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.

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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