Movistar has presented its 2014 roster and the 2013 WorldTour winners are looking to continue the great success they had in the past season. Having twice finished 2nd in a grand tour, the team is now targeting the victory in a three-week race, with Nairo Quintana going for Giro glory, Valverde targeting the Tour, and the duo combining forces at the Vuelta.

The Movistar Team, winners of the 2013 UCI WorldTour, launched their 2014 season on Friday at Telefónica's headquarters in Madrid. The event was attended by Telefónica CEO César Alierta, Public Issues' Global Director Carlos López Blanco and the squad's General Manager Eusebio Unzué. The 27 riders wore the blue and green jersey with which they will cover Movistar's fourth season in the top division of professional cycling. 

Telefónica came back into cycling sponsoring three years ago, in February 2011, boosting a close, interactive sport which reaches thousands of fans. It was a three-year opening term full of success, coming to its top in 2013 with the UCI's recognition as best team in the world, by virtue of the UCI WorldTour ranking.

Signings for 2014 are brothers Ion and Gorka Izagirre, climber Igor Antón, sprinter Juanjo Lobato, time trial specialist Adriano Malori, neo-professional Jasha Sütterlin, climber John Gadret, and Colombian Dayer Quintana, the younger brother of Nairo. Eight new faces for a season where the Movistar Team will pursue new challenges in its long, successful career.

Ten months are ahead for the Movistar Team, competing across 14 countries in four different continents where the squad directed by Eusebio Unzué will try to repeat, if not to improve, their victory tally of the last three years, with 21, 29 and 32 wins, respectively, including eight stages in the Giro d'Italia, five in the Tour de France and four in the Vuelta a España.

Having finished on the podium in a grand tour three times during its first three years with Telefonica as main sponsor, Unzue has now set his sights on the win in a three-week race. It has already been confirmed that Nairo Quintana will be the leader in the Giro d'Italia while Alejandro Valverde will again captain the squad in the Tour de France. The duo will ride together at the Vuelta a Espana at the end of the season.

“After such great success, it's obvious that our goal must be trying to win one of the three Grand Tours,” explained Unzué. ”Last year we already got to the final podium of both the Tour, with Quintana, and the Vuelta where Valverde has finished 2nd and 3rd in the last two editions. With those antecedents in mind, we're the first ones to expect bigger results from ourselves, taking that leap which is the hardest for any team, only achieved by one at a time.  Both Nairo and Alejandro are physically and mentally ready for such goals, and they will have a strong team at their sides which they trust 100%.”

The Movistar Team's general manager underlined the global quality of his riders.

“Our strength was always the unity of our block, and it will remain so," he said. "We have riders who can excel in all terrains, and the new signings will make us improve even more. I think it's quite a balanced block.”

In turn, Carlos López Blanco, Telefónica's Public Issues' Global Director, congratulated the squad for their results and remarked during the 2014 Movistar Team launch the positive overview of a three-year lapse full of hard work that has helped to promote the brand and dignifiy and honour the sport. López Blanco reminded that the corporation took the decision of supporting one of the best teams in the world by its results, tradition and ranking in a difficult moment, so the Movistar Team could still undoubtedly be today a leading factor in international cycling. In fact their support has been crucial at a difficult time as Movistar is now the only Spanish WorldTour team after the collapse of Euskaltel-Euskadi.

A team even more digital and close to the fans

During the presentation, it was underlined how cycling acts as a nexus between Movistar and its fans and customers. In that sense, it was announced that Movistar will be sharing with them unique experiences during Grand Tours or the cycling rides proposed by the brand, with more than 5,000 people taking part in events where they got to ride alongside some of the team's members in 2013.

Besides, Telefónica looks for the Movistar Team to be a space for innovation in the digital world - that's why the network will be boosted during the season as a promotion factor for the sport and the team's activities. One of the biggest challenges will be getting more visibility for the team in all Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Telefónica announced it is working on a project to develop virtual cycling rides, as well as high-quality content through a Premium YouTube channel, with training videos, pieces on the riders' everyday life, tips and tricks for amateur cyclists of specific content around the Movistar Team in the biggest cycling events.

During this season, Movistar will be boosting its Bike&Go cycling app to make it differential amongst the ones in its same category. To do so, it will be including gamification initiatives to allow competition between its users, as well as augmented reality for a more interactive user experience.

Lastly, Telefónica announced it has launched the Talentum Startups “Bike Lab”, a program for university students willing to work on technological projects about cycling, coached by members of the Movistar Team and innovation specialists.

Movistar got their season off to a mixed start, with Quintana taking a dominant overall win in the Tour de San Luis where the teams also took two stage victories with Quintana and new signing Adriano Malori. As opposed to this, they had a disastrous Tour Down Under, with Giovanni Visconti and Jose Joaquin Rojas crashing out of the race and Jose Ivan Gutierrez leaving the event due to illness.

MOVISTAR TEAM 2014 ROSTER
Andrey Amador (Costa Rica, 27)
Igor Antón (Spain, 30) *
Eros Capecchi (Italy, 27)
Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain, 26)
Alex Dowsett (UK, 25) 
Imanol Erviti (Spain, 30)
John Gadret (France, 34) *
Iván Gutiérrez (Spain, 35)
Jesús Herrada (Spain, 23)
José Herrada (Spain, 28)
Beñat Intxausti (Spain, 27)
Gorka Izagirre (Spain, 26) *
Ion Izagirre (Spain, 24) *
Pablo Lastras (Spain, 38)
Juan José Lobato (Spain, 25) *
Adriano Malori (Italy, 26) *
Javier Moreno (Spain, 29)
Rubén Plaza (Spain, 33)
Dayer Quintana (Colombia, 21) *
Nairo Quintana (Colombia, 23)
José Joaquín Rojas (Spain, 28)
Enrique Sanz (Spain, 24)
Jasha Sütterlin (Germany, 21) *
Sylwester Szmyd (Poland, 35) 
Alejandro Valverde (Spain, 33)
Fran Ventoso (Spain, 31)
Giovanni Visconti (Italy, 30)
 

* Signings