After a difficult exit from AG2R La Mondiale, where team and rider agreed to end their contract 14 months before time, Colombian Carlos Betancur is aiming at a much-needed fresh start to his racing career with Movistar.
The 26-year-old’s career has been a rollercoaster up until now, with a victory in Paris-Nice in 2014 and fifth place in the Giro d’Italia the previous season followed by a seemingly relentless series of misfires in the Vuelta a España and other races since a year last March.
After a 20th place overall in the Giro d’Italia this May, Betancur has not raced since and in August he and AG2R La Mondiale opted to bite the bullet and go their separate ways. “We have not found the keys to allow Carlos Betancur to regain the level of performance that allowed him to win Paris-Nice,” the French team manager Vincent Lavenu said at the time, although Betancur, whilst thanking AG2R La Mondiale at the time of his departure, now claims the breakdown was irrevocable.
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Since then Betancur has re-signed with Movistar, aiming to kick start his career again in a new team. “Why am I here? Because they’ve given me a contract,” he says with a smile when asked by Cyclingnews how he ended up in the Spanish squad.
Speaking more seriously, he added, “I think, too, Movistar will offer me more, I can learn a lot more and will make me feel happier. In AG2R there were a lot of things that didn’t allow everything to flow smoothly. It’s like when you don’t get on well with your wife. You have to break up.”
Whilst he had other offers, he says, “The team which suited me the best was Movistar. I and Eusebio [Unzue, team manager] know each other very well, and I think we’ll be able to work well.”
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