Intxausti, Pardilla, Lastras, López, Bruseghin, Madrazo, Konovalovas, Erviti and Chente complete 9-man lineup to depart in Spanish grandtour on Saturday Movistar Team's group to take part in the 66th Vuelta a España, starting on Saturday 20th in Benidorm, has been defined. José Luis Jaimerena and José Luis Arrieta will be the ones in charge of leading the 9-man group formed up by Beñat Intxausti, David López, Sergio Pardilla, Pablo Lastras, Marzio Bruseghin, Ignatas Konovalovas, Ángel Madrazo, Imanol Erviti and Chente García Acosta.
The telephone squad’s general manager Eusebio Unzué showed hopeful about the options by the team in their first ever Spanish grandtour with the blue-green Movistar Team outfit: “We haven’t got a strongly defined rider you could name within the top favourites for the overall victory, but we have a strong block willing to do well, and apart from contesting stage victories, another objective could be taking someone into the final podium. The first key stages in Sierra Nevada and La Covatilla will tell us whether it’s possible or not. We know that surprises might happen at this point of the season, and we’re looking forward to be part of them.”
Apart from the chances in the overall, the Movistar Team roster seems to be a good guarantee to notch stage triumphs through the three weeks of racing: “The only stages where we won’t stand a chance are the predictably sprint ones. Bringing Ventoso and Rojas here was asking for an excessive effort from them after such a long season; plus, we have people enough in strong condition to build a strong team. The sprint stages will be really controlled and breaks won’t reach the finish, but for the other ones we have riders that can win no matter how it ends.”
The Spanish director took an analysis on the individuals: “Lastras, Chente, Erviti and David López are expert riders who have spent many years working together and know the race pretty well. They must be the main block giving solidness to the squad, the ones in charge of managing all situations. Plus, I’m really confident about Pardilla, Beñat or Bruseghin. They’re really talented and I’m sure they’ll be into the fight at some point into the race to snatch important results. Also Madrazo, a debutant, who I’m sure will be the rider most willing to shine here, and which we hope to turn the quality into victories.”
Regarding the race route, Unzué commented: “It’s a very difficult parcours. The fact that we have an important test, with 30 kilometers of climbing, already in the fourth day of racing, forces everyone to reach the start in good condition if you don’t want to lose too much time that compromises the rest of your Vuelta performance. And after the Salamanca ITT, it’s practically a daily test. Climbers are the ones most suited to this route, even though the 50 kilometers of timetrialling can balance it out for riders that, despite riding only ‘good’ uphill, can profit from their ITT abilities, just like last year.”