Wednesday 19 December 2018 08:09, UK
Nairo Quintana will lead the Movistar team at the 2019 Tour de France, team director Eusebio Unzue has revealed.
Quintana, who has won both the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana, was co-leader of Movistar along with world champion Alejandro Valverde, 38, and the Spanish climber Mikal Landa at the 2018 Tour.
But in 2019 he will be the sole focus of the Spanish team's bid to win the title.
"We will continue dreaming, and we will continue to work for it," said Quintana, who was runner-up to Chris Froome in 2013 and 2015.
Unzue admitted last season's tactics had failed and that backing the Colombian was the key to 2019.
"We want to concentrate our focus on Nairo on the Tour de France and the Vuelta too," Unzue said at a presentation of the 2019 line-up in Madrid. "The key objective for the team this year is to win a Grand Tour."
Valverde, who won a thrilling, mountainous world championships in Innsbruck, will race the Giro in May and the Vuelta in September, Unzue revealed.
Landa, recruited from Team Sky will race the Giro in May and then back up Quintana in the Tour de France.
