Team Ineos has signed 18-year-old Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez. Rodriguez will skip the U23s and go straight to the world tour on a four-year contract.

For the past two years, Rodriguez has ridden for the Kometa development team founded by Alberto Contador. He won the Spanish junior time trial title two years in a row and this year won the Tour de Gironde and the Gipuzkoa Classica one-day race.

At this year's World Championships, he finished 34th in the junior men's time trial and 24th in the road race.

"Carlos has done really well in Spanish races and has been one of, if not the best rider his age for the last couple of years," said Xavier Artese, director sportif of Team Ineos.

"He was really motivated and had all the options in his hands. He became a World Tour rider and grew step by step. The most important thing is to make it clear where he is now and where he is going. We have to take care of him."

Rodriguez will turn 19 in January, a year younger than Lemko Evenpoel, who jumped from junior to World Tour at the beginning of this year and has had a great season. Junior road race world champion Quinn Simmons, 18, plans to do the same next year when he moves to Trek-Segafredo.

Rodriguez will combine racing and college studies to earn an engineering degree.

"I'm under no illusions. It's a big step up to the professional level. [Training gets harder, racing gets faster. I think if I work hard step by step, I will be able to adapt to the World Tour. That's my main goal for the next few seasons and I'm in the best place to do that."

"You can see the young guys doing very well in this team. They are surrounded by the best people and they are the best option to develop themselves as cyclists."

Rodriguez described himself as an all-rounder, while Arteche highlighted climbing as a key area for future progress.

"Consistency in different disciplines is my strength, but I like climbing and tough racing," Rodriguez said.

Arteche added, "He will start from scratch, learn everything and find his place in professional cycling. I think he will be a really good climber in the future. He is an exciting talent and a bright guy who is studying engineering at university. It's important for him to combine his studies with cycling.

"The goal is to be in a position where he can learn as much as possible. It doesn't matter what his results are or how well he does in races. He will spend time with the best athletes in the world at training camps and races and learn from them. If he is smart, he will absorb all this experience."

Rodriguez is the second signing for Team Ineos for 2020, following Movistar's Giro d'Italia champion Richard Carapas. Leaving the team are Diego Rosa (Arkea Samsic), Kenny Elissonde (Trek Segafredo), Christopher Halvorsen (EF Education First), and David de la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates).