Even though Igor Anton didn’t experienced similar problems with finding a new team to Samuel Sanchez after Euskaltel have folded in the end of last Lear, the Basque rider revealed that he also spent many months living in uncertainty before joining Movistar. Eventually, the talented climber not only found a squad to continue his professional career with, but became an irreplaceable part of their Giro d’Italia success as the last man to support superior Nairo Quintana in the mountains.

Anton suffered a cold during the first half of the Italian grand tour, but bounced back from the illness just on time to wreak havoc in the peloton with a furious pace he set at the front of leaders’ group. Following celebrations of Quintana’s first victory in the grand tour race, the 31-year old Basque admitted that the whole team was united around the young Colombian leader and filled with pride after achieving their ultimate objective.

“It’s hard to find the right words to describe it… It’s an unique experience to personally be a part of this [success], an experience you will always remember and tell your grandchildren about: “do you remember a guy who won no idea how many races? In that Giro I was with him.” I have enjoyed it and I have suffered too, because I have had some difficult times. It demanded a total dedication but while having such an important goal it was nice to have achieved it.”

“We were all waiting behind the stage in expectation, the tifossi and all his countrymen were watching and saw Nairo celebrating the victory with his daughter in arms. Some, like Castroviejo, couldn’t hold back tears, there were a lot of emotions put into this victory,” Anton told Biciciclismo.

Anton’s illness hasn’t been sufficiently emphasized during the Italian grand tour since all eyes were turned to general classification contenders, but the 31-year old Basque shared deeper insight into his difficult first part of the Giro with Spanish media.

“From the start, in Ireland, the terrain was simply not suiting my characteristics, and then I was struck by a bad cold. Fortunately, I began to recover before decisive mountain stages an eventually I was able to finish in a good fashion.”

“On Oropa I finally started to resemble the most expected version of myself and on Zoncolan I was albe to stay with the best. I have contributed my bit, you cannot forget that the team also consisted of riders experienced in riding in windy conditions like Malori, Ventoso, Andrey [Amador].. We have been a homogenous group and all nine riders arrived to Trieste.”

Even though the likes of Anton, Mikel Nieve (Team Sky) or Mikel Landa (Astana) instantly became hot names on the transfer market after it had been confirmed that Euskaltel would be folded, the 31-year old Basque was one of the victims of early promises made by Fernando Alonso. Anton turned down offers made by other teams, including Omega Pharma-Quick Step, and he revealed that he was forced to leave in a huge uncertainty about his future in professional cycling before a deal with Movistar was done.

"During the dinner on Sunday we had to talk one on one. I said that for six or seven months I was existing aimlessly, not knowing where I was going to end or even if I was going to continue my career in cycling. And eventually, after such a short period of time I found myself in this situation and was provided with this unique experience, which is something that no one could take away from you. I was able to win races, but participation in this experience makes you feel more special, even though Nairo was a winner,” Anton concluded.

Anton will line-up at the Criterium du Dauphine from coming Sunday, eager to make a good use of his increasing disposition, while his race programme for the rest of 2014 season is yet to be revealed.