Movistar Team face their last competitions before the start of the 2011 Tour de France on July 2nd. The squad directed by Eusebio Unzué is already prepared for the Spanish road championships, as well in the individual time trial -tomorrow at La Vall d'Uxó- as in the road race, held on Sunday over 196 kilometers at Castellón de la Plana.

For the TT -44.5k, 17.30 CET-, Iván Gutiérrez and Jesús Herrada will be the representatives from the Blue squad on Valencian turf. Both know really well how it feels to be on the podium of the Nat-Champs in the speciality. The older one holds the victory record in the Elite-UCI race, with his success in the 2000, 2004, 2005 and 2007 editions, as well as the podium places in 2008 (3rd) and last year’s silver medal. Herrada, debuting this year within the pros with 20 years old, has already won the ITT national championships in two different categories, during his two seasons as junior (2007 and 2008) and in the U23 event, in 2010, only aged 19.

After that, on Sunday, the 17 Movistar Team riders will be at the start of the road race, that meaning positive news as Rubén Plaza will return into competition, less than four months after his serious crash in the Vuelta a Murcia. The allrounder hailing from Alicante, still into adaptation process, will complete his first kilometers on racing into an event where the current reigning Spanish road champion, Iván Gutiérrez, will be accompanied by last year’s runner up Fran Ventoso, José Joaquín Rojas, Fran Pérez, Ángel Madrazo, Imanol Erviti, David López, Beñat Intxausti, David Arroyo, Chente García Acosta, Sergio Pardilla, Luis Pasamontes, Pablo Lastras, Javier Iriarte, Jesús Herrada and Enrique Sanz.