Next appointments to start February

Quintana rides his first 2017 stagerace in Spain; Italian set to seek for own chances at Emirati race in his new Movistar Team colours

The Movistar Team will double up this week for the first time in the 2017 season to search for their maiden win of the season as February starts. Eight of the Blues landed in the UAE on Sunday to take part in the Dubai Tour, a five-stage sprinters' course -extended from its former four-day format- from Tuesday 31 to Saturday, February 4.

Chente García Acosta will be in charge of an eight-man squad which most notably features Daniele Bennati and Carlos Barbero, good candidates to seek for glory into the predictable sprints in the desert -one of those, atop the Hatta Dam (Friday 3), looking decisive for the GC outcome with its slopes ramping up to 20%-. The line-up is completed by Imanol Erviti, Nelson Oliveira, Rory Sutherland, Héctor Carretero, Winner Anacona and Alex Dowsett.

In turn, from Wednesday through Sunday, José Luis Jaimerena will command a strong Movistar Team roster in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, its five-day course starting with a 38km TTT in Orihuela and defining its overall result on the short, steep climb of Mas de la Costa on Saturday.

Nairo Quintana, on the attack yesterday at the Mallorca Challenge, will be the captain of a top-class group formed by Andrey Amador, Jonathan Castroviejo, Jesús Herrada, Dani Moreno, Víctor de la Parte, José Herrada and Dayer Quintana. With them, the Boyacá star will try to keep a streak he extended all over the 2016 season: winning or at least making the podium of every single multi-day event he completed last year.

Picture ©: Photo Gomez Sport