Anacona, Sutherland strengthen 2015 roster
29 September 2014

Transfers

Young Colombian climber and expert Aussie allrounder to join telephone squad on respective two-year contracts

Following the signings of Spanish youngsters Rubén Fernández (Caja Rural) and Marc Soler (Lizarte elite), Movistar Team has completed another two transfers with Winner Anacona (Lampre-Merida) and Rory Sutherland (Tinkoff-Saxo) joining through 2016.

Raised in Italian squads since as an under-23, amateur rider, Colombian Anacona, 26, excels on climbing while still performing well on time trials. Runner-up in the 2011 GiroBio and top-20 finisher in his first-ever Grand Tour, the 2012 Vuelta a España, a serious ankle injury while training left him out of competition for most of the 2013 season. Anacona rediscovered himself in 2014 with a third place overall in the Tour of Utah, only behind Americans Tom Danielson and Chris Horner, and most notably with a stage victory claimed at this year's Spanish grandtour, atop Valdelinares.

In turn, Sutherland, 32, is a great rouleur and a decent climber who has spent most of his career -six years- within the ranks of the American ProConti squad UnitedHealthCare, where he became the 2012 UCI America Tour winner after claiming five victories throughout the season. Member of the WorldTour peloton for the last two years, his consistent performances during 2014 -coming close to top-ten overall finishes in the Tour Down Under and the Tour of Dubai- granted him a place into the national team's nine-man squad for yesterday's Ponferrada Worlds road race.