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Movistar Team (men's team)

Movistar Team (UCI team code: MOV) is a professional road bicycle racing team which participates at UCI WorldTeam level and has achieved thirteen general classification (GC) victories in Grand Tours. The title sponsor is the Spanish mobile telephone company Telefónica, with the team riding under the name of the company's brand Movistar.[1]

The team was formed as Reynolds, led by Ángel Arroyo and later by Pedro Delgado, who won a Tour de France and a Vuelta a España, and was subsequently sponsored by Banesto, under which name the team included five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Induráin and Alex Zülle, twice winner of the Vuelta a España. The team offices are in Egüés, in Navarre, Spain.[2] A later sponsor was Caisse d'Épargne, a French semi-cooperative banking group.

Having previously used Pinarello bikes, the team rode Canyon frames in 2014, with Campagnolo parts. Since 2008, Eusebio Unzué has been the manager of the team after the long running manager, José Miguel Echavarri, retired from the sport. The directeurs sportifs of the team are José Vicente García, Pablo Lastras, José Luis Jaimerena, Patxi Vila and Max Sciandri.[3]

History

Reynolds (1980–1989)

The team began in 1980 as the Reynolds team which José Miguel Echavarri as the directeur sportif.[4] In 1982 signed a young Pedro Delgado who acted as a domestique for team leader Ángel Arroyo during the 1982 Vuelta a España.[5] Arroyo won the Vuelta after his team controlled the race after he took the lead. 48 hours after his Vuelta win, the results of a positive test were made known for Methylphenidate (Ritalin).[6]

Arroyo and the Reynolds team denied that Arroyo doped and asked for a B-analysis which confirmed the positive A-sample. Arroyo became the first winner of the Vuelta a España to be disqualified.[6] Delgado changed teams in 1985 but returned to Reynolds in 1988 where he won the 1988 Tour de France and then the 1989 Vuelta a España with the team. In 1984, Miguel Induráin made his professional debut with the team.

Banesto (1990–2003)

Gérard Rué in a Banesto jersey in 1993

In 1990, Spanish bank Banesto took over as the main sponsor of the team from Reynolds. Delgado was the team leader for the Tour de France while Miguel Induráin and Julián Gorospe were the leaders for the week long stage races. When Gorospe took the lead in that year's Vuelta, the team went behind him in a bid to win the race. Gorospe lost the leader's jersey and Delgado took over the leadership but could not regain the time that Italian Marco Giovannetti had gained and ended the race second overall behind Giovannetti.

Over the following years, Indurain rose to become a dominator of stage races winning five editions of the Tour de France and two editions of the Giro d'Italia. Delgado was the team leader for the Vuelta. The team also achieved success with Jean-François Bernard who won the 1992 edition of Paris–Nice with the team.

The team won the Vuelta again in 1998 with Abraham Olano. During this time Alex Zülle joined the team and finished the 1999 Tour de France second overall while climber José María Jiménez performed in the Vuelta a España. The team became known as iBanesto.com in the final years of the sponsorship of the Banesto bank.

Illes Balears (2004–2005)

In 2004, Illes Balears, the Balearic Island's Tourism Board, became the team's principal sponsor, the team's name was Illes Balears-Banesto until 2005. Caisse d'Epargne took over from Banesto as the second sponsor in the 2005 season, the team was then known as Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne. Caisse d'Epargne then became the main sponsor in 2006 reversing the title sponsor ordering with the name, Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears.

The team fielded a number of strong contenders in the 2005 Tour de France including Francisco Mancebo (former National Champion of Spain), Alejandro Valverde, Vladimir Karpets and sprinter Isaac Gálvez. Mancebo produced the best results finishing fourth overall in the General Classification.

Caisse d'Epargne (2006–2010)

Alejandro Valverde in the race leader's jersey during the final stage of the 2009 Vuelta a España

Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears finished fifth overall (56 minutes, 53 seconds behind Team T-Mobile) in the Team Classification at the 2006 Tour de France. Individually, the team's top rider, Óscar Pereiro, finished in second place. The Tour victory of Phonak rider Floyd Landis was almost immediately called into question, after a urine sample taken after his Stage 17 win twice tested positive for banned synthetic testosterone as well as a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone nearly three times the limit allowed by World Anti-Doping Agency rules.[7]

