Xacobeo-Galicia uncertain before Vuelta
Rumours persist that Pro-Continental cycling team Xacobeo-Galicia may be racing its last season. The Spanish team received a wildcard invitation to the Vuelta a Espana for the fourth year in a row – Xacobeo and Andalicia-CajaSur are the only two teams competing in the Vuelta that did not compete in the Tour de France, and between the two of them there are only three non-Spanish riders. Team manager Álvaro Pino spoke to the Faro de Vigo in order to clarify the team’s future before the start of the Vuelta.
“As far as we have been made aware, we believe that the team will continue in the international peloton next season,” said Pino. “But no one has yet confirmed that with us.”
Xacobeo rider Ezequiel Mosquera finished the Tour of Burgos on Sunday as the runner-up. A three-time Vuelta a Espana top-five finisher, Mosquera was only one second shy overall of the race winner, Samuel Sanchez, who finished fourth in the 2010 Tour de France. The rider’s performance has put a spring back into Pino’s step. With renewed optimism, the team leader thinks Xacobeo should enter the Vuelta with their cards on the table.
“The team needs to know as soon as possible where its future lies so that the riders can focus on the Vuelta and not be distracted by thoughts about their future,” said Pino.
The team is backed by the government of the north-western Spanish region of Galicia, and a representative was in attendance at the final stage of the Tour of Burgos, when Sanchez barely won the stage ahead of Mosquera in the same time.
“Ezequiel will go to the Vuelta in perhaps a little better shape than he has done for the last few years,” said Pino. “The team will go into the race with confidence high because our key riders have shown that they are in extremely good form.”
Pino is just trying to confirm that the team, which he feels is an important part of the culture of Galicia, has a future – the details can be hammered out later.
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