Official team launch in Madrid
Telefónica-backed squad returns to the headquarters of the company’s Auditorium in Madrid before starting their 13th season with Movistar as title sponsor (nearly five decades of uninterrupted activity).
Telefónica and the Movistar Team held on Wednesday the presentation of its women’s and men’s squads for 2023. It will be the 44th consecutive season of activity of the longest-standing structure in professional cycling, with more than 1,000 victories and a present as brilliant as its history, thanks to the 46 victories obtained in 2022. The ambitions for the Blues’ most immediate future, in its 13th season under Telefónica’s title sponsorship, had a new venue, for the first time in three years and back to in-person activities, with Distrito Telefónica’s Auditorium at the company’s global headquarters in Madrid receiving back the riders, team representatives as well as the sponsor’s employees and friends of this legendary squad.
The stage of the Auditorium saw the 45 road riders -that, together with the Blues’ esports / virtual cycling squad, the Movistar eTeam, which compete on Zwift’s top world league during the winter season- of the Movistar Team all being presented, led again in 2023 by the best rider in the world, Annemiek van Vleuten.
Last year’s winner of the Giro, Le Tour, La Vuelta and the World Championships, as well as the current UCI world No. 1 and winner of the first ever Vélo d’Or Femmes prize, which was also presented on stage, Van Vleuten will be the leader of a 15-rider women’s roster also including the notable figures of Pan-American champion Arlenis Sierra; young Dane Emma Norsgaard; two of the finest Spanish riders, Sheyla Gutiérrez and Sara Martín; and two strong reinforcements for 2023. German road race champion Liane Lippert, one of the best stageracers and climbers in the WorldTour, and Dutchwoman Floortje Mackaij, a remarkable allrounder, complete one of the best squads in the WWT.
Alongside them will be the 30 riders of the men’s outfit, the first in nearly two decades without Alejandro Valverde, who remain associated with Telefónica’s brands and the Abarca Sports organisation after an illustrious career, one of the best the sport has ever known. Enric Mas will be unmistakable reference of a group which is reinforcing its ‘second unit’ for 2023, a block built with patience over the last few years, with three strong signings: Fernando Gaviria, a sprinter with stage wins in the Giro and the Vuelta; Ruben Guerreiro, a talented climber from Portugal; and 19-year-old Iván Romeo, a strong Spanish rouleur who hopes to build a great future with the Movistar Team.
Telefónica’s support of cycling -underlined by its work together with the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation, through the ‘Women in Bike’ project to get more women on bikes and numerous other initiatives created to link its brands to the sport- was again evident during the presentation with three significant initiatives. The audiovisual efforts continue in 2023 with the launch of Season 4 of ‘El Día Menos Pensado’, focused this time on the women’s team’s success, the growth of the men’s squad and Valverde’s retirement. The work together with the Movistar Team’s performance group continues as efforts from Telefónica Tech improve process digitalization, development of Big Data + Artificial Intelligence to help the team’s sports directors and coaches, a glimpse of which was offered during the event. Plus, everything was shown again live through the Movistar Team’s YouTube channel, through which fans could interact directly with the event with their questions.
The Movistar Team will kick off its 2023 season on Saturday 14th January with the men’s criterium prior to the start of the Tour Down Under, the first round of the UCI WorldTour, in Adelaide, South Australia. The women’sn squad will commence its decorated trajectory’s sixth season on Sunday 29th, with the Spanish event Costa de Almería Women Sport, which opens a calendar comprising about 350 days of racing across Europe, the Americas and Asia / Pacific.
MOVISTAR TEAM – 2023 ROSTERS
Men’s Team: Alex Aranburu, Jorge Arcas, Will Barta (USA), Imanol Erviti, Iván García Cortina, Fernando Gaviria (COL), Abner González (PUR), Ruben Guerreiro (POR), Juri Hollmann (GER), Gorka Izagirre, Johan Jacobs (SUI), Matteo Jorgenson (USA), Max Kanter (GER), Oier Lazkano, Enric Mas, Lluís Mas, Gregor Mühlberger (AUT), Mathias Norsgaard (DEN), Nelson Oliveira (POR), Antonio Pedrero, Vinícius Rangel (BRA), Óscar Rodríguez, José Joaquín Rojas, Iván Romeo, Einer Rubio (COL), Sergio Samitier, Gonzalo Serrano, Iván Sosa (COL), Albert Torres, Carlos Verona..
Women’s Team: Katrine Aalerud (NOR), Aude Biannic (FRA), Jelena Erić (SRB), Sarah Gigante (AUS), Alicia González, Sheyla Gutiérrez, Liane Lippert (GER), Floortje Mackaij (NED), Sara Martín, Emma Norsgaard (DEN), Lourdes Oyarbide, Paula Patiño (COL), Gloria Rodríguez, Arlenis Sierra (CUB), Annemiek van Vleuten (NED).
General Manager: Eusebio Unzué. CEO: Miguel Grávalos. COO / Women’s Team Manager: Sebastián Unzué. Head of Performance: Patxi Vila. Technical Director: Iván Velasco. Sports Directors: Chente García Acosta, Pablo Lastras, Maximilian Sciandri (GBR), Jorge Sanz, Xabier Muriel, Yvon Ledanois (FRA), Jürgen Roelandts (BEL).
2023 signings are marked italic. Riders and staff’s nationality ESP unless stated otherwise.