"Why not allow substitutes when a rider is forced to abandon a Grand Tour during the first week?" - Movistar boss calls for drastic changes
Cycling
Eusebio Unzué, the boss of Movistar Team, speaking to L'Equipe just before the start of a Tour Colombia, spoke at length about the future of the sport, his plans for change and why a potential 'Super League' is an appealing proposition.
"We are thinking about the future of the sport, and we are among those holding meetings. Cycling is the most immobile sport at the moment, we continue to do things as we did forty years ago, when I arrived. We have to humanize the rules. Stop being so crude, so excessively inhuman," says Unzue. "All the teams prepare with ten or eleven riders, we leave two or three at home at the last moment, and if a rider falls, he has no right to any solution...", the Movistar Team director continued to argue.
Read also
Unzué doesn't understand that when a rider falls in a race he is not immediately attended to. "Nowadays, for a rider who falls to be able to go out again the next day, sometimes he has to ride 60 or 80 kilometres with a broken wrist, because they can only go to be examined when they have already arrived, after having suffered like an animal," he explains. "Can't we really humanize this? If a rider falls, isn't that reason enough for him to go to an ambulance and see if he has something broken, in which case he can go out again the next day without having to finish the stage? We are not going to ask, as in football, to stop everything while the cyclists recover. But we have to protect their health. Even if that means reclassifying the cyclists in question in the time of the last one, so that no one benefits from a fall, but to prevent them from suffering unnecessarily."
"Why not allow substitutes when a rider is forced to abandon a Grand Tour during the first week?" Unzue questions in conclusion, a topic experienced recently by Movistar Team as Enric Mas crashed out of the Tour de France on stage 1. "All teams prepare 10-12 riders for a Grand Tour, so you still got 2 or 3 of them at home."
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
claps 1visitors 1
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- The conditions there were absolutely heavenly. No wonder that Vanthourenhout was literally sucked into the ground. I think Mason and Wyseure are very similar types of riders. We've seen that when Vanthourenhout has been in a similar position to where Mason was, and Wyseure has had the legs, he's been able to power his way back. But that's not quite possible when Mason is putting out more power in front.
Rafionain-Glas11-11-2026 - What a win! It's been been so long in the waiting but I'm so glad for Cameron that he's finally got that victory. Sad to see Brand crash out like that. It didn't look too bad initially but there was clearly something very wrong. It could be like van Aert's last yearRafionain-Glas11-11-2026
- since you called pidcock pogi's BIG RIVAL in another article a few days ago ... i guess adding ciccone to the mix makes him almost unbeatable, no?Ketterechts11-11-2026
- 🤣🤣🤣what a headlineabstractengineer11-11-2026
- When you have four or five guys who are defined leaders of teams that are winning races or at least placing highly in big races, a lot of guys who are racing will not be seen as assets to those teams. If they can't be part of the program then they are let go. I remember back if you won a single stage of the Tour and maybe had a good classic result you would have a cemented place on a team. That is not the case now in the era we live in because the top guys are so good and their goals are so defined. It's bad in a way for them but good for us as fans.awp11-11-2026
- Lots of people seem fed up of Pogi's phenomenal dominance, but I've been drawn into watching professional cycling again (after the Armstrong doping era, that's when I stopped) because of it. I don't think I'd be as interested if it wasn't for Pogi. People call it boring, it’s the exact opposite for me, I will never ever tire of watching absolute greatness in action. He is the greatest athlete this planet has ever produced. Ad acta!!!PogiSloFans11-11-2026
- dfsdfsdfsdfwajohe447911-11-2026
- I have no sympathy for Ayuso or the situations he gets himself into. He was a traitor in the UAE team, he hated Pogi and never wanted to work for him. He always had excuses why he couldn't perform. No riders in the team liked his character and did not approve the kind of person he was on a deep, moral, or personal level. I just don't care about him. Ad acta.PogiSloFans11-11-2026
- Great response! I love the article also. Interesting to see which "Legends" will be covered. There are a few out there :-)
DareDevil11-11-2026 - This is one of the reasons why Ineos is failing, G can comment on his pod but why has he not attracted talent from the peloton to Ineos. He has lot of inside track. Also ratcliffe handling of Man United is also disastrous.abstractengineer11-11-2026
Loading
🇪🇸 Eusebio Unzué, Movistar team manager 🗣️ "Why not allow substitutes when a rider is forced to abandon a Grand Tour during the first week? All teams prepare 10-12 riders for a Grand Tour, so you still got 2 or 3 of them at home." (L'Équipe)
8 Comments