IT is an announcement that has been anticipated almost since he stepped atop the podium to collect his sixth Olympic gold medal last August.

But now, finally, after months of speculation, Sir Chris Hoy is expected to announce his retirement in Edinburgh on Thursday.

Hoy has deliberately given pause to ponder the decision. It was never one he was going to make lightly. Unlike Victoria Pendleton, who made no secret of her desire to pedal off into the sunset, Hoy has seemed reticent to finally call time on his cycling career, one spanning his entire adult life to date.

It is not known yet whether Hoy will leave the sport immediately or carry until next summer to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the Glasgow velodrome which bears his name.

He has repeatedly asserted in recent months that would come down, not only to a desire to compete, but whether or not his body could hold up. "That's the biggest thing," he told Herald Sport last year. "If I can physically do it, then I'll be there."

Hoy has been on a self-chosen hiatus since London 2012. He was absent from the World Track Championships in Belarus in February, his only competitive outing a month earlier when he won the Six Days of Rotterdam event over British team-mate Jason Kenny. It may be that will now mark the last time Hoy graces the track in such a capacity, rather than in a much-vaunted swansong in Glasgow.

After all Hoy has achieved – with six Olympic golds and 11 world titles among his glittering palmares – it seems churlish to hold it against him for wanting to walk away at the height of his career, rather than limping into retirement at some future date, a husk of his former giant-slaying self.

But already there are those, however – not least among the Twittersphere – who are lamenting the news, asking with petted lip why Hoy can't just stay on in the sport until Glasgow as if being a world-class cyclist is no more labour intensive than hopping on a bike to whizz around the velodrome a couple of times some 15 months from now.

By the time the Commonwealth Games rolls around, Hoy will be 38. Even for an athlete of his pedigree, there is a watershed when, despite the mind being willing, the body can no longer keep up.

One thing Hoy himself has made abundantly clear is that, even if it is his name above the door of the velodrome in Glasgow's east end, it doesn't give him any more right to compete than anyone else.

"The standard is going up all the time and you have to fight so hard to stay in the team," he told Herald Sport last year. "I wouldn't be turning up just to get the tracksuit, I would be going there to try and win a medal.

"So, if I didn't feel I was in line for winning a medal, I wouldn't want to take away the place of someone else who would be getting the opportunity to compete for the first time at a home Games."

To that end, Hoy's departure from the sport does not herald a door closing, but the opening of another for a new generation who have been motivated to follow in his footsteps and attempt to emulate that global success.

Waiting in the wings is a wealth of Scottish cycling talent, among them John Paul and Callum Skinner, who train together at British Cycling's Olympic Academy in Manchester.

Skinner, 20, from Edinburgh, is the reigning British national sprint champion, while Paul, 19, from Lybster, Caithness, was 2011 junior world sprint and a double European junior champion. Both cite watching Hoy win gold in the kilo at the 2004 Olympic Games as their inspiration for taking up cycling. He, in turn, tips them as stars of the future and ones to watch in Glasgow.

Then there is the legion of ordinary Scots for whom sharing in Hoy's achievements has encouraged them to get on their own bikes, pedalling around in their thousands, the gold medal-winning commentary from Athens, Beijing and London ringing in countless ears on the daily commute.

As for Hoy, it's unlikely he will be reaching for the pipe and slippers just yet. Already he has dipped a toe in life beyond competitive cycling, not least unveiling an eponymous bike range that will go on sale next month.

Motorsport is a huge passion and Hoy has talked previously about his love of F1 and rally driving, even owning a "little track car" himself. He is known for organising race days where he and fellow cyclists, including Olympic gold medallists Kenny and Ed Clancy, battle it out at eyewatering speeds in excess of those that even Hoy's 27-inch thighs could generate.

His leadership skills have long been hailed among the British Cycling camp, so a career in motivational speaking seems a shoo-in. However, he may have other ideas: Hoy said recently he reckoned that working as a TV producer could be fun while, with an all-round Mr Nice Guy status to rival that of David Beckham, a slew of lucrative brand endorsements will surely be knocking down his door.

Then there is the inevitable Hollywood treatment with Hoy having joked last year that he would like to see funnyman Will Ferrell play him in a big screen adaptation. His own career, riding BMX, lest we forget, began at the age of six after watching the film ET: the Extra Terrestrial.

Ultimately, whatever path he chooses matters not a jot: Hoy's legendary status was cemented a long time ago.