Juan Jose Cobo is centre of attention after winning Vuelta a Espana 2011 – Cycling News
Vuelta a Espana 2011 winner Juan Jose Cobo has not finalised his future team for the next season as the cyclist is approached by team managers after his tremendous performance at the Vuelta this year. Cobo is riding for Geox-TMC as his team got a wild card
invitation to ride at the Spanish grand tour.
Juan stayed with his first professional team Saunier Duval-Prodir for five years from 2004-09 as he moved to Caisse d’ Epargne in 2010. Cobo won the Tour of Basque Country 2007 along with a 20th position finish at the Tour de France in the same
year. He won stage 10 of Tour de France 2008 along with stage 9 and stage 5 wins at the Volta a Portugal and Vuelta a Burgos respectively. Cobo finished stage 19 of Vuelta a Espana 2009 at first position and completed the race at 10th place overall.
Juan was supporting his Geox-TMC team leader Denis Menchov during the Vuelta a Espana 2011 as he managed to secure the stage 15 win at the ascent of Angliru. Seeing his outstanding performance Cobo was given the task to lead his team during the race. The
30-year-old did a terrific job to overcome the attacks launched by Christopher Froome and Bradley Wiggins who finished the race at second and third positions respectively.
Denis Menchov finished 3 minutes and 48 seconds behind Cobo and secured a fifth position at the Vuelta a Espana 2011. The cyclist expressed his joy on winning the race as he said, "I've passed through some bad moments the past few months, but now I see things
differently. You realise that hard work and sacrifice are worth it – this win makes up for the suffering that I've gone through on the bike."
Juan has certainly become the centre of attention after the grand tour win this year and teams are eyeing for an opportunity to include him in their squads. Team Astana has made a huge offer to the rider to which he has not responded yet. Directeur Sportif
of Geox-TMC, Joxean Matxin believes that he will be able to have Juan ride for Geox-TMC in the coming season.
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