Pooley opted out of the Great Britain team in 2013 to complete her PhD in geotechnical engineering.

She also won the Lausanne Marathon last year and also competed in triathlons before returning to cycling full-time in 2014 with the Belgian Lotto-Belisol team.

Pooley, who won three stages of the women’s Giro d’Italia earlier this month, added: “I’m very lucky in that I can make that decision.

“For a lot of people, the choice is made for them, either by injury or team dynamics. It’s a positive choice.

“After the first Giro stage win, there was a little bit of me that thought about carrying on until Rio 2016 but the decision was made.

“Maybe I had a good Giro because the weight was off my shoulders. Maybe it was the last chance saloon.”

She is to race in tomorrow’s road time-trial before supporting Lizzie Armitstead’s bid for glory in Sunday’s road race.

“Looking back, there are so many highlights,” Pooley said.

“I’m super lucky to have been a pro cyclist but there are other things I dream of doing as well. 

“I’m 31, which is a good age for endurance sports, and I’m sure I can do better in triathlon if I focus on it. I’m so excited about running through mountains.”

British Cycling president Bob Howden led the tributes to Pooley.

“Emma has been a tremendous ambassador for cycling both on and off the bike and for women’s sport in general, never far from the action wherever she applied her undoubted talents,” Howden said.