Movistar Team, the Best Team in the World

Movistar Team, The Best Team in the World in 2015, met in the Distrito Telefónica, (Las Tablas, Madrid), to present the official team for the 2016 season and the challenges facing them this year. For the sixth year running, the headquarters of Telefónica was the meeting point for the cycling world, with sports personalities, authorities, sponsors, and fans who what to know first hand the challenges of the team that today, more than ever, “are dreaming of the Yellow Jersey” symbol of the Tour de France.

The event was attended by Carlos López Blanco, Global Head, Public and Regulatory Affairs of Telefónica and Eusebio Unzué, the Movistar Team General Manager, who presented the 27 riders in the team with the help of journalists Javier Ares and Mónica Marchante.  

New recruits for 2016 are Nelson Oliveira, three-time champion of Portugal against the clock; Dani Moreno, one of the best Peloton Classic specialists member of the team since 2008-09; the Columbian Carlos Betancur, best youngest rider of the Tour in 2013; and first-class novices Jorge Arcas and Antonio Pedrero, all-in high-level mountain-pass cyclists. With these five new recruits and their successful track record, the Movistar Team are to raise their sights on the International Peloton.

This presentation served to take stock and remember the greatest moments lived by Unzué´s team since February 2011, date on which Telefónica resumed sponsorship of cycling. With almost 150 victories spanning four continents and 1,500,000 kilometres cycled during competitions over the last five tours, the Movistar Team have maintained their reputation has leaders of International Peloton held since its foundation in 1980.

The double podium of Quintana and Valverde –winner of the UCL world race classification for the fourth time– in the Tour de France; the fastest time to record of Alex Dowsett, 21 years after Miguel Indurain; the fourth position of Andrey Amador in the Tour and the collective victories in the the Grande Boucle and the Vuelta a España were some of the many triumphs of the Telefónica Set during 2015.