Brothers trade familiarity for new challenge at French team
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Jesús Herrada (Movistar Team)(Image credit: El Pedal de Frodo - www.elpedaldefrodo.com)
Jose Herrada (Movistar Team)(Image credit: Movistar Team)
The final podium of the Men’s Elite UCI Spanish National Championship Road Race. Left to right: Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team, silver), Jesús Herrada (Movistar Team, gold) and Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida, bronze)(Image credit: Alberto Brevers)
José Herrada (Movistar Team)(Image credit: El Pedal de Frodo/www.elpedaldefrodo.com)
Jesus Herrada (Movistar) celebrates winning stage 2 at the Criterium du Dauphine
Jesús Herrada, 27, turned pro with the Spanish WorldTour team in 2011, and has twice won the Spanish national championships road race. The latest came in June, and so he will therefore wear national champ's colours in his first six months at Cofidis.
Having performed strongly on French soil in the past few years - with a stage win at the Critérium du Dauphiné and runner-up overall finishes at the Tour du Haut Var, Tour du Limousin, and Tour du Poitou-Charentes - he feels the French Pro Continental team is the perfect place for him to kick on and break out of his comfort zone.
"Movistar is like a family to me, so it's not easy to change teams, but I think it's time to move on," he said in a statement from Cofidis.
"I looked at several options but I didn't hesitate in going for Cofidis. I know I'll find lots of support in this new challenge, and that's the most important thing – confidence. I'm 27, and the time is right to take on new responsibilities and to see the level I can reach in the biggest races. I'm very happy, I'm sure I'll continue to have successful seasons, particularly on the French calendar, where I've always had my best results. I also want to take on the big classics and week-long stage races. For that, Cofidis was the perfect team to join."
The Spanish champion will be joined, as he has been at Movistar since 2012, by his brother, José, four years his senior. José Herrada turned pro with the Contentpolis team in 2008, spending two seasons there and two seasons at Caja Rural before joining Movistar in 2012.
He has mostly been deployed as a domestique for the likes of Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde but the step down to Pro Continental level will offer more opportunities to chase results for himself.
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"I can't wait to join Cofidis. I think it's the perfect team for me," he said. "For several years now I have been focused on working for other leaders, but now I'm going to have more freedom and I'm going to try and get some good results. I've just finished third at the GP de Getxo and fourth at the GP Villafranca, so I know I'm capable of great performances. I will give the best of myself. This is a great opportunity for me."
The Herrada brothers join fellow Spaniards Dani Navarro and Luis Angel Maté at Cofidis, and should have the opportunity to ride the Tour de France and/or the Vuelta a España - two Grand Tours to which the team is habitually invited.
The Herrada brothers are Cofidis' second and third signings of the transfer window, with Bert Van Lergerghe already signed from Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise. On their way out are Clément Venturini (AG2R-La Mondiale), Jérôme Cousin (Direct Energie), Arnold Jeannesson (Retires), Florian Sénéchal (QuickStep-Floors), and Yohan Bagot (Vital Concept).
