Following the demise of the Euskaltel team, talented young sprinter Juan Jose Lobato has saved his career. The Spaniard has signed a three-year contract with Movistar where he will bolster the team's sprinting division.

Juan Jose Lobato's career was about to come to an end almost before it had even started when the young sprinter found himself without a team for 2014 after the announcement that his Euskaltel team will fold at the end of the season. However, Movistar has thrown a lifeline at this late point in the season and has signed a three-year contract with the 24-year-old.

Lobato excelled as U23 rider when he finished in the top 10 at both the European and World Championships and turned professional in 2011 with the now defunct Andalucia team. In his first year, he showed his talents when he won the tough uphill sprint in the Circuit de Getxo ahead of Joaquim Rodriguez who finished 3rd.

Being Andalucia's main sprinter in 2012, he won three races in his second season with the team. He took two stage wins in the Vuelta a Chile in January and triumphed in a bunch sprint in the Tour of Quinghai Lake in the summer. In the final half of the season, he rode his maiden Vuelta but failed to make much of an impact in the grand tour.

Prior to this season, he signed a contract with Euskaltel and he has been one of only a select few to win a race for the Basque team during its final season. He won a stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon in April and repeated his 2011 win in the Circuito de Getxo in the summer.

Having joined a ProTeam, Lobato got the chance to ride the biggest races in the world and he featured regularly in the bunch sprints on the WorldTour scene. His breakthrough performance came in July when he was selected for the Tour de France and became the first wearer of the polka-dot jersey by getting into a breakaway on stage one. He finished in the top 10 in bunch sprints three times during the three-week race.

At Movistar, he will be joined  by Enrique Sanz, Jose Joaquin Rojas and Francisco Ventoso to form the team of sprinters and hopes to continue his development during the next three years by learning from his experienced teammates. He is the 8th signing for the 2014 season following the earlier announcements that John Gadret, Dayer Quintana, Alejandro Marque, Jasha Sütterlin, Adriano Malori and Ion and Gorka Izagirre will join the team.

Lobato is the 7th Euskaltel rider to find a new team. Romain Sicard will join Europcar, Mikel Nieve has signed with Sky, Mikel Landa will become an Astana rider, Ricardo Mestre will go back to Portugal with the Efapel team while the Izagirre brothers will remain teammates with Lobato at Movistar.