Five days before the 102nd edition of the Tour de France starts in Utrecht (Netherlands), manager Eusebio Unzué has confirmed the nine riders the Movistar Team will bring to the start. Nairo Quintana, Alejandro Valverde, Imanol Erviti, Jonathan Castroviejo, Gorka Izagirre, José Herrada, Adriano Malori, Alex Dowsett and Winner Anacona complete the roster, with José Luis Arrieta and Chente García Acosta as sports directors.

“It's the most balanced squad and the one that brought us everything we needed in all terrains", explained Unzué. "I already stated before the Giro that building the nine-man squad for Italy had already been really difficult, but seeing the names we have left out shows that doing so for the Tour was even harder. We start with riders ascribed to three different roles: a climbing group, with Winner and José; allrounders like Gorka and Jonathan, useful in all situations; and talented rouleurs like Alex, Adriano and Imanol, who will keeps us calm into the flat stages.

"Our leadership is clear: Nairo is the team's main reference on the road. However, and knowing how this race works and all the circumstances you can go through during a Tour de France, we can't rule out Alejandro staying by his side and also keeping his chances alive (which are the whole team's), until the facts show otherwise."

From the original long list, Jose Joaquin Rojas, Francisco Ventoso, John Gadret, Eros Capecchi and Rory Sutherland missed out on selection.