Fran Muñoz will become professional with EOLO KOMETA
The Catalan cyclist Fran Muñoz, formed in the under-23 structure of EOLO KOMETA and current stagiaire of the professional team, will finally become PRO rider next season.
Whenever a rider, who has grown as a cyclist in the Alberto Contador Foundation, reaches the highest level, it is a joy. In 2022, Fran Muñoz joined EOLO KOMETA U-23 and won the Copa de España, as well as a great victory in the GP Primavera de Ontur. Already that season he raced as a stagiaire with great success, something he has repeated this 2023 in several races in France after being third in the Spanish Championship. Now, the team confirms that from 2024 he will be a professional in the same structure that bet on his quality and trusted in his qualities.
“Since I joined the Foundation, I have made giant steeps forward”, explains Fran Muñoz. With an always positive trend, growing as an athlete and as a person, he has come to demonstrate that he is ready to be a professional. “What you have been working for so many years and at the beginning you only dream of, that you don’t believe you can achieve, suddenly arrives. It’s the opportunity to be a professional and pay back all the trust that the directors and manager Fran [Contador] have put in me”.
His ambitions are big: “I want to see where I can perform best, because from amateur to professionalism it’s a big change. I’d like to find my strong points and be at the service of both the team and the objectives that are set for me individually. A race I’d love to do? The Tour of Flanders, hopefully the team will have the opportunity to race it sometime and be there”. Furthermore, Fran Muñoz is already fully integrated in the team: “Alex Martín, who is from very close to where I live, was the one who gave me references to join the under-23 team. We have always had a very good relationship. Besides, last year I already rode in the team with Pietrobon, Piganzoli, Tercero…. There is a very good atmosphere in the team with the riders and the staff. This makes it easier for the results to come”, he says.
Like all the riders who come through our training teams, we are particularly excited,” says Fran Contador, manager of the Alberto Contador Foundation. “We consider that Fran Muñoz is already ready for the jump to the PRO’s, and he has proven it in his two opportunities as a stagiaire both in 2022 and this year. Despite having won the Copa de España last season, something that tends to launch cyclists directly into the professional ranks, we thought that another year as an under-23 rider would help him to continue improving, although it is true that, whether through falls or illness, luck has not been with him”. Not in vain, the Catalan cyclist has had physical and health problems that have weighed him down in some of the races where he has tried to shine this season. Contador concludes by stressing the importance of these signings of cyclists for the structure: “They give meaning to our project and to the work in the training teams, both junior and under-23, to continue giving opportunities to the youngest talent”.
