The Movistar Team continues to be sweet, proving wherever he goes that the process of metamorphosis started in the final stretch of last season is paying off. In recent days, as part of the ‘Flamenco Week’ of cycling, practically unexplored territory in the history of the Navarrese structure, the telephone companies have linked several notable performances on Belgian stones, where three of its riders have accumulated a great haul of points and results.
Matteo Jorgenson and Iván GarcÃa Cortina laid the first stones -pun intended- in a E3 Classic Sax memorable, being the ‘best of the rest’, since Van Aert, Pogacar and Van der Poel are in another dimension, with their respective top-5: the American fourth, the Asturian fifth. A positive inertia that was transferred last Wednesday in Through Flanders, where Oier Lazkano gave a pleasant surprise to get on the podium (2nd), the best result of his sporting career in a World Tour level race.
Movistar top-10 in one-day races in 2023
| Career | Result | Runner | UCI points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic Valencian Community | 4th | J.J. Rojas | 60 |
| Ses Salines Trophy – Alcudia | 6th | Max Kanter | 40 |
| Andratx Trophy РPollen̤a | 9th | Gonzalo Serrano | 25 |
| palm trophy | 4th | Garcia Cortina | 60 |
| Muscat Classic | 10th | Charles Verona | twenty |
| Back Murcia | 10th | Gorka Izagirre | twenty |
| Almeria Classic | 7th | Fernando Gaviria | 60 |
| Classical Jaen | 10th | Gorka Izagirre | twenty |
| Milan-Turin | 2nd | Fernando Gaviria | 150 |
| E3 Classic Sax | 4th and 5th | Jorgenson and Curtain | 220+180 |
| Through Flanders | 2nd | Oier Lazkano | 250 |
The numbers speak for themselves about the transformation of a Movistar that has mutated from a vueltomaniac team to an all-rounder. They have adapted to this new cycling with good marks, which has allowed them to add up to twelve top-10s in one-day races so far this season. (See table). The most prolific, some Lazkano (250 points), Cortina (240), Jorgenson (220) and Fernando Gaviria (210) who accumulate a good part of the 1,105 points that the team has collected this year thanks to its top ten positions in one-day races.
This figure represents approximately a third of the 2,886 points that appear in the telephone group’s account since last Tuesday, the day the UCI ranking was updated (in the absence of adding what they accumulate this week). With the 2023 course still in its initial stretch, the Movistar is already 11th in the world ranking and ninth this year in victories (6, for a total of 20 podiums). Now the Tour of Flanders (April 2), the second monument on the calendar, appears on the horizon. Will Movistar leave its stamp?