Juan Antonio Flecha is riding for Team Sky next season, with a similar racing schedule to the one he had at Rabobank. But this time he hopes to win a big one.
"I hoped I'd already have a Classics win attached to my name," Flecha told Spanish cycling publication Meta 2 Mil. "The way I rode Paris-Roubaix last year shows that I have it to win. Tactically I rode much better than other years, thanks to letting other people do the work. A second or third place is not so much to my liking, although it is not bad to stand on the podium of a Classic. But next year it is all or nothing for me."
Flecha is hoping that the new Sky team will have the same spectacular start as the Cervélo TestTeam. Cervélo began winning early in the Tour of Qatar and then piled on great results throughout the season. "We do need to take the time to find our place. Cervélo showed in the season that just ended that it has a better organization than teams with years of experience in the peloton. I think that Sky is in a position to do the same."
Flecha had kind words for his Rabobank years. "I had it quite good there." The friendship that developed with Pedro Horillo is special. "It was great to see how Pedro recovered from his Giro crash." He also mentioned his great relationships with Oscar Freire, Juan Manuel Gárate and masseur Joseba Nuñez.
Flecha turned professional in 2000 with Relax Fuenlabrada. In 2002 he joined Banesto and achieved his first major victory when he won stage 11 of the Tour de France. His victory consisted of the shooting of an arrow (Flecha means arrow), with his then-girlfriend in attendance. She was working in Toulouse at the time and came out with colleagues to see Flecha take the win.
In 2004 he joined Fassa Bortolo for two years, before moving to Rabobank. He has several podium places in the Classics, but no wins yet. He finished second in Gent-Wevelgem (2005) and Paris-Roubaix (2007), as well as third in Paris-Roubaix (2005), Het Volk (2007) and the Tour of Flanders (2008).