Men - World Team Movistar Team

Movistar Team: Spanish cycling institution with a long tradition

Successful history since 1980

The Movistar Team is a Spanish UCI WorldTeam in road cycling based in Egüés. The team has been in existence since 1980, making it the longest-established team in the UCI World Tour. In its long history, the team has ridden under various names and celebrated numerous successes in Grand Tours and Classics. Since 2011, the team has competed under the name Movistar.

The Movistar Team is one of the most successful and traditional cycling teams in the world. Founded in 1980, the Spanish team can look back on over 40 years of history. During this time, the team has ridden under various names such as Reynolds, Banesto and Caisse d'Epargne. It has been riding as the Movistar Team since 2011. This continuity makes Movistar the longest-running team in the UCI WorldTour. The team operator Abarca Sports S.L. is also responsible for the women's cycling team Movistar Team Women.

The team's success story began in the 1980s under the name Reynolds. The team celebrated its first major triumph in 1988 when Pedro Delgado won the Tour de France. This was the start of an era of dominance in the world's most important tour. In the following years, the team established itself as one of the strongest teams in professional cycling.

The Indurain era and further successes

The 1990s were characterised by Miguel Indurain's successes. The Spaniard won the Tour de France five times in a row from 1991 to 1995 for the then Team Banesto. Indurain added two more victories in the Giro d'Italia to these wins and crowned his career with an Olympic victory in the individual time trial in 1996. After Indurain's retirement, the team was not quite able to continue this dominance, but remained successful.

In the following years, riders such as Abraham Olano, Alex Zülle and Francisco Mancebo secured further podium finishes in Grand Tours. In 2006, Óscar Pereiro won the Tour de France after the original winner Floyd Landis was disqualified for doping. Alejandro Valverde developed into the team's new figurehead and won the Vuelta a España in 2009.

The Movistar era and current developments

The team has been competing under the name Movistar since 2011. During this time, the team has continued its successes. Nairo Quintana won the Giro d'Italia in 2014 and the Vuelta a España in 2016. He also finished on the Tour de France podium three times. Alejandro Valverde remained a guarantee of success, becoming world champion in 2018 and celebrating numerous victories in classics and shorter tours.

In 2019, Richard Carapaz won the Giro d'Italia for Movistar. The team dominated the team classification of the UCI WorldTour from 2013 to 2016, with Alejandro Valverde also winning the individual classification in 2014 and 2015. The team has been rejuvenated in recent years and relies on riders such as Enric Mas, who finished eleventh in the UCI world rankings in 2024.