Luis Ángel Maté Begins His Final Season as a Professional Cyclist
Luis Ángel Maté, a native of Marbella, Spain, has kicked off his final season as a professional cyclist this Tuesday in Saudi Arabia. He is currently competing with his team, Euskaltel-Euskadi, in the Alula Tour, a five-stage race through the desert, which will run until Saturday, February 3rd. This is his first time participating in this race.
Maté’s 17th and Final Season in Professional Cycling
Today marks the start of Maté’s 17th season as a professional cyclist, which will not just be another season, but the last in his international career. He is competing with his team in the Alula Tour, a race in the Saudi Arabian desert, featuring flat but challenging stages due to wind and dust. The race has attracted notable cyclists such as Simon Yates, Dylan Groenewegen, and Rafal Majka.
First Stage of the Alula Tour
The first stage of the race took place on Tuesday, with Dutch cyclist Casper Van Uden of Team DSM taking the win. Euskaltel made a significant impact with young Unai Zubeldia, who made his professional debut and climbed the podium to collect the combativity award and the sprint jersey. In this first stage, Luis Ángel Maté finished in 49th place, marking the beginning of his farewell season.
Maté’s Professional Cycling Career
Maté began his professional career with Andalucía Cajasur in 2008. He then spent two years in Italy with Diquigiovanni Androni. In 2011, he moved to France to join Cofidis, where he spent the longest part of his career, ten years. Since 2021, he has been part of the legendary Basque squad Euskaltel Euskadi, where he will retire after four years wearing the orange jersey. So far, he has participated in 17 grand tours (six in the Tour and eleven in the Spanish round), and hopefully, he will be able to add to this tally this season.
