Movistar announce smaller men's WorldTour team for 2018

Movistar announced the re-signing of Colombian Dayer Quintana on Thursday, finalising their men's 2018 WorldTour roster.

The Spanish squad's team has dropped from 28 riders to 25, reflecting a reduction in the size of teams required to take part in individual UCI races. From 2018, Grand Tour squads will comprise eight instead of nine riders and shorter stage races and single-day events will host seven-rider teams rather than eight. Other WorldTour teams have also presented more compact squads for 2018.

Overall, though, Movistar has more riders on its books, as the team has unveiled a new women's squad for 2018, which comprises 10 riders and will compete at the highest level.

>>> Mikel Landa: ‘I’d have preferred a different welcome from Quintana’

New signing Mikel Landa, formerly of Team Sky, joins Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde in spearheading the men's team's Grand Tour aims, with a solid line-up of climbers and domestiques to back them up.

As well as Landa, the team welcomes Jaime Castrillo, Jaime Rosón, Rafael Valls and Eduardo Sepúlveda for 2018 but parts with Alex Dowsett, Jesús Herrada, José Herrada, Gorka Izagirre, Adriano Malori and Rory Sutherland.

Both the men's and women's teams met at the squad's traditional pre-season get together in Pamplona, Spain, this week.

Movistar 2018 men's team

Andrey Amador

Winner Anacona

Jorge Arcas

Carlos Barbero

Daniele Bennati

Carlos Betancur

Nuno Bico

Richard Carapaz

Héctor Carretero

Jaime Castrillo

Víctor De La Parte

Imanol Erviti

Rubén Fernández

Mikel Landa

Nelson Oliveira

Antonio Pedrero

Dayer Quintana

Nairo Quintana

José Joaquín Rojas

Jaime Rosón

Eduardo Sepúlveda

Marc Soler

Jasha Sütterlin

Rafa Valls

Alejandro Valverde

Movistar 2018 women's team

Aude Biannic

Mavi García

Alicia González

Malgorzata Jasinska

Lorena Llamas

Eider Merino

Rachel Neylan

Lourdes Oyarbide

Gloria Rodríguez

Alba Teruel