Former world champion track cyclist Jon Dibben has announced his retirement from the sport, aged 26.

The British rider, who won the points race world title in front of a home crowd in 2016, revealed the decision after failing to secure a contract extension for the 2021 season.

"I’m now retired - or retiring, at the end of this year," he said on the podcast PodCrash, hosted by ex-teammates Callum Skinner and Phil Hindes.

"Yes, you’re retiring, but in a way you’re just stopping racing. It’s not like a normal retirement, where you’ve been doing one job in a place and they buy you a present and you go on holiday for the rest of your life; it’s more you’ve stopped racing and it's onto the next thing."

Dibben became an established world level track rider before moving onto the road in 2017, where he signed with Team Sky.

He went to Madison Genesis for the 2019 season and then ended his career this year at Lotto-Soundal.

The 2020 Giro d’Italia in October was Dibben’s final race as a pro rider despite being just his first Grand Tour.

And the Southampton-born racer spoke about how he really took in the last full stage of the Giro before the closing time trial in Milan.

"It was a gorgeous day with bluebird skies, the sun was almost setting in the background, and we were up at 2000 metres so there was snow on the side of the roads," he said in reference to the mountain stage up to Sestriere.

"I was just sort of finishing the stage - I knew we’d made the time cut - so I dropped off the back of the gruppetto to just be by myself.

"I was sort of riding in, for those last few minutes, in the sunset, in the snowy mountains, thinking 'well, this is probably my last race because tomorrow will just be over in flash'. It’s probably one of the very few moments on a bike that I’ve savoured."