More Classics freedom awaits Davide Formolo at Movistar

Davide Formolo is one of the riders who will change teams next season, leaving UAE Team Emirates to join Movistar in 2024. Speaking exclusively to GCN at his agent's event over the weekend, he didn’t hide his ambition to be the leader of his new team in some important one-day races.

The Italian domestique has ridden for UAE Team Emirates for the last four seasons, forming part of both of Tadej Pogačar’s Tour de France wins, and adding more victories to his own tally. So why did he decide to leave such a successful team?

“It has been an unexpected choice for me too,” Formolo told GCN. “At the beginning, I didn’t consider this option because here [at UAE] I was feeling really comfortable, but after talking for several days with Eusebio [Unzué, Movistar team manager], it arose in me the idea to change.”

Read more: Davide Formolo commits to Enric Mas after signing contract with Movistar

There are many reasons that pushed the 31-year-old to sign a three-year deal with the Spanish team, but the first one is that he will reunite with Leonardo Piepoli, his coach for several seasons during his career.

“Let’s say that I will meet my historical trainer again, and from my point of view for an athlete the coach is kind of a godfather,” he said. “This is the reason that tipped the scales in favour of Movistar”.

Whilst Formolo was talking with Unzué, rumours were swirling that Carlos Rodríguez had signed a pre-contract with Movistar, in a move that would have seen him leave Ineos Grenadiers. Eventually, though, the Spanish climber decided to stay with his current team, penning a new long-term deal this autumn.

Read more: Carlos Rodríguez agrees four-year deal at Ineos Grenadiers

“Nothing was certain but that was an option,” Formolo said. “I think that he would have been an added value to a team like Movistar. He’s a really strong young rider within the world scene.”

Instead of joining as a domestique for Rodríguez, though, Formolo will now move to Movistar to support the likes of Enric Mas and Oier Lazkano, as well as chasing his own goals.

A valued domestique and a successful rider in his own right

During his four years at UAE Team Emirates, Formolo took three victories - a stage at Criterium du Dauphiné in 2020, two Italian one-day races in Coppa Agostoni and Veneto Classic at the end of this season - and he was Tadej Pogačar’s teammate in his second overall win at Tour de France in 2021.

Despite that, his best memory of his time at UAE is not a race that he won or he helped to win, but a race that he watched from the sofa, having abandoned the race earlier on.

“The most beautiful moment has been when Tadej won his first Tour de France [in 2020]. During the final time trial I was on the sofa with an injured shoulder [due to a crash at stage 10],” he revealed. “This is a moment that I will always carry with me because we trained together before the Tour and we started with a lot of doubts and desire for revenge, and he managed to realise the dream, that was just his first one.

“Cycling is a sport that when you watch it on the TV, you can get carried away in the emotions, but when you are racing you are focused on how to do your job in the best way. Being at home in some way made me enjoy that moment even more.”

The Italian climber has been one of the riders who has contributed to making UAE Team Emirates become one of the best teams in cycling.

“It has been four memorable years, we went from being a really good WorldTour team to now the best team in the world. I think that every athlete dreams to ride for a team so important once in a lifetime.”

What role will Formolo have in a well-structured team like Movistar during the next season? The Italian climber said that he will be a domestique in the Grand Tours - probably at the Tour de France to help Enric Mas - but also that he wants to play his cards as a captain in some Classics.

“I will be an important sidekick in the Grand Tours and then I will be able to take my chances in one-day races,” he said. “I would like to do the Tour because also with the Italian Grand Départ, it will be really unique, and as an Italian rider it will be really nice to be there.

“I demonstrated that I can be more competitive in the Classics. Let’s see what we can do, only the road can say”.

It’s likely that we will see Formolo as the Movistar leader in some races that he loves, like Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, two races where he has finished as runner-up in recent years.

“The team is giving me wonderful opportunities, doing Classics such as Strade Bianche and the Ardennes, let’s see. Racing against such phenomenons it’s not easy, but we will try to make space for ourselves among them.”