Team Ineos have confirmed the signing of key mountain lieutenant Andrey Amador after Movistar finally agreed to terminate his contract. The 33-year-old Costa Rican had signed a contract extension with Movistar after the Tour de France last July before having a change of heart in September when news emerged that he wanted to move to Team Ineos.
Movistar initially blocked Amador from breaking contract, with team director Eusebio Unzue demanding Amador to pay a release fee.
This feud eventually saw the case end up in front of the UCI's arbitration board over the winter. In the meantime, Amador had been spotted during the winter training in Team Ineos kit on a Pinarello team bike.
Movistar then announced it had let Amador go on Tuesday with Team Ineos confirming their latest signing on Wednesday morning and that he would make his debut at the UAE Tour later in the month.
In a press release, the Team Ineos wrote: 'A consummate professional and incredible teammate, Amador has a track record of supporting the best riders in the world while achieving excellent results of his own.
'Previously a part of two Grand Tour winning lineups – including Richard Carapaz’s 2019 Giro d’Italia win – Amador also has a Giro stage win to his name, and finished fourth in the Italian Grand Tour in 2015.'
Amador also commented on the move stating, 'Who wouldn’t be excited to sign with Team Ineos? I’m very happy to be part of this great team. I have spent all of my sporting career with Movistar and I owe them a lot – but I felt now is the right time in my career to seek some new motivations.'
He then followed up by stating his main goal in 2019 will be to slot in as fellow Ineos newbie Carapaz's key domestique for his Giro defence this May.
Both Carapaz and Amador are represented by Italian super-agent Guiseppe Acquadro, the man at the centre of both riders' moves away from Movistar to Team Ineos.
It has been long-rumoured that Acquadro and Movistar boss Unzue fell out at last year's Giro with Unzue refusing to work with Acquadro, claiming he had already negotiated Carapaz's move to Team Ineos despite entering talks with Movistar about extending the rider's stay.
Acquadro also has a close bond with Team Ineos, already acting as representative of Egan Bernal, Michal Kwiatkowski and Ivan Sosa.