Vuelta CyL preview

Movistar Team towards challenge of repeating last three years' victories in Spain, after the late Tondo (2011), starter Moreno (2012) and Plaza (2013)

The Movistar Team will travel to the province of Salamanca on Thursday to start the 29th edition of the Vuelta a Castilla y León, traditionally a fishing ground for the telephone squad, who hasn’t known other than victory in their three appearances with the green ‘M’. The Spanish team has conquered overall honours no less than 12 times, having claimed success consecutively in 2011 (Tondo, with two stage wins by Fran Ventoso), 2012 (Javi Moreno) and 2013 (Rubén Plaza, last year’s victor atop Cervera de Pisuerga).

Moreno will be one of eight Blues to head tomorrow into a flat stage one to Zamora (179km), with more mountainous sceneries scheduled in Lubián (179km, Saturday 17) and Bembibre (165km, Sunday 18). Joining the Andalusian will be two of the Movistar Team’s sprinters –José Joaquín Rojas, back after injury in Milano-Sanremo, and Enrique Sanz-, Poland’s Sylwester Szmyd, Brit Alex Dowsett, Italian Giovanni Visconti, German Jasha Sütterlin and Spaniard Pablo Lastras.