Fredrik Kessiakoff had some bad days during his career and some of his bad days began when he was with Astana where he had to face a series of challenges, both with his team management and his health. Due to these challenges, he retired earlier than he had envisaged and he definitely did not see that one coming. After a win in the Vuelta time trial in 2012, the 34-year old at the time struggled with the rest of his career.
Kessiakoff crashed and ended his race on the ground during the Strade Bianche in March 2014. Despite warning from one of the team doctors, who told him not to compete. Kessiakoff still being sick and not fully recovered, managed to participate in a few more races like the Giro del Trentino and Tour de Romandie. This increased the already complicated and infected wound. He could not help the situation despite putting in his best.
He was forced by his team a few weeks after his injury to participate in Volta a Catalunya while he was still recovering. Of course, he got sick again before the end. Aside from the pressure of his team, he was said to have received letters from the board which contained disturbing messages. There were complaints in the letter that he was doing badly in competitions. The team management wrote to express their anger and demanded that he continue racing instead of giving him time to recover. He said that all the letters and threats he got drained his motivation and that he started thinking about quitting cycling.
Fredrik, who just wanted to prove his team wrong that he was not just lying on the couch and being lazy, was threatened that he had to start performing or have his salary cut. Of course, the letters frightened him and didn’t help his performance.