{"id":138707,"date":"2024-10-03T10:55:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-03T08:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movistarteam.com\/?p=138707"},"modified":"2024-10-03T11:11:06","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T09:11:06","slug":"natnael-tesfatsion-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movistarteam.com\/en\/2024-10-03\/natnael-tesfatsion-signing","title":{"rendered":"Natnael Tesfatsion: African talent into 2025 Movistar Team roster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A long list of thirty-one nationalities which, starting in 2025, will be joined by Eritrea. The signing of Natnael Tesfatsion<\/strong> (Asmara, ERI; 1999), part of the men’s Movistar Team from next year after two seasons at Lidl-Trek, will mark the first African signing for the Eusebio Unzu\u00e9-led squad in almost half a century of existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the podium as second in last January’s Cadel Evans Road Race in Geeling, just behind Laurence Pithie. (c) Getty Sport<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had the opportunity to know the team better in Australia this year as we both raced the Tour Down Under, and the feeling couldn’t be better,<\/em>\u201d explains Tesfatsion, who competed last Sunday at the World Championships road race in Z\u00fcrich. \u201cThey’re a strong group of guys, really fun, and I’m really looking forward to bringing my effort to the team and continue to improve results. I consider myself a strong rider for short climbs, also with a good sprint, and I want to keep exploiting those abilities. Hopefully I can get my first victory in the WorldTour next season – I was so close earlier this year, when I finished 2nd at the Cadel Evans Road Race, so I hope I can return the confidence the Movistar Team is putting on me with some good results.<\/em>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hugging fellow countryman Biniam Girmay after his stage victory in the 2022 Giro d’Italia. (c) Getty Sport<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A notable under-23 competitor, he obtained encouraging results during his years with Qhubeka (2019-20) and Androni (2021-22), with two GC victories at the Tour of Rwanda and second-place finishes at Italy’s Adriatica Ionica Race and Giro dell’Appennino. His two-year WorldTour adaptation spell includes, other than 2nd in Geeling, a 3rd spot -behind Julian Alaphilippe and Richard Carapaz- at a stage of the 2023 Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9. He’s the reigning Eritrean road race champion, a flag he’ll carry alongside the ‘M’ on his shoulders in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eritrean national champion, 25, set to add his quality and two years of WorldTour experience to Telef\u00f3nica’s squad starting next season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":138701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-races","category-transfers"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t