The Contador Foundation will collaborate with Equipo Gomur to train under-23 talent
Following the commitment to the internationalisation of the youth team of the Contador Foundation, with the aim of projecting talent to the professional team Team Polti Kometa, the structure led by Fran Contador has signed a collaboration agreement with the Equipo Gomur of Cantabria for the training of U23 cyclists from 2025.
This agreement is born with the idea of facilitating the accommodation of Polti Kometa U23 riders after this season 2024, and also of those Polti Kometa U19 youth riders who progress in the next season. In this way, their continuity is guaranteed for the future together with a historic structure that has produced great professional cyclists.
The working of Equipo Gomur will be independent from that of the Alberto Contador Foundation and its youth and ProTeam ranks. The bases of the agreement reached between the two entities seek to guarantee the monitoring of those cyclists who complete their time with the U19 team, but whose experience in the U23 category is considered appropriate as a step prior to the jump to the professional category. In these cases, Equipo Gomur will serve as a springboard to polish their training.
Manager Fran Contador explains this strategic decision as ‘a way of giving continuity to the young riders who, according to our criteria, need to continue their training in the U23s, before making the step up to the professional ranks. They can achieve this maturity in the Equipo Gomur, a historic team that shares our training philosophy and values. The image it has offered over the last 15 years in the amateur field fills us with confidence that we will work with great trust with them’.
Rafa Díaz Justo, sports director of the Alberto Contador Foundation’s development teams, emphasises the ‘change of trend at international level. We have always been at the forefront in Spain and I think that in recent years we needed to update ourselves by the direct commitment to promote young talent to professional level. We accept the difficult situation of an under-23 team that involves a very high cost, but at the same time we are aware that we need that reference of riders who can continue in the orbit of the Contador Foundation. And if we apply these criteria, as well as a suitable way of working, a track record of many years and an interesting calendar, the project to look at is the Equipo Gomur. I think that the benefit will be for both parties, the agreement is far from exclusive and we are still waiting for talent that may emerge in other structures, but it is clear that our priority will be the riders trained in the Equipo Gomur’.
The Equipo Gomur, located in Camargo (Cantabria), is a structure with more than 25 years of history. Founded in 1995, with outstanding successes such as the overall of the Spanish Cup in 2015 and 2016, the national ranking in 2016, the Torneo Lehendakari in 2024 or victories in stage races such as Coruña, Segovia, Cantabria and Navarra; classics such as Aiztondo, Circuito del Guadiana, Trofeo Guerrita and Santikutz; or stage wins in Bidasoa, Extremadura, Castellón and Galicia. Riders such as Antonio Angulo, Pelayo Sánchez, Óscar Linares and Ángel Fuentes, with outstanding professional careers, have passed through its ranks.
