{"id":50495,"date":"2025-08-12T15:50:42","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T15:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2024\/?p=50495"},"modified":"2025-08-13T08:34:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T08:34:03","slug":"team-talk-from-being-the-youngest-worldtour-mechanic-to-20-seasons-of-experience-and-counting-xabier-remon-aranas-journey-from-navarra-to-australias-greenedge-cycling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/team-talk-from-being-the-youngest-worldtour-mechanic-to-20-seasons-of-experience-and-counting-xabier-remon-aranas-journey-from-navarra-to-australias-greenedge-cycling\/","title":{"rendered":"TEAM TALK: From being the youngest WorldTour mechanic to 20 seasons of experience and counting \u2013 Xabier Remon Arana\u2019s journey from Navarra to Australia\u2019s GreenEDGE Cycling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photo: Xabi Remon during GreenEDGE Cycling\u2019s debut race in Australia, January 2012<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Xabier Remon Arana\u2019s<\/strong> journey as a WorldTour mechanic began as a young 21-year-old. He was the youngest mechanic in the peloton for multiple years by far and even much younger than most of the riders in the peloton.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now in 2025, the 41-year-old is one of the \u2018original\u2019 GreenEDGE Cycling<\/strong> team members and recalls his experiences after initially turning down the job, before taking a risk on it, to ultimately working alongside a Basque school friend without realising during his 20 years on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a cycling Mecca in the 90s\u00a0<\/u><\/strong>
Born in Pamplona, Navarra there was only one option growing up in the Miguel Indur\u00e1in \u2018boom\u2019 of the 90s \u2013 road cycling. However, Remon\u2019s passion for cycling was initially ignited through his love for motorbikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI actually started cycling because of <\/em>motocross,\u201d Remon explained. \u201cI had a motocross circuit near my house, and my grandfather always took me to see the motorbikes when I was five or six years old but on my little push bike. After the motorbikes finished, I would always try to copy them and do the jumps on my little bike. \u201cEventually, after always asking, my grandfather actually bought me a motorbike, I was so happy, but my dad made him return it to the shop, saying it was too dangerous. I still haven\u2019t forgiven him. 

\u201cIn the end, I started with road and mountain bikes. I became obsessed, I just wanted to ride my bike very single day, and I started racing on a road and mountain bike (MTB) when I was just seven, with Club Ciclista Ermitaga\u00f1a. I still ride MTB most days, it has become my life, but I didn\u2019t know then it would become my working life, too.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: As a young inspiring cyclist racing the Spanish MTB championships aged 14 or 15<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A life changing opportunity \u2013 the decision to be a car mechanic, factory worker or a WorldTour mechanic<\/u><\/strong>
The decision now seems an obvious one, but Remon\u2019s life could have taken another route quite easily. Good friend, Xabi Ech\u00e1varri (his former junior team director and son of Jos\u00e9 Miguel Ech\u00e1varri, the former owner of Team Reynolds, Banesto, Caisse d\u2019Epargne, which is now the Movistar team and manager of Miguel Indurain) offered him an opportunity to join a well-known professional cycling team and travel the world. It was an offer that most wouldn\u2019t even need to consider; yet the 21-year-old declined the offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was racing as an under 23 with the team that is now Kern Pharma but finally decided to stop after some health issues. I didn\u2019t want to know anything more about cycling, I was tired of it after so many years racing. In the winter of 2005, my friend Xabi offered me to start working in Caisse d\u2019Epargne the next season as a mechanic. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t hesitate and directly said no, I didn\u2019t want to know anything more about cycling, I was finished with the sport. I was working in a bike shop, I wasn\u2019t happy working with bikes and wanted to change my life, but I wasn\u2019t sure what to do. I studied to be a car mechanic and worked three months as a mechanic in a garage but also decided that also wasn\u2019t for me, even if cars is also one of my passions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not realising at the time how a simple yes or no could change the course of his life, the current GreenEDGE Cycling mechanic almost missed the sought after opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was about to go to start work in a factory and spent some more time thinking about Xabi\u2019s offer and after a week or so I called him to say I changed my mind. I was late and they had almost given the job to a Russian guy, Alexander – who currently works with Movistar. He had a lot of experience but finally they decided to give the role to me, a young guy living near the service course. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy first experience was amazing; we spent one month in Majorca and then my first long trip in a car was driving alone as a 21-year-old to Paris-Nice. It was around 900km, and the roads were fully covered in snow, I didn\u2019t know the way and I loved it. I enjoyed everything about the job a lot and I soon realised this was my dream job for many reasons.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was funny at the start because I was the youngest mechanic in the peloton during that period for many years. Many of the riders like Purito (Joaquim Rodriguez) and Bala (Alejandro Valverde) were older than me and it wasn\u2019t really heard of back then, but I didn\u2019t mind.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Time for a challenge and a new Australian beginning<\/u><\/strong>
