Vuelta a Espana: Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde in Movistar team
Monday 17 August 2015 17:09, UK
Movistar will unleash star riders Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde in the Vuelta a Espana, which starts on Saturday.
Quintana came within 72 seconds of snatching the Tour de France crown from Chris Froome last month, while Valverde finished third, five minutes and 25 seconds behind the Briton.
Froome will bid to add the Spanish grand tour to his list of victories - he finished second in 2011 and again last year - but the field looks like being as strong as last month's Tour, if not stronger.
Only Alberto Contador will skip the race of the top five Tour finishers, but there will be added competition from the likes of Fabio Aru and Mikel Landa, who form part of a strong Astana line-up with Vincenzo Nibali, and Tejay van Garderen who was bang in contention until falling ill in France.
Movistar boss Eusebio Unzue was non-committal when it came to talking about a team leader, admitting it would come down to form with both riders coming towards the end of a long season.
“Everyone will be racing in similar conditions,” Unzue said. “Logically, it’s more difficult for the riders coming off the Tour because there is less time for recovery. … [the riders] have the maturity to take on a second grand tour so soon.
“It’s a Vuelta exaggeratedly new with its summit finales, with the hardest part in the north and Andorra. And with the heat of Andalucía, and for sure, the peloton will arrive very weary to the first rest day. It’s only from then that things will start to be decided.”
Movistar team: Alejandro Valverde, Nairo Quintana, Andrey Amador, Rory Sutherland, Javi Moreno, Imanol Erviti, Fran Ventoso, Jose Joaquin Rojas, Giovanni Visconti.
