HIS BEST YEAR – ONCE AGAIN. The steady progression of the quintessential pure climber in the ranks of the Movistar Team continued in 2022. Following his first GC victory as a pro the year before, via a fantastic win on the Queen stage of the Route d’Occitanie, Catalan Antonio Pedrero repeated success on another French mountain, Lélex Monts Jura, through a long solo breakaway, attacking from a group containing no less than Julian Alaphilippe. His performance at that Tour de l’Ain, which almost saw him rising to overall glory, was preceded by another fine presentation in the Giro d’Italia, 3rd on stage fifteen to Cogne, only behind world-class competitors Giulio Ciccone and Santiago Buitrago. Consistency is the best skill from this talented, humble man.

CYCLING AS WAY OF LIFE. Son of Jose Pedrero, a former professional rider and later CEO of the women’s Massi-Tactic team, and cousin of Alba Díez, also a former track rider, he always shone in the youth stage as a consistent rider for the moutnains. His whole WorldTour career has been covered in Movistar Team colours, working his heart out for the team, just like in the Blues’ 2019 Giro success, or claiming good individual results -4th in the Vuelta a Burgos (2019), 19th in the 2020 Giro d’Italia-.

EXOTIC MAIDEN WIN. His first victory as a professional rider came in a somewhat surprising way. In the summer of 2015, Antonio was offered a chance to join Continental team Inteja from the Dominican Republic, a squad he debuted with at the Tour de la Guadeloupe in the French Caribbean. The win did not come until the ninth, final stage, via a strong attack in the last kilometer uphill in Basse-Terre, a move which also allowed him getting to the third place overall. It was one of his final outings before joining the WorldTour in 2016 with the Movistar Team.