Ion Izaguirre (1989) goes into his third season with Movistar with a focus on one-week stage races. Valencia, Algarve and Paris-Nice are the three main challenges in the first part of the 2016 season.
According to BiciCiclismo, Izagirre, winner of the Tour of Poland and third in the Tour of the Basque Country in 2015, has finalized the first part of his schedule: Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (February 3-7), Clasica de Almeria (February 13), Vuelta a Murcia (February 14), Volta ao Algarve (February 17-21) and Paris-Nice (March 6-13).
Valencia, Algarve and Paris-Nice are three stage races where Izagirre can expect a leadership role as neither Nairo Quintana (San Luis, Catalonia and Pais Vasco) nor Alejandro Valverde (Tirreno-Adriatico is his only stage race before the Giro d'Italia ) will be present.
Last year Izagirre was ninth in Algarve but had bad luck in Paris-Nice, a race which he likes but where he has been unable to achieve a great result (55th in 2013, 19th in 2014 and 26th in 2015).
The Vuelta al Pais Vasco should again feature on his calendar after he finished on the podium in 2015, only beaten by Joaquim Rodriguez and Sergio Luis Henao and ahead of his team leader Quintana. He had a great 2015 season with the win in Poland - after being second in 2013 and 2014 - bronze in the Worlds team time trial in Richmond, and a second place in the Grand Prix Miguel Indurain. However, he did not live up to expectations in the Giro where he was 27th overall despite a clear goal of a top 10. He also has a stage win at the 2012 Giro and the 2014 Spanish Championships on his palmares.
Next year his only grand tour will be the Vuelta a Espana where he will support Nairo Quintana who will do the Tour-Vuelta double while Valverde will be the leader in the Giro. It will mark his debut his home grand tour.
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