Sixth season in Blue colours

Two key riders, base for most of the Blues' victories, will keep alive the 'founding spirit' of the Telefónica-backed squad, both part of the original, 2018 roster.

And it’s already six years for them! Alicia González (Viella, Asturias, ESP; 1995) and Lourdes Oyarbide (Asparrena, Álava, ESP; 1994) could simply not be absent from the 2023 roster of the Movistar Team, the squad that has seen them grow as two key members of the WorldTour peloton. Both will be joining again the winners of the Giro Donne and the Tour de France, the team they’ve ridden all major races for.

Lourdes has covered nearly 50 days of racing in 2022, including her first ever Paris-Roubaix and stageraces like the Itzulia, The Women’s Tour, Ardèche or Scandinavia -shining into the breakaway-, as well as Spanish national team caps at the European Championships and the Mediterranean Games (as well as the imminent Wollongong Worlds). At most of those, she shared team duties with Alicia, also one of the most active members of the Blue outfit, with good individual performances in Nokere and Valencia (11th at both).

With González and Oyarbide extending their contracts for an additional season and the ongoing terms of Aude Biannic and Gloria Rodríguez, the Movistar Team still keeps in its roster four of the ‘founding members’ of its women’s program, the original roster dating back to 2018.

REACTIONS:

Alicia González: “I think it’s been a great year for the team. Mostly due to Annemiek’s victories in Giro, Tour and Vuelta, but also contesting victories when she wasn’t around — for example, with Paula, who completed a fantastic month of May. When it comes to myself, the season ends for me with mixed feelings. I think I completed a great cobbled classics campaign, finding great legs in the early season. Then, the month of May and our home WorldTour races were bad for me, due to health issues, and even if I completed some good altitude training in the summer, and the legs got back to where I wanted them, the end of the summer season ended up being too short for me to make all I wanted from it (smiles).

“It will be my sixth year with the Movistar Team, and it’s true that so many things have changed since the start. Our group is getting stronger and stronger with every season passing, with more responsibility and always someone available to contest the victory. I think we’re improving in the way we race, while we’ve always been able to keep the good atmosphere between the riders, which makes it easier to work together. Next year’s roster is expected to be even stronger, so I’ve got great hopes for us — I hope I can continue to improve and offer my best level.”

Lourdes Oyarbide: “I’m happy to be able to continue for one more year with the team. It’s been a really intense season, and one I’ll keep good memories from, having been able to continue my progression. I kept doing well in all kinds of races: stageraces, one-day events – and also improving my consistency, which is the biggest asset you can offer to a team, I think. I’m looking forward to enjoying that sixth year together, with all confidence we have in each other and big ambitions for the group as a whole.”

Sebastián Unzué: “Alicia and Lourdes are riders who have been an integral part of this group since year one, and remain really, really important to us nowadays. Then know this organisation so well, they’ve got the confidence from both the riders and staff, and they’ve both become, especially in these last two years with Annemiek and Emma, skilled domestiques and guides for the rest of the group, riders who have grown massively at such a role and are of big relevante to us. Having them aboard again in 2023 makes us so happy.”