After hearing of the positive "A" test, Pereiro stated that it was only an initial, unconfirmed result and he would not yet consider Landis guilty or himself the Tour winner. "I have too much respect for Landis to do otherwise", he said.[8] After hearing that the Landis "B" test also came back positive, Pereiro stated that he now considers himself Tour champion and the Landis scandal should not diminish his own achievement. "Right now I feel like the winner of the Tour de France", Pereiro said. "It's a victory for the whole team."[9] After nearly two years of appeals, Pereiro was officially upgraded to Tour champion for 2006.[10]

Movistar (2011– )

Lluís Mas in Movistar's current jersey, 2023

On 31 May 2010, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the appeals from WADA and the UCI regarding the suspension of Alejandro Valverde for his implication in the Operación Puerto doping case. Valverde was banned for two years, starting 1 January 2010 and after serving the two-year suspension returned to competition in 2012 riding for the Movistar Team.[11][12]

The 2011 season proved to be a transitional one for the team, with their first victory coming as a single stage win in the Tour Down Under, courtesy of Francisco José Ventoso. The team found success with stage wins in the Volta a Catalunya and Tour of the Basque Country. The team also won two stages of the Giro d'Italia: Ventoso won stage 6 and Vasil Kiryienka won stage 20. The team's final Grand Tour win came courtesy of Rui Costa in the Tour de France.

The 2012 season saw the team re-establish itself as one of the major general classification contenders. The return of Valverde almost immediately brought the team success with a stage win in the Tour Down Under, followed by the overall win of the Vuelta a Andalucía as well as a stage win. Colombian new recruit Nairo Quintana also brought the team overall victory at the Vuelta a Murcia. The team scored multiple overall classification victories; Quintana claimed the Route du Sud, Rui Costa the Tour de Suisse, Javier Moreno the Vuelta a Castilla y León and finally Beñat Intxausti won the Vuelta a Asturias. The team also won stages in all three Grand Tours.

The 2013 season closely followed the previous years, Valverde scored multiple early season results with the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana and an overall win in the Vuelta a Andalucía. Quintana further reinforced his potential as a Grand Tour GC rider with the overall win in the Tour of the Basque Country as well as claiming second place in the Tour de France, taking the King of the Mountains in addition to the Young rider classification. He further reinforced his reputation as a force to be reckoned with, with an overall win in the Vuelta a Burgos. Intxausti got the team's final overall win of the year and Costa won the UCI World Road Race championships. For the 2014 season the team confirmed that they would shift from Pinarello bikes to Canyon Bicycles.[13]

For 2014, the team adopted a 'divide and conquer' based tactic for the season's Grand Tours; first sending Quintana to the Giro, Valverde to the Tour and then finally both riders to the Vuelta. Quintana achieved the team's first victory – winning stage 4 of the Tour de San Luis as well as the overall classification, Adriano Malori also won the individual time trial stage. Once again Valverde won the Vuelta a Andalucía as well as the Vuelta a Murcia, Roma Maxima, GP Miguel Induráin and La Flèche Wallonne. In May, Quintana won the team's first Grand Tour since Valverde's 2009 Vuelta victory, the 2014 Giro d'Italia. As with the previous season, Quintana defended his Vuelta a Burgos title winning it for the second straight year.

In August 2014, the team announced the signing of Marc Soler (Lizarte)[14] and Rubén Fernández (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA) on a 2-year contract.[15]

At the 2015 Tour de France, the team finished first in the teams classification, and the two top men of the team, Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde finished second and third in the general classification, respectively, with Quintana also winning the white jersey as best young rider, and finishing second in the king of the mountains classification.[16][17]

During the 2016 Tour, the team finished first in the teams classification by 8' 14" over Team Sky. Nairo Quintana made the podium by finishing third overall in the general classification standings and Ion Izagirre claimed victory on stage 20. Later during the 2016 Vuelta a España, Quintana won stage 10 and the overall. The team concluded the year with their fourth win in the team ranking of 2016 UCI World Tour.

In 2019, Richard Carapaz won the Giro d'Italia, and the team won the team classification in all three Grand Tours. The team's season is captured in a documentary series, The Least Expected Day: Inside the Movistar Team 2019, available on Netflix.[18]


Team roster

As of 10 January 2024.[19]

