'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

The Burgos Burpellet BH team has riders from ten nations on its roster. Image: Sprint Cycling Agency / Burgos Burpellet BH

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.”