The new Movistar Team

For the fifth consecutive year, Telefónica and the Movistar Team have gathered  in the Central Auditorium of Madrid’s Distrito Telefónica in order to officially present its squad for the 2015 season. The team’s 28 riders have shown off the blue jersey they will be wearing throughout Movistar’s fifth campaign at the frontline of the international elite.

The event was attended by César Alierta, Executive Chairman of Telefónica, Carlos López Blanco, Global Head of Public Affairs of Telefónica, and Eusebio Unzué, the team’s manager. Also, the presentation brought together biking enthusiasts such as the chef Ferran Adrià and the athletes Perico Delgado and Chema Martínez, who collaborated with journalist Javier Ares in presenting the team.

The new squad has one more rider than last year, and with regard to team members, stability has been the keyword in the 36th Telefónica team. Four names -the Australian veteran Rory Sutherland and the young Winner Anacona, who won one of the stages in the last Vuelta a España; Rubén Fernández, winner of the Tour del Porvenir 2013; and Marc Soler, the most promising amateur in the last campaign- make up a squad that retains its leading figures, with three national champions -Alejandro Valverde, Ion Izagirre and Adriano Malori- and an average age of 27.

The team, which will be riding their fifth season under the Movistar name, aim to continue to extend their list of titles -116 since Telefónica became their sponsor, and almost 800 since the team’s foundation in 1980- in which the Tour de France will once again be the major goal of a squad with seven yellow jerseys to its name.

The Vuelta a España and other Spanish events programmed add to a sporting calendar that includes the most select of the European circuit, as well as tours in America, Australia, and an extensive tour of Midwest Asia (Dubai, Qatar, Oman) as the newest features at the start of this campaign, where Briton Alex Dowsett will also attempt to break the hour record in the Olympic velodrome in London at the end of February.

Throughout 2014 there have been multiple actions online and on social networks aimed at cycling fans, especially in conjunction with the team, both in major and smaller tours. These participatory activities and games have gained more than 33 million hits.

Events on social networks carried out in collaboration with the Movistar Team have had some excellent results, and their channels’ fans and followers have increased considerably in 2014, reaching 316,527 by the end of the year. Video views on Movistar Team’s premium Youtube channel have also been a success, achieving 1.7 million plays by the end of 2014.