13-rider shortlist to determine telephone squad's nine men for Grande Boucle; Alejandro Valverde set to lead roster on French soil

The Movistar Team’s general manager Eusebio Unzué has named thirteen riders for his 101st Tour de France shortlist, nine of them to be present at the Grand Départ in Leeds on July 5. Alejandro Valverde will be the designated leader of the telephone squad in the French grandtour, with eight of the following twelve joining him: Alex Dowsett (GBR), Imanol Erviti, John Gadret (FRA), Iván Gutiérrez, Jesús Herrada, Beñat Intxausti, Ion Izagirre, Juanjo Lobato, Rubén Plaza, José Joaquín Rojas, Sylwester Szmyd (POL) and Giovanni Visconti (ITA).

The definitive squad will be unveiled after the upcoming competitions for the Blues: the Tour de Suisse -coming to an end on Sunday-; the Route du Sud, which starts on Friday -with Intxausti eventually replacing Visconti, alongside Valverde, Castroviejo, Gutierrez, Jesús Herrada, Malori, Sütterlin and Szmyd– and the national road race and time trial championships across Europe next week.