Movistar rider expects a different race without last year’s captain Alejandro Valverde
Javi Moreno made his debut for the Movistar team at the Santos Tour Down Under in 2012, and is heading south to appear at the race again this month. The 27-year-old from Jaén, Andalucía, finished the race eighth overall, despite having spent the race working for team captain Alejandro Valverde; the Murcian lost the race to Simon Gerrans only by virtue of the Australian champion’s better finishing positions across all stages.
Valverde will not be at the race this year, but Moreno expects Movistar to be more than competitive in the 2013 WorldTour opener.
“This year we have also brought a strong team with options, but it will be different from last year since there will be no Alejandro,” Moreno explained. “We must seek victory in a different way.”
Without Valverde, Moreno’s multinational teammates in Australia will be Costa Rican Andrey Amador, Spaniards José Herrada and Iván Gutiérrez, and Italians Eros Capecchi and Giovanni Visconti, and will be directed by José Luis Arrieta.
The Santos Tour Down Under will be Moreno’s first race since the finish of last year’s Vuelta a España in early September; he has been far from idle in that time, however, since his wife gave birth to their first child just two days after the race.
"I think I’ve come to the Australian race in good shape, since it has been a quiet winter, and the good weather has allowed me to train without any problems,” Moreno said.
"It has been a very fast preseason, perhaps because of having little Javi at home,” he explained, “who has his mother and me wiating on him all day, which has made the days fly past.”
Travelling to Australia means that Javi senior is separated from Javi junior for the first time since his birth four months ago, so the Movistar rider hopes to bring his son home a souvenir from the trip.
“It is the first time that I’ve been separated from him, but this is how it is…” he reasoned. “Let’s see if I can dedicate a victory to him in Australia, or maybe he’ll settle for a cuddly kangaroo…”