Geox-TMC were omitted from this years Tour de France, meaning it will have a very motivated team starting the Vuelta a España on the 20th August. The Spanish team will be going in support of two-times winner Denis Menchov and Carlos Sastre.
Someone who will undoubtedly play a major role in supporting those leaders will be Fabio Duarte. The 2008 world under 23 champion took part in this year’s first Grand Tour, the Giro d’Italia, but had to abandon due to injury. However before then, he impressively finished second on stage five.
Now in his first year as a professional, Duarte is said to be a future star. He highlighted this when he outsprinted the likes of Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali on the Giro stage to Orvieto, being best of the rest after Pieter Weening escaped the group for the stage spoils.
Having fully recovered from the knee injury that saw him leave the race early, Duarte spoke this week about the task that lies ahead in the Spain.
“My goal after the injury is to finish the Tour of Spain, try to be active, and if I can win a stage and help my leaders, Denis Menchov and Carlos Sastre,” he said, according to his national federation.
Of his fitness he added, “I'm at 70 percent, things have not been easy but I feel that they are going well. If I train as I have and all goes according to plan, the idea is to get to the Tour of Spain in eighty or ninety percent physically.”
The Colombian surprised everyone at the under 23 world championships in 2008 to win gold, beating riders such as John Degenkolb, Ben Swift and Rui Costa. They have since all made a successful transition to the elite ranks. Despite numerous offers, Duarte chose to remain patient, opting to remain with smaller teams until moving this year to Geox-TMC squad.
“They are very happy, next year I will continue with them…they have treated me very well. I've never demanded that they work for me, but I have been one of the leaders. There have been several offers from other teams, but I decided to follow in Geox-TMC.”
The 25 year old rewarded his team for their faith in him when he won stage three of the Girl Del Trentino in April. If his aggression so far is anything to go by, we’ll surely see a lot of the young protagonist come the 20th of August.