Pogacar's longtime confidant leaves cycling for football - 'A unique opportunity'

Tadej Pogačar’s personal masseur, Joseba Elguezabal, has become the latest figure from the world of cycling to swap the peloton for football, joining Athletic Bilbao, following in the footsteps of former UAE Team Emirates-XRG performance director Íñigo San Millán.

The 44-year-old Basque will join the LaLiga club's performance staff, having first started working with Pogačar when they met at a UAE team training camp, the Slovenian's first with the team, back in 2019.

Sources at UAE described the move to AS as "a unique opportunity" for Elguezabal's career. The masseur was considered one of Pogačar's closest colleagues and was frequently seen providing immediate assistance to the Slovenian after race finishes.

The transfer represents another example of a staff move from professional cycling and football. Last year, Merijn Zeeman, former Sporting Director at Visma | Lease a Bike, announced his departure from the Dutch cycling team to join Dutch football side AZ Alkmaar as Chief Executive Officer.

Similarly, Martijn Redegeld ended his five-year tenure as Head of Nutrition at Visma | Lease a Bike to take up a new role at Ajax Football Club.

Athletic Bilbao, founded in 1898, holds a prestigious position in Spanish football as one of only three clubs never relegated from LaLiga since its formation in 1929, alongside Real Madrid and Barcelona. 

The club is renowned for its unique recruitment policy, following an unwritten rule since 1911 that allows them to sign only players born in the Basque Country or who developed at Basque clubs, though this policy does not extend to coaching and performance staff.

The Basque club currently sits eighth in LaLiga and is competing in the UEFA Champions League, where they currently occupy 27th position in the league phase.

At the start of stage 13 during the 2019 Vuelta a España, the peloton completed a lap around the pitch of the club's San Mamés stadium.