García Acosta reflects on 17 years with one team

The hugely experienced José Vicente García Acosta (Movistar).

The hugely experienced José Vicente García Acosta (Movistar). (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)

In a sport where half a dozen years with the same team is a remarkable achievement given the way that form, sponsors and fortune come and go, José Vicente García Acosta’s record of 17 years with the same outfit is quite extraordinary. After a spell as a stagiaire with Banesto in the latter half of 1994, he signed with the team for 1995 and has been with it ever since as it evolved into ibanesto.com, Illes Balears, Caisse d’Epargne and then, this year, Movistar.

Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014). 

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