Teams & Riders Team Movistar-thread

[tobydawq]

I think we might have different defitions of "really good first half"... unless you mean "really good" in the sense of "loyal helper".

I think most people have different definitions of everything than SRF.

 

[DNP-Old]

Ivan Sosa had a really good first half of the season, but wasn’t selected for any GT in 2023.

A mysterious rider.

Until now, he rode no TdF. And in his three GTs, his final GC and best stage rankings were poor. Hard to imagine, but true…

Not hard to imagine at all. He is godawful at everything that is not a climb. Even that is a stretch, because the stage can't be longer than 150 kilometers. And even that is a stretch, because the stage would have be a unipuerto. He doesn't have endurance, he doesn't have stamina, he doesn't have an engine.

In a world where every stage was 150 kilometers of _____________/ in near perfect conditions with no wind, Sosa would be feared by the Gods themselves. Remco, Vingegaard and Pogacar would tremble before him. Unfortunately for Sosa, cycling isn't like that.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Iván Sosa has all the same flaws as Kevin Rivera. He's a better rider than Rivera, hence why he's still on the World Tour when Rivera stalled out at ProConti and after RusVelo got their licence revoked he couldn't find a pro deal and went back to Central America, but he'll always flatter to deceive as a result and he's clearly regressed from his initial breakout. Classic Unzué buy-low candidate as it seems Ineos had given up on him and he was still young enough to be worth a deal, but while there have been moments of class, the last two years have mostly shown why Ineos gave up on him and those performances that showcase him have been against some lacklustre fields in races like Asturias and Langkawi.

There's still a good rider in there, but his limitations are now well known and have to be worked around to get anything out of him. He'll destroy things like the Asia Tour where those kind of stages DNP describes proliferate, but falter in a WT péloton.

 

[pastronef]

Saudi Telecom becomes the main Telefonica (Movistar) shareholder. they probably won't have budget problems

 

[ice&fire]

Saudi Telecom becomes the main Telefonica (Movistar) shareholder. they probably won't have budget problems

The deal is not yet closed. The news has taken everybody by surprise. EU officials have stated today that EU regulations provide mechanisms to veto those operations in order to prevent strategic European companies from falling under control of non-European actors. The Spanish Government, after being in part responsible of the low share prices that made the acquisition operation rather affordable, and being totally clueless about it, will try to avoid it.

 

[Escarabajo]

Movistar making some anouncements. It looks like they wre waiting to fish something from the Jumbo-Soudal merger and now that it is over they have to finilize the roster:

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/movistar-unveil-12-contract-extensions-in-one-announcement/

 

[yaco]

I also suggest that Ineos and Movistar had discussions about a merger, hence the delay in filling their rosters.

 

[Sciatic]

I also suggest that Ineos and Movistar had discussions about a merger, hence the delay in filling their rosters.

That would be an interesting cultural exchange

 

[Koronin]

Movistar has announced several signing over the past couple of days including this one that I found interesting.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1715004875350683720

View: https://twitter.com/Movistar_Team/status/1715004875350683720

 

[Valv.Piti]

That would be an interesting cultural exchange

Sure, but Ineos has had and has lots of spanish talking riders, they have spanish DS' and trainers. Wouldn't be that unfathomable at all.

 

[Sciatic]

Sure, but Ineos has had and has lots of spanish talking riders, they have spanish DS' and trainers. Wouldn't be that unfathomable at all.

I didn’t mean language or national differences, but rather the way the two organizations are perceived from the outside: one fastidious (supposedly) and rigid in training programs and race tactics (the Ineos mountain train) the other more laissez faire. But they’re just cliches I know, doesn’t mean they couldn’t work well together.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Sure, but Ineos has had and has lots of spanish talking riders, they have spanish DS' and trainers. Wouldn't be that unfathomable at all.

There's also Nicolas Portal, Rigoberto Urán, Xabier Zandio, Vasil Kiryienka, David López, Beñat Intxausti, Jonathan Castroviejo, Andrey Amador and Richard Carapaz who've transferred from Caisse/Movistar (since the first three transferred before the team became Movistar) to Sky/Ineos, and Alex Dowsett, Mikel Landa and Iván Sosa who've gone the other way.

This also should include Dario Cataldo who has ridden for both teams but with a stint between the two at Astana, who are possibly the only team close to having done as many transfers with Sky/Ineos, thanks primarily to the Acquadro connection especially at that point where he'd managed to anger enough teams that the two were the only ones still willing to deal with him, with Mikel Landa and Diego Rosa going from Astana to Sky/Ineos and Dario Cataldo, Lenoardo Basso, Sebastián Henao and Gianni Moscon going the other way, plus David de la Cruz, Davide Martinelli, Joe Dombrowski and of course Mark Cavendish who have rode for both.

 

[Blanco]

And now Imanol Erviti as Ineos DS. Movistar really messed this up.

 

[RedheadDane]

Interesting piece about their new-found cobbled classics skills.

A tale of identical twins and a jovial Brazilian rider: Movistar’s Classics revolution

The Spanish team is beginning to assemble squads that could challenge for many more significant results in the cobbled Classics

www.rouleur.cc

 

[tobydawq]

Interesting piece about their new-found cobbled classics skills.

A tale of identical twins and a jovial Brazilian rider: Movistar’s Classics revolution

The Spanish team is beginning to assemble squads that could challenge for many more significant results in the cobbled Classics

www.rouleur.cc

The identical twins are not Mathias and Emma Norsgaard? Huh...

 

[RedheadDane]

The identical twins are not Mathias and Emma Norsgaard? Huh...

Given the two-year age-gap between them, that would have been one heck of a birth!

 

[tobydawq]

Given the two-year age-gap between them, that would have been one heck of a birth!

What about the two-metre height-gap?

(I know they're not twins...)

 

[RedheadDane]

What about the two-metre height-gap?

Two-metre height-gap?
Mathias is tall, but he's not quite 3.72 metres.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Two-metre height-gap?
Mathias is tall, but he's not quite 3.72 metres.

I believe he's exactly 3 metres taller than Eider Merino.