"What message are we sending?" - Equipo Kern Pharma director angry at decision to leave team out of La Vuelta

The Vuelta a España announced this Friday its three invited teams to participate in the 2025 edition of the Grand Tour: Caja Rural - Seguros RGA, Burgos Burpellet BH and Tom Pidcock's Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team. In a major surprise, the organization of the grand tour left out Equipo Kern Pharma, winner of three stages last year.

The Spanish team was the best Pro Team in last year's La Vuelta, with three stage wins (two by Pablo Castrillo and one by Urko Berrade), in addition to multiple top 10s by Pau Miquel. Logic invited to think that they would return to the race this season, but it won't be like that.

The disappointment is considerable within Kern Pharma. In statements to Radio MARCA, the team director Juan José Oroz acknowledged that the announcement caught them off guard, and did not hesitate to question the decision of Javier Guillén, maximum of the Vuelta a España.

"We are disappointed and concerned about the message that is being left," Juanjo Oroz began by forcefully pointing out. "Let's try to digest this. We won three stages in the 2024 edition... What message are we conveying to the young people if after that we don't go to the next Vuelta a España?" the Kern Pharma director insisted.

Even so, the director of Kern Pharma, after questioning the announced invitations, wanted to avoid criticism towards the Vuelta a España and Javier Guillén himself: "I'm not accusing anyone. But we've done it perfectly and we're not here," Oroz said. With riders such as Urko Berrade and Iván Sosa in their ranks, a wildcard would also be justified over the team's quality this year - even after the departure of Pablo Castrillo.

For Spanish cycling, the decision may be considered by some as worrying for the future. After all, the ProTeam teams in this country have a much lower budget than others in their category, such as Q36.5, Tudor Pro Cycling Team or Uno-X Mobility.