Yesterday it was announced that 2011 Vuelta champion Juan Jose Cobo will leave the top level in 2014 when he will ride in the colours of Turkish continental team Torku Sekerspor. Knowing that his results in 2012 and 2013 have been way below expectations, the Spaniard is just happy that he can keep riding and now sets his sights on a return to the WorldTour in 2015.

 

Juan Jose Cobo managed to save his career at the last minute after signing a contract with the Torku Sekerspor. However, the time when the 2011 Vuelta champion rode the biggest races in the world, are over for now as his new, modest surroundings will see him attend far smaller events than he has done in the past.

 

It's an evident step down for the rider who surprised the entire cycling world with his amazing climbing in the 2011 Vuelta a Espana. However, the success was followed by two lacklustre seasons at Movistar that left him with very few options when his contract expires at the end of the year.

 

Cobo is purely aware that cycling is now in a difficult time as five professional teams will all fold at the end of the season. At the same time, he openly admits that his results didn't allow him to continue at the highest level and he is just happy that he can keep riding in these difficult circumstances.

 

“The circumstances were not the most favourable after my two years in the Movistar Team and the current situation of cycling," he told Biciciclismo. "It was difficult to find a place in the ProTour squad and so I started looking for the possibility of minor teams." 
 

It was one of his former teammates from his time at Saunier Duval and Geox that put him in contact with the Turkish team. At the end of the 2012 season, former wearer of the mountains jersey in the Tour de France David de la Fuente was unable to find a team at the highest level and rode for Torku in 2013.

 

“The Torku option happened thanks to David de la Fuente, who put me in contact with them," Cobo said. "They asked me at the Tour of Turkey although I didn’t think about it until the end of the season. Given the circumstances, I am very satisfied to keep racing."

 

De la Fuente's presence is important for Cobo.
 

"I had heard much about the team," he said. "The language and the people are different and it helps to have him at my side. I like what I've seen during the last 36 hours. I look forward to riding for the team."

 

Cobo has been one of the most inconsistent riders in the professional peloton. Mostly referred to as a fabulous rider, he has a fragile mind and even contemplated retirement just months before his big Vuelta triumph.

 

He first showed his talents as a Saunier Duval rider in the 2007 season when he won two stages and the overall at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. He went on to finish 20th in the Tour de France one year later but when he returned to the French grand tour one year later, it ended up as a disaster.

 

While Cobo wasn't implicated in any doping affair himself, his teammates Riccardo Ricco and Leonardo Piepoli who had won three stages among them - Piepoli by riding to the top of the Hautacam alongside Cobo - tested positive for CERA and the entire team left the race. The team underwent several name changes in the subsequent period as it tried to save its existence and Cobo first showed his inconsistency by being mostly anonymous in 2009.

 

However, he returned to form in time for the Vuelta where he won a stage and finished 10th overall. Those results earned him a contract with Eusebio Unzue's Caisse d'Epargne team but he had a horrible 2010 season with very little racing and no results at all.

 

He returned to familiar surroundings at the Geox-TMC team which was the successor of his former Saunier Duval team but his disastrous riding continued in the first part of 2011. Everything changed when he suddenly found his legs for the Vuelta, taking that big career-defining triumph.

 

He returned to Unzue's team, now known as Movistar, and hoped to shine in the Tour and Vuelta in 2012. However, he didn't have much success in any of the grand tours but showed glimpses of his potential in the French grand tour.

 

This year he had hoped to focus on the GC in the Vuelta but a bad crash in the team time trial left him with no opportunity to shine and he finished an anonymous 116th. In the final part of the season, he barely raced and wasn't selected for the Vuelta despite expressing his desire to return to the scene for his biggest triumph.

 

Cobo is still convinced that he can reach his former level.

 

“I've always said getting back to my level ultimately just depends on me: to do things well, to be focused, to enjoy the bike, heading out to train and ultimately doing the sport with enthusiasm," he said. "The truth is that I finished the season with in a good way, highly motivated, and it isn’t hard to train.”
 

In 2014 Cobo will do far smaller races than he has done in the past and his major highlight is likely to be the Tour of Turkey in April. His team has a tainted past as it initially won the past two editions of the Turkish race with Ivailo Gabrovski and Mustafa Sayar respectively but both tested positive for EPO at the event.

 

"I am available to the team and will target the races that are their objectives," he said. "I guess my main goal till be the Tour of Turkey."

 

Cobo still intends to return to the highest level but at 32 years of age, he knows that time is running out.

 

“I’m not a kid,” he conceded. “In cycling there is always the desire to improve, but first I have to do next year. I will approach things day by day. There will also be a different schedule and a different level. At the end of the season we will see if I have reached the right level."