A first win always means a lot, though somehow this one seems like it may mean that bit more, as when Nil Gimeno took his victory on stage 7 of Le Tour de Langkawi it was not just a beginning, but also potentially an end.
It was announced earlier this year that the Equipo Kern Pharma‘s main sponsor would be withdrawing at the end of the year, and while the search has long been on to find a new one, there has yet to be any good news announced. Sometimes the old adage that no news is good news doesn’t ring true.
That means while the glee that the win had come for the 22-year-old Gimeno was written all over his face, so was the emotion when he contemplated what may be ahead for the squad where he built the foundation of his cycling career.
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“I’m really, really happy to achieve this with this team,” Gimeno told Cyclingnews after going to podium in Batu Pahat to celebrate his win. “They’ve been really, really, really good with me, and also with all the riders. They care so much about us.
“These two years, they believed in me all the time. I had tough moments because pro cycling is really, really hard most of the time, and they were always there supporting me, saying to me that I have to believe in myself. And even though they are having a really, really bad moment now, I just want to say thank you to Juanjo [José Oroz, team manager] and Iosune [Murillo, coach], to all the staff members, to the riders.
“We are a family, and it’s really sad that the team don’t have any sponsor now, and we are doing everything we can to achieve that.”
The support and camaraderie among the squad at the Tour de Langkawi was clearly visible in the scenes on the road in recent days, both when things were good, on Saturday, and not so good after Wednesday’s stage 4. That was the day Gimeno had marked out as the one for him, and after third last year on the final stage he was determined to try and fight for more this time.
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It started off well, he’d made the break and it looked like it was going to last but the rider, who knows how to deliver in a reduced group sprint, just fell short of making it to the line with the group of three to unfurl it.
“I did not have the best day, so I was really, really disappointed because it was a climb that treated me really good, and I did everything bad. I just was not there, so I was really, really sad,” said Gimeno.
That was clear as he sat on the road after the line, with slumped shoulders and head, but his team rallied around, quietly offering moral support, an arm around the shoulder, a comforting word and watchful sympathetic eyes.
Equally, they were all there on Saturday, waiting patiently as Gimeno spoke to the broadcast media, so they could snatch a moment to celebrate together before he headed to the podium to stand on the top step, in a Kern Pharma jersey which looks set to disappear from the peloton.
‘The situation is complicated’
The Spanish team has a long history, moving into the ProTeam ranks in 2020 but before that operating as a as a top feeder amateur team, Lizarte. Sports director Jon Armendariz, who was with the team at Le Tour de Langkawi ,has been there since well before the beginnings of its life as a ProTeam as his history with the squad that first came into existence in 1993 extends back 16 years. He started with Lizarte as a rider and then became a sports director.
“We don’t know anything yet,” Armendariz told Cyclingnews before the winning move was made at the start of stage 7. “Juanjo, the team manager, is doing a very great job but the situation is complicated for us, and maybe these two stages will be our last stages in this team. We will see.”
It’s a sobering situation, with the Spanish team shepherding many riders into the pro ranks from both Spain and also beyond. Taiwan’s Yen Yi Ho is a good example, with the rider who is now racing with the squad at Le Tour de Langkawi having spent this year in the ProTeam, learning the ropes of working within the team dynamics of a European-based squad after coming up the ranks at Equipo Finisher-Kern Pharma through the Giant Grassroots Program.
Then there is the Spanish rider Jorge Gutiérrez, a 24-year-old who has come up through the Equipo Kern Pharma development pathway before racing with the ProTeam the past three seasons. He had some health problems at the start of the season, but has come to Le Tour de Langkawi with some strong form, building on his tenth overall of last year and eight of 2024. Gutiérrez is now sitting at sixth on the GC with one stage to go and trying to make the most of the racing in Malaysia, despite the issues surrounding the team.
“It’s a different situation. I’ve never lived this before,” Gutiérrez told Cyclingnews ahead of stage 7. “It’s not easy, but I have to enjoy every competition day and appreciate how lucky we are as a team to be here.”
Gutiérrez, who is the leading Kern Pharma rider on the overall, said before the penultimate stage that he was still looking for chances to move up higher, but also help his teammates chase opportunities. An hour after we spoke it was one of them, in the form of Gimeno, who capitalised on a big one.
The race is clearly also one that suits Gutiérrez, given his two finishes within the top ten overall, and even more so this year, with additional climbing thrown in. This time, however, the stakes at this race that plays to his strengths are higher than ever.
“I’m in a dangerous situation because I don’t have a contract for next year, and I think I’m doing a good race, a good GC, and also I don’t have problems helping my teammates for a victory, for staying in a breakaway,” said Gutiérrez, “I hope for next year to have a contract and opportunity to be a cyclist. I love it.”
That hope extends to the team, who earlier in the season gave riders and staff carte blanche to look for employment elsewhere given the situation. But for now, the wheels keep turning as there is a race and season to finish, and only after that will the thoughts of what’s next be able to fully take over.
“We will come back to to Pamplona to our service course, and and we will see the situation and we’ll see the best step for next year,” concluded Gutiérrez.
*Cyclingnews attended Le Tour de Langkawi on an invitation/media package from the race that included travel and accommodation. In line with our editorial standards, our coverage is independent and was not subject to review, approval or influence by the organiser or any sponsor; no favourable coverage was promised or given in return.
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