World champion Alejandro Valverde, Nairo Quintana and Mikel Landa are all set to line up for Movistar at the Tour de France 2019.
In last year’s edition the trio shared team leadership responsibilities, operating as a trident of GC options, which ultimately failed to deliver, with Landa, Quintana and Valverde finishing seventh, 10th and 14th respectively.
Movistar’s Tour de France pre-selection was revealed by Spanish radio station Cope, naming nine riders, one of whom will be cut before the race begins in July.
The other six riders vying for a sport are Marc Soler, Winner Anacona, Nelson Oliveira, Imanol Erviti, Andrey Amador and Carlos Verona.
According to a Dutch journalist, Quintana and Landa both have aspirations to win the general classification and will be vying to be the team leader, while Alejandro Valverde will ride in support of the team.
Movistar can already claim a successful 2019 campaign after victory at the Giro d’Italia 2019 through the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, who picked up his first Grand Tour victory.
Quintana and Landa will face a field packed with GC talent, with Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas also facing an intra-team battle for leadership responsibilities at Ineos.
Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb), Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo), Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Primož Roglič and Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) will also all compete for the yellow jersey in July.
Movistar face an eventful summer, with their top riders subject to speculation that they may be moving on, with Nairo Quintana rumoured to be joining André Greipel’s Arkéa Samsic, Mikel Landa apparently off to Bahrain-Merida (as Vincenzo Nibali is supposedly going to Trek-Segafredo) and Richard Carapaz saying he wants to stay at the Spanish outfit despite rumours of a big-money Ineos deal.
Enric Mas has also been rumoured to be making the move from Deceuninck – Quick-Step to Movistar at the end of the season.
