Teams & Riders Team Movistar-thread

[Publiuszam]

They haven't been on the podium at all this year.
Unless you count the ladies, and I assume you weren't.

Thank you. Yes, I was asking about the gente team. They need the old man to rescue them.again.it looks like.

 

[Sciatic]

They haven't been on the podium at all this year.
Unless you count the ladies, and I assume you weren't.

Cool, so they are leading in the “Most top tens without a podium” competition?

 

[Koronin]

Cool, so they are leading in the “Most top tens without a podium” competition?

Well they do have a few top 10's.

 

[Escarabajo]

So what is going on with Movistar this start of the season?
They don't look that good. And Lopez recuperating from Covid.

 

[Blanco]

So what is going on with Movistar this start of the season?
They don't look that good. And Lopez recuperating from Covid.

They didn't looked good last year either, why are you surprised?

 

[Netserk]

No Landa, no party.

 

[Koronin]

They made a mistake in no re-signing Landa.

 

[Blanco]

And they let the time to do the damage to Valverde..

 

[Koronin]

And they let the time to do the damage to Valverde..

True. Here's an article interview (obviously in Spanish). In this it certainly sounds like his issue at this point is loss of motivation and nothing physical. Tell me if you get a different impression.

Alejandro Valverde, cuando el campeón sabe que se hace mayor

El ciclista murciano ya no pesa en el pelotón, donde mandan los jóvenes prodigios, y a los casi 41 años piensa en el adiós

elpais.com

 

[Blanco]

Honestly, I was joking a bit
It is probably true that he lost motivation, but it is also impossible that he physically didn't lost nothing. The man is 41, time waits for no one.
What I hope is that he still got strength to do couple of big, memorable performances. A farewell win with a stage at Vuelta would be really nice.

 

[Koronin]

Honestly, I was joking a bit
It is probably true that he lost motivation, but it is also impossible that he physically didn't lost nothing. The man is 41, time waits for no one.
What I hope is that he still got strength to do couple of big, memorable performances. A farewell win with a stage at Vuelta would be really nice.

I don't disagree with you. At 41 he's had to lose a little physically. I really hope he has enough left to be able to do something special for one stage at la Vuelta. From what he's saying it really sounds like it's a lot more mental and motivation than it is physical.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

Signing Landa was one of the causes of Movistar's problems. Big money for little results. Mas was better than him last year, anyhow.

To me, that El Pais article shows Valverde in a good mood. He's saying that, yes, now he has a little less motivation. Instead of being 100% devoted to cycling, now he enjoys the scenery and thinks about doing other things. I'm glad he's enjoying his last year.
He also says that the lack of results are mixture of motivation, age and a younger generation that is stronger and more focused on staying in top condition throughout the season. He's probably right.

 

[Pinot's goat]

Signing Landa was one of the causes of Movistar's problems. Big money for little results. Mas was better than him last year, anyhow.

To me, that El Pais article shows Valverde in a good mood. He's saying that, yes, now he has a little less motivation. Instead of being 100% devoted to cycling, now he enjoys the scenery and thinks about doing other things. I'm glad he's enjoying his last year.
He also says that the lack of results are mixture of motivation, age and a younger generation that is stronger and more focused on staying in top condition throughout the season. He's probably right.

Mas was not better than Landa, he has been more of the same which is finishing just off the podium.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

2 GT top 5s > 1 GT top 5. Pretty straightforward.

 

[Moviestar]

I believe they hit the rock bottom last season. This season there are at least some concrete bright spots for the future: the development of Jorgenson, Gonzalo Serrano who has the potential to be a kind of Aranburu 2.0 (good in the Omloop and the hilly stages of Tirreno), Soler who gets better everyday in Tirreno and Cortina was very strong on the Kwaremont in the Omloop, which could be a marker for his classics campaign.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Abner González was 20th to Chalet Reynard in his first pro race, so that's not too shabby.

 

[Pinot's goat]

2 GT top 5s > 1 GT top 5. Pretty straightforward.

4th at Giro and 6th at Tour > 5th at Tour and 5th at Vuelta

 

[BlueRoads]

Okay. I know nothing about young riders, so maybe this is really part of a plan for the future which will work out well. But while other teams have young riders crashing through the ceiling, Movistar doesn't even have a podium spot this season. They are a catastrophe. I used to like them a lot and Jorgenson seems to be a very nice guy whom I wish the best, but so far I really don't know how you can talk these results up.

 

[Valv.Piti]

This is just post Indurain, pre Valverde Banesto with Enric Mas being Paco Mancebo while bringing some decent talent up.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

4th at Giro and 6th at Tour > 5th at Tour and 5th at Vuelta

Not sure what Landa 2019 have to do with anything. There was a comment that not resigning Landa was a mistake.
It wasn't a mistake since Mas 2020, though not great, was still better than Landa in 2020. The mistake was signing Landa in the first place.

 

[Koronin]

Jorgenson continued to show he has some promise. Yes he's not on the level of Pogacar or Evenpoel or a few others, however he does need a little time. He's still learning how to race. He's even talked about Americans being behind and that 1 year racing in Europe (at lower levels) is the equivalent of 2 to 3 years of racing in the US.
He also said he wanted to show consistency and prove to the team he can be relied on for good results. He still has some learning to do, but it's a good start.

Not sure what Landa 2019 have to do with anything. There was a comment that not resigning Landa was a mistake.
It wasn't a mistake since Mas 2020, though not great, was still better than Landa in 2020. The mistake was signing Landa in the first place.

Not signing Landa in the first place wouldn't have made any difference to what the team decided to do going into 2020.

 

[tobydawq]

Not sure what Landa 2019 have to do with anything. There was a comment that not resigning Landa was a mistake.
It wasn't a mistake since Mas 2020, though not great, was still better than Landa in 2020. The mistake was signing Landa in the first place.

Mas wasn't better than Landa by any stretch of the imagination last year.

But it was a bit bizarre that Landa didn't do the Vuelta and I still have not seen a good explanation for that.

 

[WKA311]

The bigger riders aren't delivering. Valverde is regressing fast, Soler is usually inconsistent with some high peaks (he seems to get better every day and will hopefully get his peak right for the Giro), Mas seems to be one of the oldschool riders who needs a decent amount of racing in the legs to get into top shape. That leads to all of them not delivering results early on and putting the team under pressure.

There is enough reason to be optimistic though. Soler and Mas will probably come around and be good to get results when they are in top shape and the 2nd and 3rd row riders are looking great atm I think. The classics team as a complete unite is stronger than in years. Serrano looks fantastic, Cortina is in good shape, Jacobs is very promising in his 2nd year, Hollmann had a great race at Laigueglia, Erviti will be a great road captain and with Norsgaard, Mora, Torres and Arcas they have a lot of other options of selfless helpers.

Abner Gonzalez also seems to have acclimatised seemlessly to the WT level and is doing well for his age and background out of the spanish amateur scene.

The colombians remain questionmarks.Though Lopez with his infection of Covid is understandably coming into the season much slower this year. Rubio had a great Giro last year, not sure what his plans this year are though.

Mühlberger also had a quiet start to the year.

 

[Koronin]

Movistar announced today on twitter that Rubio and Alba will start their season at Coppi e Bartali. (I'm guessing riding in support of Jorgenson, who is going there as the race leader.)

They also said that Lopez will start his season in April.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1372194414823665672

View: https://twitter.com/Movistar_Team/status/1372194414823665672

 

[RedheadDane]

Movistar announced today on twitter that Rubio and Alba will start their season at Coppi e Bartali. (I'm guessing riding in support of Jorgenson, who is going there as the race leader.)

Turns out; he's not even going.