'Talent is everywhere in the world' - Burgos Burpellet BH has become the peloton's most international team
DS Damien Garcia tells Global Peloton about the team's internationalisation, the ProTeam UCI points race and development of Sainbayar, Fagundez, Chumil
Czechia, Eritrea, France, Greece, Guatemala, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand (x2), Uruguay and Spain (x13).
That’s the makeup of what has become cycling’s most international professional team: Burgos Burpellet BH.
Since its birth in 1999, the team based in northern Spain has been Spanish at its core, but never exclusively so. Many ProTeams over the years have consciously divided themselves to their registered nationality, but not this team, which was originally known as Burgos Monumental.
In its early years, the team gave starts to the likes of Gustav Erik Larsson (Sweden) and Andrey Amador (Costa Rica). However in recent seasons, as they stepped up to professional level, they have globalised, giving opportunities to riders from a greater global spread of nations than any other professional team.
“I think talent is everywhere in the world,” the team’s lead Director Sportif Damien Garcia told Global Peloton over the phone last week.
“Our team is obviously limited in the budget compared to the WorldTour teams. We have to find new talent and try to scout everywhere and to give a chance to some other riders.”
Having raced all around the world during his own career, Garcia is acutely aware of the challenges riders from non-traditional nations face in becoming professionals.
“If we didn't give them a contract, I think they would not be professional today…So I think it's a good mix, a good balance between the Spanish and also some international riders. So it kind of helps in terms of giving them opportunities.”
In a world where the best teenagers are snapped up by WorldTour development squads long before the ProTeams can get a sniff, team’s like Burgos Burpellet BH must find other ways of finding riders that are going to be able to score points and win races. The team’s approach has allowed them to find talent that no one else has looked at, and riders that may have bloomed later on in their development.
“The best juniors are already captured by the development teams from WorldTour, so we have to find talent another way,” Garcia says. “We think guys of 21, 22 years old are still young and can improve in a kind of team as us.”
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Burgos Burpellet BH rely on long-established networking to find international talents to bring into the team. Often, riders are initially signed to the team’s Spanish amateur development squad, Equipo Cortizo. They have promoted seven riders from that team to the professional ranks in the past two seasons.
Others, like Merhawi Kudus and Jambaljamts Sainbayar, are ready to go straight into the ProTeam. The challenge then, Garcia says, is for them to integrate into the Spanish culture, especially for those who don’t speak the language.
“It's not easy because there are not spots for everyone. But yeah, we try to find a good guy who can adapt to the Spanish culture,” Garcia says.
Mongolian champion Sainbayar has had to get over a number of cultural hurdles after joining the team for the 2024 season, but Garcia is optimistic that the 28-year-old can develop quickly this season after a solid ride at O Gran Camiño last month.
“When you have, for example, ‘Jamba’, one guy from Mongolia, working with Chumil, from Guatemala; the first battle is the language. Jamba didn't speak Spanish before, so now he's trying to learn. The food was also quite different from Asia.”
“You need a time of adaptation, I would say. But now I think everyone knows his spot and feels comfortable in the team. That's most important. They live together sometimes during a big part of the year. For us it's important that they can understand each other well and communicate.”
“We see Sainbayar now is able to do good races in Europe, like last year in the Olympic Games. He has done his first WorldTour race at Catalunya and this year he gets the next level.”
“[He will] do races more in Europe, like Basque Country, Indurain, and some good races in France as well…We see his quality, he's able to become a good professional in Europe as well. So we're giving him chances to race here.”
The international contingent of the Burgos Burpellet BH squad have been leading the charge for the team in the first part of the year. Guatemalan Sergio Chumil won a stage of O Gran Camiño in February and finished sixth overall, while Uruguayan Eric Fagundez was one place ahead of him on GC and was also 6th over the gravel roads of the Clásica Jaén.
The pair, both late bloomers who came through the development team, have made big steps forward in the past year. They will both be present for the upcoming Spanish WorldTour stage races, the Volta a Catalunya and Tour of the Basque Country, one of the most important stretches of the season for the team.
“Fagundez, we signed him two years ago for his first pro season. He was in Cortizo one year and we signed him in 2023. So he's already done two years with the team. He has a big improvement about nutrition, training and everything. I think he grows every year, step by step, and this year he's getting his biggest level,” Garcia says.
“He showed a very high level, a consistent level from the beginning of the year. Now we will see in the WorldTour races how he responds…I think he has the level to become a WorldTour rider for sure. But yeah, he needs consistent training and to follow his improvement.”
Chumil meanwhile has signed a contract extension with the team to the end of 2027 after his win in Gran Camiño, and Garcia sees him as a future leader of the team.
“He's a pure climber and he lives up to 2,500 meters in Guatemala. So I think from genetics, he will be, we hope, one of the biggest climbers of the team in the future and internationally.”
Read more: Guatemala's Sergio Chumil is one to watch
UCI points push
In 2026, new UCI rules mean that ProTeams must finish in the top-30 of the UCI team rankings at the end of the previous season in order to be eligible for racing the Grand Tours.
A ride at the Vuelta is vital for Spanish ProTeams, it’s what they live and die on. Without it, sponsor revenue vanishes. Understandably then, Burgos Burpellet BH’s big push this year is to finish in that top-30. Currently they sit in 24th with a near 400-point buffer on 31st place.
Much has been made of the WorldTour relegation UCI points race, but ProTeams are also racing with that same motivation to score points at all costs. Garcia says that the team’s globalisation has also been in-part to bring in more points, with riders like Sainbayar scoring heavily at the Asian Continental Championships with a third-place finish in February.
The team is also racing a strategic international schedule. They are currently competing in the 2.1 Tour of Taiwan and will head to the equally-ranked Tour of Thailand in a few weeks.
“Many teams in the WorldTour are going to chase points, but it also continues in ProTeams. We see now guys sprinting for place-17 in some races. It's the kind of system we have to look for, for sure.”
“It's one of the goals of the season to be in the top-30 to do the Grand Tours in the future, next year. And for sure, we build the team looking for the points. We try to have a good balance between young riders and guys a bit more experienced to get the points during the season.”
“We already got three wins so it's a very good start of the season for us… It was a main goal to have a good start of the season. We are glad and happy about what we have done in the first two months of competition.”
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