Halfway through the triennium, Movistar’s points income is narrowing
«The fucking points» as Alejandro Valverde said about the Movistar race to the Relevo people.
And so it is, we have already seen this story, Groundhog Day? I don’t know, I hope not, for the health and nerves of the team and the fans.
The last time we wrote about Movistar in this poorly ringed notebook, The team was coming off a good streak of success and better feelingsthen nobody talked about points.
That was in February, in the run-up to the first big races, in competitions such as Mallorca, Valencia and Jaén.
A February full of successes that led team members to comment that things had changedthat many processes had been improved and that the results spoke of it.
But Opening Weekend arrived, Oier Lazkano made the podium in the Kuurne and from there, the lack of results.
The bulk of spring has been a disaster, except for specific moments of brilliance by Lazkano or Cortina or the pursuit of Enric Mas in the queen stage of the Voltathe balance is poor, very poor, to the point that in mid-April, when we have not yet crossed the triennium period, the issue of points, of “fucking points,” returns.
The other day we discussed the issue with two “engineers” on the subject, Raúl Banqueri and Luis López (the person responsible for the @adecenso) to find out how things were.
The cushion is still powerful, but the margin is narrowing, especially with Arkea, a team that is putting everything on the table and he has not even managed to activate his two great cyclists, Arnaud Démare and Florian Sénéchal.
The French are adding on a thousand fronts, while Israel committed the “overtake” of Movistar not many days ago.
With the team in a stress zone and Astana very weak, it will be up to DSM, Cofidis and the aforementioned Arkea to play the game.
It is true that DMS and Cofidis seem a step belowNote that the French have not yet achieved any victory, but the fact is that Movistar’s trend is not encouraging and the points do not fall from the sky.
There is a problem with the calendar that perhaps one day we will be lucky enough to understand from those responsible for the telephone team and on the other hand, what is coming now, until the Tour, will depend a lot on Enric Mas being active in the fight. of generals like Romandía.
In Ardennes, the team is not the one of yesteryear, with the great favorite in its ranks, and The start of Nairo, a guy who in not so distant circumstances secured good points, has been horrible due to illness and fallsalthough if it is for that reason, better, and not because his return is costing him a world.
When Iván García Cortina told me that he was running the Volta, instead of certain classics, I could understand that he had the objective of improving his background. But seeing him in this race and not in Ghent or Harelbeke seems to me the root of explaining the problems that Movistar is starting to have.
— JoanSeguidor (@JoanSeguidor) April 14, 2024
Calendars like that of Iván García Cortina absent in pavé classics so as not to shine at all in the Volta largely explain this situation and the drift, very similar to the one that arose in August 2022, when the team decided to go all out. gave, his runners began to add and were comfortably saved.
Movistar’s situation with the points, as we say in the podcast, is “wait and see”, at the moment the water does not reach its neck, but a good streak from Cofidis and DSM can set off the alarms.
And this time it is not like two years ago, when they found out about the problem half a year before the end of the triennium, this time Movistar and its rivals have a year and a half to avoid a disaster.
2024-04-16 14:43:57
#Walloon #Arrow #breakaway #arrived
