Fernando Gaviria made his first public appearance as a Movistar rider during the team’s 2023 presentation in Madrid on Wednesday. The Colombian arrives on a one-year contract after a difficult end to his tenure at UAE Team Emirates.
“The last three years have been difficult in personal, professional and human terms. Complicated, complex years,” Gaviria admitted to El Pais.
“But now we’ve turned the page. I’m on a new team. Being at Movistar is an extra motivation for me. I like the way they treat me, I like how it’s been up to this point.”
After notching up six wins during his debut season at UAE Team Emirates in 2019, Gaviria got off to fast start the following year, when he rattled off a hat-trick of victories at the Vuelta a San Juan.
However he contracted COVID-19 at the following month’s UAE Tour and spent four weeks in hospital isolation in the early days of the global pandemic.
Although he recovered sufficiently to win three races when the season resumed that summer, Gaviria would test positive for COVID-19 again at the pandemic-delayed Giro d’Italia.
In his final two seasons at UAE Team Emirates, Gaviria's success was limited to just three victories, and he endured a maddening run of near misses and mechanical mishaps in sprints at this year’s Giro.
“When you’re riding strong, everyone loves you and supports you, but when you're not, they start talking, they start rumours, but no one knows what's going on inside each rider, what affects each rider,” said Gavira.
“I’m not coming here with anger, but with a desire to do things well for a team who took a gamble on me when I wasn't in my best years. But they have faith and I have faith.”
Gaviria will make his competitive debut for Movistar at next month’s Vuelta a San Juan, where he has won eight stages over the years. Milan-San Remo will be an obvious target in the Spring, though the rest of his racing programme for 2023 has yet to be determined.
“San Remo is always on our minds, we’re already thinking about it, although it's getting more and more complicated because the climbers want it too,” Gaviria said.
“Doing the Tour de France would be complicated because the team will be thinking only of Enric Mas, a rider who has been growing and growing. We haven’t talked about Grand Tours yet.”