After finding his feet as a WorldTour mechanic with multiple Grand Tours under his belt by the young age of 26, it was time for a new challenge, another step out of his comfort zone, this time in the form of a brand-new Australian team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 2008, working in Caisse d\u2019Epargne, Neil Stephens came to the team as a director, and I was doing a lot of races with him in the team car. In 2010, he started talking about a new project that was forming in Australia and the year after he left the team to be focussed on creating GreenEDGE Cycling.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce it was confirmed that they would create Australia\u2019s first WorldTour team, Neil contacted me and offered me a place on the team, and I didn\u2019t have any doubts. I wanted to join. I wanted to have a new experience, learn a new language, a whole new challenge and so I thought \u2018why not!?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter five years with Caisse d\u2019Epargne and one year when the team was called Movistar, in 2012 I moved to GreenEDGE Cycling. I was excited at the start and then when I got to Ballarat, Australia for my first race with the team, the Australian national championships; it was chaos!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arriving in Australia with new teammates, not speaking the official team language at the most important event – the team\u2019s first race, a home race, Remon soon realised it was not going to be an easy feat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember it was a stressful period, the nationals and then a home race the Tour Down Under and I thought \u2018what have I done?\u2019 It was really hard with the language, all Aussies speaking fast together. It was building a world class, elite level team from zero and starting with the first race on home roads. New riders, new equipment, new everything for everyone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat first month was hard and I had so many doubts, but we ended up winning the nationals and Tour Down Under and with the people around me in the team, I could see it was special and different. They were super professional, motivated but also really flexible and relaxed. It was a whole new experience and gave me a different perspective on cycling. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first three years I did all three Grand Tours, Giro d\u2019Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta and we had some great results. It was so special and important for Team Owner Gerry Ryan every time we won. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince then, I\u2019ve never looked back, next year will be my 15th<\/sup>\u00a0season with GreenEDGE. There\u2019s been a lot of changes over the years but still so many things remain the same. It is a very special team. And finally, I learnt to speak English with Australians. It has been a life changing experience, and I am really grateful to this team for many reason, one of them being because I met my partner here and we are about to welcome our first daughter.<\/em>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: Xabi Remon and Simon Gerrans at the 2013 Tour de France<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a small Basque kindergarten to an Australian elite team<\/u><\/strong>
The team may have been new, with many new international colleagues but there were some familiarities, closer to home than Remon expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I started in Caisse d\u2019Epargne, I started with Asier Atxa, a physio and the brother of a former teammate when I was an U23 rider. He was also from Navarra, and we spent many days at the races together. After a full season, we started talking about school. He was from a small town in the mountains and he explained that when he was young, the first five years of his life he was living in Pamplona near the service course of Reynolds because his dad was a professional rider there. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe couldn\u2019t remember the name of the primary school he went to but started explaining where it was and I realised that it was the same school that I went to. After a while we realised that we attended the same school, at the same time. We were in the same class and sat next to each other from three to five years old. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t seem that special but to look back now and realise that we have both been working for 14 years in an Australian WorldTour team, travelling around the world together, speaking multiple languages and that we met each other when we were just three years old, in a small Basque speaking school, it is pretty cool and what makes cycling an amazing sport to be a part of.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: The originals \u2013 GreenEDGE Cycling staff and rider Luke Durbridge at this year\u2019s Tour de France, having all started with the team in its inaugural year back in 2012. Xabi Remon and Asier Atxa third and second from the right.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo: Xabi Remon during GreenEDGE Cycling\u2019s debut race in Australia, January 2012 Xabier Remon Arana\u2019s journey as a WorldTour mechanic began as a young 21-year-old. He was the youngest…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[296,386],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50495"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50495"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50505,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50495\/revisions\/50505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}