A Movistar unchained

You don’t have to go very far, since you just have to go back to the end of August, to see Movistar in a very compromised situation. Still in the middle of the Vuelta, the Lotto began to add up good results and pointed to the Spanish team, which was in 18th position (with only 300 rental points), the last one that gives permanence on the World Tour in this triennial ranking that ends in 2022 before the next classification starts next year. But at Movistar since spring they saw that the situation could get complicated and they had to restructure the calendar of several of their runners. That is why talented people like Iván García Cortina and Álex Aranburu, among others, have not participated in any Grand Tour this yearforming part of that team known as the ‘alternative calendar’.

The result? Successful, and it may mark a before and after for Movistar, a model to follow for future seasons. Pedrero, Aranburu, Serrano, Cortina… all of them added victories, as did Enric Mas, who after the Tour experienced a change in La Vuelta from those of the time, with his victory in the Giro de Emilia and disputing face to face to Tadej Pogacar the Giro de Lombardía (2nd). And, as always, the former runner Alejandro Valverdewho added a good number of points in his appearances, especially in the four Italian tests after La Vuelta. In this way, Movistar reaches the final races with an advantage of more than 2,600 points compared to a drop from which Lotto and Israel are practically condemned to lose the category. Alpecin and Arkea will take their places.

These days the last races are held, already of lower category and with less score, like the Tour of Langkawi, in which Movistar signed up a long time ago due to the possibility of having to fight for these points until the end but with the peace of mind of having everything under control. They are 12th in the ranking! (score updated by the journalist Raúl Banqueri) A spectacular comeback overtaking Arkea, BikeExchange, Education First, DSM, Cofidis and recently Astana. The Ag2r, 11th, is just over 200 points. Situation more than saved and from the team they confirmed to AS that this alternative calendar can be repeated in other years, or at least value it, because the results were very satisfactory.