Currently having his best ever Vuelta a España, Spanish rider Ezequiel Mosquera is considering where he will ride next season and appears to have several offers.
The Xacobeo Galicia rider has indicated that he will announce his 2011 destination next week. According to Biciciclismo, he is on the wish-list of the Team Movistar squad, which is looking to rejig things after the acquisition of a new sponsor plus the suspension of Alejandro Valverde.
The team is currently competing under the title sponsorship of Caisse d’Epargne.
Mosquera moved up to second overall in the Vuelta yesterday when the then-race leader Joaquin Rodriguez had a dramatic collapse in form. The Team Katusha rider was only 105th on the stage, dropping to fifth overall when he finished six minutes and 12 seconds behind the stage winner Peter Velits (HTC Columbia).
Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) took over the race lead, but is just 39 seconds ahead of Mosquera. The Spaniard has been riding more strongly in the mountains and will be optimistic about his chances of winning the Vuelta when the big showdown takes place on Saturday’s Bola del Mundo climb.
If so, it will be a clear improvement on his previous best placings of fifth, fourth, and fifth in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
There are three reasons why Mosquera will wait until next week before finalising his destination. He wants to concentrate on the race, his market value will increase if he wins, and his current team will have an important meeting on Monday to determine its future. It will know then if it is in a position to offer him a good contract for 2011.
The 34 year old has been linked in recent days to a rumoured move to the Vacansoleil team. Eurosport’s Danny Nelissen said that he had reliable information that a deal was on the cards.
Current team rider Johnny Hoogerland said that a big name would ride with the team in 2011.
“One very big new rider is coming to the team, and they will publish his name in a few days or weeks,” he said. “I think it will not be so easy to pass over us next year.”
However he claimed not to know who it was. “The manager of the team didn’t even want to tell me! I begged him to tell it, but he didn’t,” he said.