2015 Tour Down Under

Rubén Fernández becomes first Movistar Team debutant for 2015 to race for the Blues at the Tour Down Under (January 20-25), preceeded by the People's Choice Classic (18)

Movistar Team will start their defense of the two consecutive UCI WorldTour titles claimed in 2013-14 on January 20 in the outskirts of Adelaida, where the Tour Down Under will kick off the world's top tier for the eighth time since its promotion. The Australian stagerace's route stays quite similar to previous years', with the uphill finish in Torrens Hill Road (stage 3, Thursday 22) joining the double Willunga Hill climb -during the queen stage on Saturday 24- and the sprint atop Stirling (stage 2, Wednesday 21) as main difficulties in a week nonetheless attractive for sprinters, including a criterium -the People's Choice Classic- opening the 2015 season on Sunday 18.

José Luis Arrieta will be the Movistar Team's first sports director to get behind the wheel for a squad mixing youngsters and veterans in its maiden outing of the season. The telephone squad's road captain Pablo Lastras leads a seven-man roster also including the Blues' top sprinter Juanjo Lobato, as well as Italian Eros Capecchi and Spaniards José Herrada, Gorka Izagirre, Enrique Sanz and Rubén Fernández. The latter will be the first of the four debutants -Soler, Sutherland, Anacona- to take on stage during a 2015 season that will start in exactly one month.