Movistar confirmed its nine-man lineup for the 104th edition of the Tour de France, starting Saturday with a 14km individual time trial in Düsseldorf.
Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde, the two riders whose spots were already secured at the shortlist offered two weeks ago, will be joined by Imanol Erviti, Jonathan Castroviejo, Jesús Herrada, Andrey Amador, Jasha Sütterlin, Daniele Bennati and Carlos Betancur.
The Spanish team will go to the Tour de France for the 35th time (with different sponsorships in the past) and is determined to take home the yellow jersey for Quintana.
“I’m feeling good on the bike so far this month. I should be getting stronger in the next few days and thus reach the start in the best possible condition”, says Quintana. “But after all, you can only see where you stand when you’re into the race. Everything has been different for me this season. It’s true that I’ve ridden two Grand Tours several times already in my career, but this Giro-Tour double is quite different to anything I’ve done in the past. Also, the time of the year, the weather – it changes things a lot. The Giro went good for me, in that sense of approach, and that makes me tackle the Tour with good expectations.”
“My feelings towards the double haven’t changed after the result I got in Italy. We prepared for the Giro and the Tour with an aim to win both, even though we knew it was so difficult. We were so close to claiming the Giro GC, we weren’t able to, but it doesn’t matter. We’re as focused on completing this double strongly as we were before the Giro. We’ll try and get them this time in the Tour.”
