Movistar Team soak in La Vuelta atmosphere
23 August 2018

Pre-race events at Costa del Sol

Telefónica-backed squad, led by Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde, attends teams' presentation at Málaga's Roman Theatre, following their first ride together in the morning and the afternoon's press conference before Saturday's depart.

GUIDE | All info on the Movistar Team for the 2018 Vuelta a España

As all of its members landed in the Málaga province late on Wednesday evening, the Movistar Team expedition took part in the 2018 Vuelta a España’s main pre-race events today, prior to their competitive debut with Saturday’s short ITT (8km) in the famous Andalusian city.

The squad managed by Eusebio Unzué trained in the morning with its eight riders before attending the afternoon’s top riders press conference in the capital, with Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde as part of the event. Alongside the rest of the Blues, as well as sports directors José Luis Arrieta and Pablo Lastras, the duo notably featured in the evening’s traditional teams’ presentation at Málaga’s Roman Theatre, in front of a passionate crowd.

— Málaga TT start times (8km, Saturday 25th; all CEST -local-)Amador 17.46, Anacona 18.08, Bennati 18.30, Carapaz 18.52, Erviti 19.14, Oliveira 19.36, Valverde 19.58, Quintana 20.20.

REACTIONS:

Nairo Quintana: “I’m coming to this race in good condition. The legs are feeling well and the morale remains high. I’ve recovered well from the fatigue the Tour leaves on your legs; some of the blows I suffered there still remain, but otherwise, I’m alright. We’ve got a really strong, balanced squad here, with qualified riders for both the flat and the mountains. The addition of Richard Carapaz will give us some extra power for the hardest days of the race. Every time I come to the start of a three-week stagerace I’m pointed out by many as a favourite, but you’ve got to stay away from those words and just focused on doing your job well. You’re not a real favourite if you don’t prove it on the road. There are many big candidates to win this: Nibali, the Yates, Miguel Ángel López… and many other names who will make us suffer. Of course, we’ve got great responsibility here, being the biggest home squad. We’ve got to do well and respond to those expectations. We were in good form at the start of the Tour de France, but things didn’t go as we wanted for one reason or another – that’s why we’re even more motivated to do well here. Just like we did in France, we hope that those good legs come together with some good luck.”

Alejandro Valverde: “We want to do well and, in Nairo’s specific case, it’s one big chance to win a Grand Tour again. We want to go for the overall victory and help him wherever possible. The Tour didn’t go bad, since we got some good results, but we went for the win and we didn’t get it. It’s obvious that it wasn’t a good race for us, either. We’ll fight on to turn things around in this Vuelta. When you get into the racing itself, you can only think about the Vuelta, but of course, I’m also thinking about the World Championships. Let’s go step by step, though. This is a very tough race, one where we won’t find opposition from the likes of Froome, Thomas or Dumoulin, but there will still be a world-class field of contenders. The Movistar Team has always led the peloton in the Vuelta at some points of previous editions, when we thought we had to leave our mark, but there are many strong squads here, and barring any early GC lead for us, I don’t think we should take over before seeing how we really fare. I’m sad about not having Mikel here – sad about him not being able to recover and enjoy this race, and I’m also convinced this would have helped him a lot to build up before also taking on the Worlds next month.”

Picture 2-3 (c): Photo Gomez Sport