Major wins

National, continental and world champions

1982
Spain Road Race José Luis Laguía
1983
Spain Road Race Carlos Hernández
1992
Spain Road Race Miguel Induráin
1995
World Time Trial Miguel Induráin
1997
British Road Race Jeremy Hunt
Spain Road Race José María Jiménez
1998
World Time Trial Abraham Olano
2003
Spain Road Race Rubén Plaza
2004
Spain Road Race Francisco Mancebo
Spain Time Trial José Iván Gutiérrez
2005
Spain Time Trial José Iván Gutiérrez
2006
France Road Race Florent Brard
2007
Spain Road Race Joaquim Rodríguez
Spain Time Trial José Iván Gutiérrez
2008
Spain Road Race Alejandro Valverde
Spain Time Trial Luis León Sánchez
2010
Spain Road Race José Iván Gutiérrez
Spain Time Trial Luis León Sánchez
Portugal Time Trial Rui Costa
2011
Spain Road Race José Joaquín Rojas
2012
Spain Road Race Francisco Ventoso
Belarus Time Trial Branislau Samoilau
2013
British Time Trial Alex Dowsett
Spain Time Trial Jonathan Castroviejo
Portugal Time Trial Rui Costa
Spain Road Race Jesús Herrada
World Road Race Rui Costa
2014
Spain Time Trial Alejandro Valverde
Spain Road Race Ion Izagirre
Italy Time Trial Adriano Malori
2015
British Time Trial Alex Dowsett
Italy Time Trial Adriano Malori
Spain Time Trial Jonathan Castroviejo
Spain Road Race Alejandro Valverde
2016
British Time Trial Alex Dowsett
Spain Time Trial Ion Izagirre
Portugal Time Trial Nelson Oliveira
Spain Road Race José Joaquín Rojas
European Time Trial Jonathan Castroviejo
2017
Spain Time Trial Jonathan Castroviejo
Spain Road Race Jesús Herrada
2018
World Road Race Alejandro Valverde
2019
Spain Road Race Alejandro Valverde
2020
European Track Championships (Madison) Sebastián Mora & Albert Torres
European Track Championships (Points race) Sebastián Mora
2021
Puerto Rico Time Trial Abner González
Puerto Rico Road Race Abner González
2022
Denmark Time Trial Mathias Norsgaard
Brazil Under-23 Time Trial Vinícius Rangel
Brazil Road Race Vinícius Rangel
Puerto Rico Road Race Abner González
2023
Spain Road Race Oier Lazkano
Austria Road Race Gregor Mühlberger

Former riders

See also

References

  1. ^ "Telefonica to take over as Caisse d'Epargne sponsor from 2011 - Cyclingnews.com". Archived from the original on 15 August 2010. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  2. ^ "2009 Riders and teams Database — Cyclingnews.com". Archived from the original on 9 August 2009. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  3. ^ "Sciandri moves to Movistar team car in 2019". cyclingnews.com. 11 October 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  4. ^ "Reynolds 1980". de wielersite.nl. Archived from the original on 15 September 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
  5. ^ "Biography of Pedro Delgado". Pedro Delgado.com. Archived from the original on 20 September 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
  6. ^ a b "1982 General Information". La Vuelta.com. Archived from the original on 21 September 2008. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
  7. ^ Macur, Juliet (5 August 2006). "Backup Sample on Landis Is Positive". New York Times. Archived from the original on 6 May 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  8. ^ "Pereiro cautious about Landis case". SportsIllustrated.com. 27 July 2006. Archived from the original on 10 July 2009.
  9. ^ "I am the Tour champion – Pereiro". BBC Sport. 5 August 2006. Archived from the original on 20 August 2006.
  10. ^ "Floyd Landis Case: Landis Loses Last Appeal". Archived from the original on 3 August 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2009.
  11. ^ "Latest news – General Information – Tribunal Arbitral du Sport – Court of Arbitration for Sport". Archived from the original on 5 June 2010. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
  12. ^ Telegraph staff (31 May 2010). "Alejandro Valverde handed two-year ban". Telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 July 2017.
  13. ^ "Movistar to ride Canyon in 2014". Cyclingnews.com. 2 December 2013. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014.
  14. ^ "Movistar announce signing of Marc Soler". Cyclingnews.com. 5 August 2014. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014.
  15. ^ "Rubén Fernández signs for Movistar". Cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  16. ^ Andrew Hood (26 July 2015). "Lost time in Stage 2 will haunt Nairo Quintana". VeloNews.com. ESPN. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015.
  17. ^ Joe Lindsey (25 July 2015). "Stage 20 Analysis: Quintana and Froome's Battle of What Ifs". Bicycling.com. Archived from the original on 26 July 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  18. ^ "Richard Carapaz wins Giro d'Italia to make cycling history for Ecuador". The Guardian. Associated Press. 2 June 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  19. ^ "Movistar Team". UCI. Retrieved 10 January 2024.

External links