Another meaningful loss for Movistar - Report virtually confirms Spanish champion Alex Aranburu's departure to Cofidis

Alex Aranburu is one of Movistar Team's leaders for a few years and this year he conquered the Spanish national title. It was a big moment for the Spanish team who really needed important victories, but the Basque puncheur will be leaving the team at the end of 2024 for Cofidis with almost completete certainty.

This was reported by journalist Daniel Benson in the last few hours, who has extraordinarily accurate intel on the behind-the-scenes talks in the peloton. Thus, the rider with the most UCI WorldTour points in the team's current campaign to date will ride alongside compatriots Ion Izagirre and Jesús Herrada at Cofidis starting next year.

Thus, for the second year in a row, Movistar Team loses its highest-rated rider. Last year the team lost Matteo Jorgenson who was a product of development of the team; and the American has gone on to take a massive step at Team Visma | Lease a Bike; winning Paris-Nice, finishing second at the Criterium du Dauphiné and on the Top10 of the Tour de France despite supporting Jonas Vingegaard.

In his three seasons with Movistar, Aranburu, who will be 29 in September, has not achieved the expected results. His two wins in the Vuelta a España are with Caja Rural and Astaná and in the Spanish team he can boast of his overall victory in the Tour du Limousin in 2022, his stage in the Baloise Belgium Tour this year, the third place in the GP de Montréal in 2023 or the second in the Eschborn-Frankfurt a few months ago. In the last Tour de France he showed very good legs and came close to victory in the gravel stage, although he could only finish fourth.

Far from bad, he has managed to score a good amount of UCI points this season which are crucial for the team's future at World Tour level, but next season the meaningful jersey and his quality will depart towards a rival team in this competition.