Emmanuel Hubert: "Raúl García Pierna, a complete rider"
Raúl García Pierna, a former Spanish professional time trial champion and 4th at this summer’s U23 World Championships in Glasgow, will be joining the ARKEA-B&B HOTELS team in 2024.
Raúl’s words:
“I am very happy to join the ARKEA-B&B HOTELS squad in 2024. It’s a big step forward for me, as I’ll be joining a team that competes in the UCI WorldTour. This will enable me to grow in sporting terms, with a new calendar of competitions. I also think that, as a team, we’ll achieve some very good results. I’ve often come across the Arkéa-Samsic team during races in Spain. I’ve seen the way they race and how they’re organised. And that convinced me straight away, as did the sporting project presented to me by Emmanuel Hubert, the General Manager. I know I’m going to learn a lot at ARKEA-B&B HOTELS from 2024 onwards. My aim is to continue to perform in the events that suit me. I’m a rider who enjoys time trials and stage races. I also think I’m a good climber, but I’ll need to work on that further to hone my skills.
“Raúl García Pierna is a young rider who we have been following for some time. His progression within the Spanish team Kern Pharma has been linear and progressive at the same time, with some very promising performances in the space of three years. Raúl, who will be 23 in 2024, has already demonstrated some fine time-trial skills: 1st in the Spanish professional championships, 4th in the U23 World Championships in Glasgow this summer. He is a rouleur who also expresses himself very well in stage races, where he has shown great promise: 6th this year in the Tour of Castilla y León, 3rd in the 4th stage of the Vuelta Burgos ahead of some very good climbers in the pro peloton. The son of Félix Garcia-Casas, Raúl also learnt his cycling trade on the track, winning bronze medals at international and continental level: at the Junior World Championships in the points race, as well as in the scratch and elimination events, in 2019 and in 2020 at the European Championships. This makes him the complete rider that he is on the road, a talent that still needs to be polished to give it even more sparkle”.