Re-signs 4 crucial members of its current team

Four riders -Alicia González, Gloria Rodríguez and Spanish champions Lourdes Oyarbide & Sheyla Gutiérrez- of the Sebastián Unzué / Jorge Sanz-led squad extend contracts through end of 2021 season.

The Movistar Team‘s third year in the top tier of women’s cycling already enjoys a solid basis well before the end of the current 2019 season. The Blues confirmed Monday that four of its riders have re-signed for an additional two years -until the end of the 2021 season- with the Blues, all of them youngsters of proven quality: Alicia González, Sheyla Gutiérrez, Lourdes Oyarbide and Gloria Rodríguez.

Rodríguez (27), an experienced rouleur and vice Spanish road race champion in 2018, as well as winner of the Bronze medal in the 2019 ITT; and González (24), podium finisher in the Blues’ first ever race together at the 2018 Setmana Valenciana, are two exemplary domestiques, always willing to support their team-mates.

Another stellar rider, full of determination and all-around quality, is Spanish champion Oyarbide (25), brilliant winner of the final stage in the 2019 Vuelta a Burgos, 3rd overall in the Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour and 6th in the Clásica San Sebastián – all of that, in just three months.

The list of renewals is completed by Gutiérrez (25), one of the Telefónica-backed squad’s references for the classics, a fine sprinter and a great rouleur, as proven by his recent national TT title in Murcia.

“The contract extensions of these four riders are huge for us, being able to set such a strong foundation for our project in the next two years,” said Sebastián Unzué, manager of the women’s Movistar Team. “Lourdes, Gloria and Alicia have been with us since the very first year of the team, and re-signing them is a reward to the great job and notable progression they’ve all followed in the last two seasons.

“Having Sheyla with us through 2021 means we’re retaining a rider quite different to what’s usual in the Spanish peloton. She’s a special one, a woman destined to lead us in the Northern classics, races which she loves and where we’ll surely see her fighting for success in the next few years.“

Cover picture (González + Oyarbide): Photo Gomez Sport