Team Ineos has announced one of the more unusual rider deals of recent years which involves an 18-year-old continuing to go to college while riding at World Tour level.
Carlos Rodriguez, from Granada, has ridden for the Kometa
Cycling junior team in Spain for the past two years but now makes the
transition from junior cycling into the World Tour.
His new contract with Team Ineos is unusual in that it is
for four years and Rodriguez will also continue with his engineering degree.
Team Ineos coach Xabier Artetxe said Rodriguez would be
allowed time to develop having been very impressive as a junior.
“He’ll start from
zero, learn everything and find his place in professional cycling,” Artetxe
said.
“I think he’s
going to be a really good climber in the future. He’s an exciting talent, a
bright guy doing a university course in engineering.
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“It’s an
important focus for him, keeping up his studies and his cycling. The goal is to
be in a position where he can learn as much as possible.
“It’s not about the results or how he performs in the races. He’ll be in training camps and races with some of the best riders in the world and learn from them.”
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The Spanish teenager, who turns 19-years-old in February,
rode the Worlds this year and last but his results were perhaps not those of a
rider expected to be snapped up by Team Ineos.
He was 74th in the road race and 22nd in the TT last year
in Bergen. This year in Yorkshire he was 24th in the road race and 34th in the
TT.
However, his results in other races during his junior
years were much better. He has been Spanish junior TT champion for the past two
years.
This year he won the three-stage Tour de Gironde
International (2.1) in France as well as the Gipuzkoa Klasika (1.1) one-day
race in Spain.
Last year he was 3rd in the road race at the junior
Europeans and took 7th in the TT.
He also won stages in the Trophée Centre Morbihan
(2.Ncup) and Tour de Gironde International (2.1), both in France, and was 6th
in junior Paris-Roubaix and 14th in junior Gent-Wevelgem.
Rodriguez said he was excited about moving to Team Ineos
though he knew there was a lot of hard work ahead.
“I am under no illusions it is a big step up to the
professional level. The training is going to be harder and the races much
faster,” he said.
“I think that if I work hard, step by step, I can
progress and adapt myself to the WorldTour. That’s my main objective for the
next few seasons and I’m in the best place to do that.”
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