Spaniard signs two-year contract with Caisse d’Epargne successor
Xavier Tondo has one less worry for next season, having come to an agreement with the Spanish Movistar team. Tondo signed a two-year contract with the successor squad of Caisse d’Epargne. The Cervélo TestTeam is folding at the end of the season, which leaves some riders desperately looking for a new cycling home.
The 31-year-old has mostly raced for Continental Spanish and Portuguese teams, but made the switch to the ProTour after a good 2009 season. Last year, he had top ten overall placings in the Vuelta a Andalucia “Ruta del Sol” (second), the Volta a Catalunya (eighth) and the Vuelta a Burgos (second).
At the time, Tondo called joining the Cervélo TestTeam “like a dream come true for me.” A year later, the team folding is more like a nightmare, but fortunately for Tondo he can now keep living his pro cycling dream at Movistar.
In 2010, Tondo was an important factor for the team in general and Carlos Sastre in particular. With early stage wins in Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya, Tondo took pressure off the team. He was then at Sastre’s side in good and bad times. The latter included the day when Sastre lost the overall chances for the Giro d’Italia win, even though he made a brief comeback later.
Tondo started his career at Paternina – Costa de Almeria in 2003. He switched to Portuguese Barbot – Gaia midway through the 2004 season, followed by Catalunya – Angel Mir in 2005. In 2006 he moved up to the Relax – GAM squad. But he had a relatively short and less successful season, so two years at the Portuguese LA-MSS team followed. His biggest wins were the Volta a Portugal in 2007 and the Subida al Naranco in 2008.
This moved him back up to Andalucia – CajaSur and into sight of the ProTour teams, of which Cervélo was the one to sign him.