{"id":638260,"date":"2026-06-14T13:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T13:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/638260\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T13:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T13:04:14","slug":"surprise-transfer-to-join-mathieu-van-der-poel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/638260\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprise transfer to join Mathieu van der Poel?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iv\u00e1n Garc\u00eda Cortina<\/a> once looked destined to become a strong sprinter and a credible classics rider, but he has fallen short in both roles. One of Movistar Team<\/a>\u2019s golden boys who, always willing and always intent, has rarely hit the mark, he seems set to leave Abarca Sports without making a lasting impact.And, if we trust the always well-informed Nacho Labarga at Marca<\/a>, the Spanish rider will not continue with the telephone-backed squad next season. In the transfer market, he is being linked with Mathieu van der Poel\u2019s Alpecin.When he arrived in 2021 from Bahrain, Iv\u00e1n came off a breakthrough with stage wins at Paris\u2013Nice and the Amgen Tour of California, plus two runner-up spots at the French race. In 2022 he won Gran Piemonte. His classics victories stopped there. Not until this year at the Vuelta a Asturias did we see him raise his arms<\/a> again.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

At 30, a regular top 30 at Paris\u2013Roubaix and seemingly without higher individual ceiling, he has embraced a de luxe domestique role that could plausibly attract none other than Alpecin and Mathieu van der Poel. All signs pointed to the Gij\u00f3n native staying put, but we can imagine the offer from the Belgian squad is bigger.<\/p>\n

Movistar to go into 2027 without two stars<\/p>\n

In one swoop, the telephone team loses two riders it initially counted on: Iv\u00e1n himself and Lorenzo Milesi. The Italian\u2019s case has been especially mishandled. He shone at the Giro, and more attractive suitors than Eusebio Unzu\u00e9 and company have queued up since.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s not all. According to Labarga, Movistar could also lose one of its most powerful riders from this strong start to 2026, Natnael Tesfatsion. After a low-key 2025, he has performed at a high level since the Tour Down Under and is a major points scorer. The problem is obvious: suitors have emerged, and renewal talks appear complicated. It would be another heavy loss, while the only signing that sounds close today is Iv\u00e1n Cobo, who would arrive as a free agent from Kern Pharma after its sponsor\u2019s exit.<\/p>\n

In exchange, the team has opted to extend Manlio Moro, still very green, Germany\u2019s Hessmann, who has done virtually nothing since his controversial mid-season arrival last year, and Poland\u2019s Filip Maciuk.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see how the strategy plays out for the telephone-backed squad. Below are Iv\u00e1n Garc\u00eda Cortina\u2019s statistics and key data. Tell us in the comments what you think of his departure and whether you saw it coming.<\/p>\n

\"Iv\u00e1n<\/p>\n

Iv\u00e1n Garc\u00eda Cortina, Movistar Team rider<\/p>\n

Iv\u00e1n Garc\u00eda Cortina\u2019s statistics Data Information Name Iv\u00e1n Garc\u00eda Cortina Date of birth 20.11.1995 Age 30 Nationality Spain Place of birth Gij\u00f3n Height 1.83 m Weight 77 kg Primary specialty One-day classics Other characteristics Sprinter, classics rider and puncheur Garc\u00eda\u00a0Cortina’s career highlights Year Result 2025 Stage win at the Vuelta a Asturias 2023 2nd on a stage at the Vuelta a Burgos 2022 Winner of Gran Piemonte 2022 5th at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec 2020 Stage winner at Paris\u2013Nice 2020 2nd on two stages of Paris\u2013Nice 2020 2nd on two stages of the Tour Poitou-Charentes 2019 Stage winner at the Amgen Tour of California 2019 2nd on a stage at Paris\u2013Nice 2019 3rd at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montr\u00e9al 2018 4th at the Prudential RideLondon\u2013Surrey Classic 2017 3rd on a stage at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a 2016 Stage winner at the Course de Solidarno\u015b\u0107 et des Champions Olympiques <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iv\u00e1n Garc\u00eda Cortina once looked destined to become a strong sprinter and a credible classics rider, but he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,198931,38938,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-638260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-ivan-garcia-cortina","tag-movistar-team","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}