‘Frustrated' Cullaigh parts company with Movistar

Brit joins Saint Piran after ‘scarce race days’, reports Chris Marshall-Bell

- Chris Marshall-Bell

Movistar rider Gabriel Cullaigh has vowed to get himself back into the top flight of the sport after he announced he will step down to the domestic Continental level with Saint Piran in 2022 having been unable to find a new WorldTour contract.

Cullaigh barely raced at Movistar, which he joined in 2020, and told CW in an open and expansive interview that he “felt very lost at points” in his two years there.

Now he’ll return to domestic racing with the hope of resurrecting his pro career. “I owe it to myself to give it another year. Working with Gary [Sadler, his coach], I can make it work. The main thing is focusing and enjoying my racing and competing. Hopefully the results will come, and with that I can continue this lifestyle and jump back up.” He said James Shaw’s move to EF Education-Nippo for 2022 after three years outside the WorldTour gave him hope.

He said the only WorldTour team that had shown interest in signing him was Qhubeka-NextHash but due to sponsorship concerns, the future of that entire squad remains uncertain so he decided to sign with Saint Piran.

“Because it’s a British team the priority is the British stuff like the National Series, Tour Series and Tour of Britain, but Lamps [Steve Lampier, manager] wants to take us abroad two or three times a month. I’ll have a good bit of racing and there will be opportunities,” said Cullaigh.

Tough years

“Last year was a write-off,” he told CW. “There was Covid and then I got shingles but I recovered from that. At the start of this year, the team had brought in Iván Cortina which I was excited about.