Tremendous turn of events in the future of Carlos Rodriguez. The 22-year-old Spanish rider, who looked set to join Movistar Team for the 2024 season, is reportedly very close to accepting a brutal renewal offer that INEOS Grenadiers has put on the table.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, more specifically the journalist specialized in the cycling market, Ciro Scognamiglio, Carlos Rodriguez will almost certainly remain at INEOS and will not leave for Movistar: "Updated information: The 22-year-old Spanish rider, 5th in the Tour de France and Spanish champion in road cycling in 2022, will probably (80%) remain at INEOS Grenadiers".
Much had been written about the possibility of Carlos having a signed contract with the Spanish team, and even his agent Giuseppe Acquadro said that the rider "had a pre-agreement with Movistar, but not definitive and the possibility of continuing in INEOS is still there". Many have been the media that assured that the rider from Granada was going to ride in the Spanish team, and now, according to the Italian media, that will not happen.
If Carlos Rodriguez finally did not go to Movistar, this would be a huge blow for the team, as they would be without their big bet. On the contrary, for INEOS, it would mean to continue having a great leader for next year's stage races, and the demonstration that the British team, after the departures of Tao Geoghegan Hart, Pavel Sivakov and other great riders, still trusts in the rider from Granada. All this according to information from La Gazzetta dello Sport.
It is worth remembering that Carlos Rodríguez has just finished an extraordinary Tour de France. At the age of 22, the Spaniard finished fifth in the overall classification, and also achieved a victory in stage 14 against Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard that will remain forever engraved in the memory of Spanish cycling.