"I'm excited to be a part of the 'innovated' team": Long-time Sports manager of Jayco makes unexpected move to Movistar
Cycling
For more than one decade, Matt White played a pivotal role in the story of Jayco AlUla. That was until early May of this year when his job at the team was terminated. Although a replacement for his leading role has not been publicly communicated by the Australian team yet, the 51-year-old has already moved on and found a new opportunity with Spanish team Movistar for 2026.
"After more than 15 years as sports director, I’m starting a very exciting new chapter, eager to contribute my experience and help the team succeed," White said in a statement released by Movistar on Wednesday. "I’ve always had a deep respect for Movistar Team, and being able to be a part of it from within is incredibly motivating."
As the only native English-speaker in the team, White will have to speedrun through the Duolingo courses of new language to fit in the Spanish-oriented structure as soon as possible. But even though the language barrier will be an obstacle in first months, White already feels very welcome in Movistar:
"It’s what I’ve been expecting, with a really good group of people welcoming me into the team, and I’m looking forward to it," he told Daniel Benson in an interview. "It’s an exciting challenge and a new chapter for me."
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The decision to join Movistar seems rather unusual, but White explains that the things he had heard about the team prior to signing convinced him in that this is the right career path to take.
"Cycling is a small sport, and at the end of the day, you can’t hide from who you are, and all I’ve heard from people in and out of the team are great things about the staff, the roster and the way that they treat people. That’s the type of organisation that I wanted to work in, and also they’ve said they wanted to make some changes in the team, whilst keeping their DNA, and they see me as part of that."
Matt White will become the tactical mind behind Movistar's future endeavors
White declined to delve into the details of his surprising departure from Jayco AlUla. "I’ve got a lot of respect for Gerry [Ryan] and everything he’s done for Australian cycling for the last couple of decades, but the team thought it was time for a change, and change they got," he said.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- he is doing 460 watts for 35 min to achieve 7 w/kg with VO2 at 96 , just unreal numbers.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just do it, and put up with the consequencesJumpyjohn08-11-2026
- "was a headliner at the Tour de France" Nobody cared about Piddie. Only rivals that were there for Pogi, Jonas, Remco, Sexias, Lipo, Del Toro and they were all expected to lose. Piddie was not even in any conversation.abstractengineer08-11-2026
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