No questions left - Movistar confirm Oier Lazkano at Tour de France following stupendous national championships performance

The day at the Spanish elite men's road cycling championships could not have gone better for Movistar Team, which achieved a 1-2 on the podium thanks to Alex Aranburu and Oier Lazkano. The first of them has been proclaimed champion for the first time in his career after finishing 3rd in the last three editions, and the second has not been able to revalidate his title, but he has won a meritorious silver medal. All this prior to the confirmation of Lazkano himself as a member of the Spanish team for the Tour de France.

A post from the team on X (formerly Twitter), practically makes it a given that Oier Lazkano will be part of the '8' in a historic Grand Boucle. "All's well that ends well. Congratulations on the great image and see you in Florence, guys!" read the tweet posted by the Spanish team, with a photo of Aranburu and Lakzano, in reference to the Grand Depart to be held in the Italian city.

The fact is that Alex Aranburu, who is celebrating what is the biggest victory of his career, prolonging his great form after being 3rd in the Baloise Belgium Tour with a stage win along the way, was already among the confirmed riders to go to the Tour de France along with Enric Mas. So by putting "boys" it is implied that Oier Lazkano will also go to give it all to the most prestigious race in the world.

A logical decision

The truth is that it seemed completely crazy to leave Lazkano out of the Tour de France with his great form shown throughout the first half of 2024, despite the fact that he will leave Movistar Team at the end of the season for the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe project. With the team in dire need of UCI points, the Basque is one of its best cards to accumulate as many as possible in the Tour.

With this confirmation, it is clear that Movistar Team wants to go for much more than the general classification with Enric Mas. But in addition to that, they will also focus on the stage victories that may come from Lazkano or Alex Aranburu himself.

At the Giro d'Italia, Movistar Team managed to get inside the Top 10 of the classification with Einer Rubio, and at the Tour de France it looks like Enric Mas' realistic goal will be the same.

In addition, it got a lot of points from Pelayo Sanchez and Nairo Quintana as stage-hunters, with the former winning the gravel stage and accumulating another 2nd place, and the Colombian being 2nd in the queen stage of Livigno. Here, with the Aranburu-Lazkano duo in such good form.