{"id":370316,"date":"2025-12-25T05:15:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T05:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/370316\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T05:15:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T05:15:15","slug":"i-made-a-mistake-spanish-pro-quits-cycling-after-being-thrown-off-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/370316\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I made a mistake’ \u2013 Spanish pro quits cycling after being ‘thrown off’ team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spanish pro cyclist Francisco ‘Kiko’ Galv\u00e1n has said he is ending his career after he was dismissed by his team, Kern Pharma<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The announcement comes less than three months after a video was shared on social media of Galv\u00e1n weaving across the lanes of a road in Barcelona. At the time, Kern Pharma released a statement promising disciplinary action<\/a> against the rider, who they did not name, for \u201cviolating road safety regulations\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Galv\u00e1n has now said he was \u201cthrown off the team\u201d and subsequently had to sell his car.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI left the dealership and walked home. That\u2019s when I realised how quickly everything can change,\u201d he wrote on Instagram on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old added that he has since been training in black clothing, \u201cnot for aesthetic reasons, but because that\u2019s how I feel\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven so, people recognise me, stop me, and ask me questions. I smile, but inside I feel ashamed. Ashamed of having failed, of disappointing my parents, my people, my girlfriend, who was the only one who supported me when everything was falling apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding to the video of the road training incident in October, Kern Pharma expressed their \u201coutrage\u201d, saying the actions of the unnamed rider did not reflect \u201cthe values we defend and want to project as a team\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Galv\u00e1n confirmed in his Instagram post that he is now stopping his career. \u201cWhat hurts is feeling that you have let your loved ones down. That\u2019s the hardest part,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not writing this to get pity or to justify anything. I made a mistake. A mistake has consequences, and I\u2019m paying for them. I apologies to anyone who has been affected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, I\u2019m not saying goodbye. I\u2019m just stopping. I\u2019m taking a breath, and I\u2019m moving forward as best I can, but with my feet on the ground. Life doesn\u2019t always let you choose your path, but it does let you choose how you walk it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Galv\u00e1n joined Kern Pharma in 2020, and went on to ride for with the Spanish ProTeam for six seasons.<\/p>\n

In 2022, he competed at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a> \u2013 his only career Grand Tour participation. His best career results count two podiums at the Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise, and a fourth place at the Belgian one-day Grote Prijs Jean-Pierre Monser\u00e9.<\/p>\n

His final race was Paris-Chauny at the end of September, where he finished 17th.<\/p>\n

Kern Pharma has not confirmed that Galv\u00e1n was dismissed, nor did they name the rider in their initial statement. Cycling Weekly has contacted the team for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spanish pro cyclist Francisco ‘Kiko’ Galv\u00e1n has said he is ending his career after he was dismissed by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-370316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}