Movistar Team jersey to make debut in Vuelta a España as structure gathers 31 podiums and 49 stage victories throughout its 31-year history The Movistar Team jersey will lineup for the first time in the Vuelta a España in Benidorm on Saturday; however, the structure once founded and now led by Eusebio Unzué has a very long history of success in the Spanish grandtour. No less than 31 years since Acha, Arnaud, Azkarate, Greciano, Iza, Laguía, López del Álamo, López Izcue, Martín Ocaña and Rondán formed up the first ever roster from the Reynolds squad in the 1980 Vuelta, have passed since the Unzué's team took part for the first time in a 3-week stagerace. Dominique Arnaud took that year in León the first win for the Navarran team's palmarès, and fourty-eight victories later, Imanol Erviti and David López –two of the members of the 9-man lineup in Benidorm- left the milestone 50 at reach in 2010 with their triumphs in Vilanova i La Geltrú and Alcoy.
Beside the stage wins, the team could taste the flavour of podium three times as winners of the general individual classification: Delgado, in 1989; Olano, in 1998; and Valverde, in 2009. Other eight podiums (three runner-up and five third positions) complete the presence by the blue squad into the top board, as the team also went once for the Points and Combination prizes, 11 times for the KOM jersey (6 from Laguía and 4 from José María Jiménez) and a handful of times for the Teams’ ranking, won in seven editions by Unzué’s block, which is actually one of the main contenders for this year’s edition in the Spanish tour.
Some magnificent figures that Lastras, Chente, Erviti, Intxausti, Madrazo, Pardilla, Bruseghin, Konovalovas and David López will fight to improve as the Vuelta starts its way to Madrid on September 11th.
STAGE WINS (49)
1980: 1 (Arnaud)
1982: 5 (Arroyo, Hdez. Úbeda and Laguía (3)
1983: 3 (Hdez. Úbeda, Laguía, Carlos Hdez.)
1984: 2 (Gorospe (2)
1986: 2 (Marc Gómez (2)
1987: 1 (Arnaud)
1989: 3 (Delgado (3)
1992: 1 (Delgado)
1993: 1 (Marino Alonso)
1994: 1 (Marino Alonso)
1997: 2 (Jiménez, Chente Gª Acosta)
1998: 5 (Jiménez (4), Olano)
1999: 2 (Jiménez, Zulle)
2000: 2 (E. Jiménez, Zulle)
2001: 5 (Blanco, Mercado, Jiménez (3)
2002: 4 (Blanco, Chente Gª Acosta, Lastras (2)
2004: 1 (Menchov)
2005: 1 (Mancebo)
2006: 1 (Valverde)
2007: 1 (Efimkin)
2008: 3 (Valverde, Erviti, Arroyo)
2010: 2 (Erviti, David López)
PODIUMS (12)
3 VICTORIES
1st place 1989 (Delgado)
1st place 1998 (Olano)
1st place 2009 (Valverde)
4 RUNNER-UP PLACES
2nd place 1990 (Delgado)
2nd place 1994 (Zarrabeitia)
2nd place 1991 (Indurain)
2nd place 2006 (Valverde)
5 THIRD PLACES
3rd place 1992 (Delgado)
3rd place 1994 (Delgado)
3rd place 1998 (Jiménez)
3rd place 2004 (Mancebo)
3rd place 2005 (Mancebo)
SECONDARY PRIZES (19)
7 TEAMS’ OVERALL
’94, ’97, ’99 (Banesto); ’01, ’03 (ibanesto.com); ’07, ’08 (Caisse d’Epargne)
1 POINTS JERSEY
’01 (Jiménez)
11 KOM JERSEYS
’81, ’82, ’83, ’85, ‘86 (Laguía); ’97, ’98, ’99, ’01 (Jiménez); ’02 (Aitor Osa)
1 COMBINATION JERSEY
’09 (Valverde)