Movistar Team () is a professional

road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on Road surface, paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The ...

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to in ...

which participates at

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road bicycle racing, road cycling, the UCI World Tou ...

level and has achieved thirteen general classification (GC) victories in Grand Tours. The title sponsor is the Spanish mobile telephone company

Telefónica , S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company with registered office and headquarters located in two different places, both in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the ...

, with the team riding under the name of the company's brand ''

Movistar Movistar () is a major telecommunications provider owned by Telefónica, operating in Spain and Hispanic American countries. It is the largest provider of landline, broadband, Mobile telephony, mobile services, and pay television (Movistar Plus+ ...

''. The team was formed as '' Reynolds'', led by

Ángel Arroyo Angel Arroyo Lanchas (born 2 August 1956 in El Barraco) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. In the 1983 Tour de France, Arroyo won one stage and finished 2nd place in the general classification. In stage 17 of the 1982 Vuel ...

and later by

Pedro Delgado Pedro Delgado Robledo (; born 15 April 1960), also known as Perico (), is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. He won the 1988 Tour de France, as well as the Vuelta a España in 1985 and 1989. He finished in the top 10 of eighteen ...

, who won a

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

and a

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; ) is an annual stage race, multi-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Ital ...

, and was subsequently sponsored by '' Banesto'', under which name the team included five-time Tour de France winner

Miguel Induráin Miguel Induráin Larraya (; born 16 July 1964) is a retired Spanish road racing cyclist. Induráin won five Tours de France from 1991 Tour de France, 1991 to 1995 Tour de France, 1995, the fourth, and last, to win five times, and the only five- ...

and Alex Zülle, twice winner of the Vuelta a España. The team offices are in Egüés, in

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

, Spain. A later sponsor was Caisse d'Épargne, a French semi-cooperative banking group. Having previously used

Pinarello Cicli Pinarello S.p.A. is an Italian bicycle manufacturer based in Treviso, Italy. Founded in 1953, it supplies mostly handmade bicycles for the Road bicycle racing, road, track cycling, track, E-bikes(NYTRO), mountain bikes and cyclo-cross. The ...

bikes, the team rode Canyon frames in 2014, with

Campagnolo Campagnolo is an Italian manufacturer of high-end bicycle components with headquarters in Vicenza, Italy. The components are organised as groupsets (gruppi), and are a near-complete collection of a bicycle's mechanical parts. Campagnolo's flagsh ...

parts. Since 2008, Eusebio Unzué has been the manager of the team after the long running manager,

José Miguel Echavarri José Miguel Echavarri García (born 10 October 1947 in Abárzuza) is a Spanish former racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle rac ...

, retired from the sport. The directeurs sportifs of the team are José Vicente García,

Pablo Lastras Pablo Lastras García (born 20 January 1976) is a Spanish former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 1998 and 2015, entirely for the team and its later iterations. During his career, he recorded stage victories at the three Grand To ...

, José Luis Jaimerena, Patxi Vila and

Max Sciandri Maximilian Sciandri (born 15 February 1967) is a retired Great Britain, British road racing cyclist of Italy, Italian descent. He competed as an Italian national up to February 1995, then took British citizenship. He won the bronze medal in the ...

History

Reynolds (1980–1989)

The team began in 1980 as the Reynolds team which José Miguel Echavarri as the directeur sportif. In 1982 signed a young

who acted as a domestique for team leader

during the 1982 Vuelta a España. Arroyo won the Vuelta after his team controlled the race after he took the lead. 48 hours after his Vuelta win, the results of a positive test were made known for

Methylphenidate Methylphenidate, sold under the brand names Ritalin ( ) and Concerta ( ) among others, is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. It may be taken Oral adm ...

(Ritalin). Arroyo and the Reynolds team denied that Arroyo doped and asked for a B-analysis which confirmed the positive A-sample. Arroyo became the first winner of the Vuelta a España to be disqualified. Delgado changed teams in 1985 but returned to Reynolds in 1988 where he won the

1988 Tour de France The 1988 Tour de France was the 75th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 4 to 24 July. It consisted of 22 stages over . The race was won by Pedro Delgado with the top three positions at the end of the race being occupied by special ...

and then the

1989 Vuelta a España The 44th Edition ''Vuelta a España'' (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from 24 April to 15 May 1989. It consisted of 22 stages covering a total of , and was won by Pedro Delgado of the R ...

with the team. In 1984,

made his professional debut with the team.

Banesto (1990–2003)

In 1990, Spanish bank Banesto took over as the main sponsor of the team from Reynolds. Delgado was the team leader for the Tour de France while

and

Julián Gorospe Julián Gorospe Artabe (born 22 March 1960 in Mañaria) is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 1982 and 1994, entirely for the team. Gorospe also worked as the directeur sportif of between 1998 an ...

were the leaders for the week long stage races. When Gorospe took the lead in that year's Vuelta, the team went behind him in a bid to win the race. Gorospe lost the leader's jersey and Delgado took over the leadership but could not regain the time that Italian

Marco Giovannetti Marco Giovannetti (born 4 April 1962) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer and Olympic gold medalist who won the Vuelta a España in 1990. He has also won stages at the Tour de Suisse and the Giro d'Italia. Giovannetti was born ...

had gained and ended the race second overall behind Giovannetti. Over the following years, Indurain rose to become a dominator of stage races winning five editions of the Tour de France and two editions of the

Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia (; ), also known simply as the Giro, is an annual stage race, multiple-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also starting in, or passing through, other countries. The first race was organized in 19 ...

. Delgado was the team leader for the Vuelta. The team also achieved success with

Jean-François Bernard Jean-François Bernard (born 2 May 1962) is a French former professional road bicycle racer. Career He turned professional in 1984 for La Vie Claire, led by Bernard Hinault. He was seen as Hinault’s successor as a winner of stage races from ...

who won the 1992 edition of Paris–Nice with the team. The team won the Vuelta again in 1998 with

Abraham Olano Abraham Olano Manzano (born 22 January 1970) is a Spanish retired professional road racing cyclist, who raced as a professional from 1992 to 2002. He won the UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, World Road Championship in 1995 UCI ...

. During this time Alex Zülle joined the team and finished the

1999 Tour de France The 1999 Tour de France was a multiple stage bicycle race held from 3 to 25 July, and the 86th edition of the Tour de France. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the United States Ant ...

second overall while climber José María Jiménez performed in the Vuelta a España. The team became known as iBanesto.com in the final years of the sponsorship of the Banesto bank.

Illes Balears (2004–2005)

In 2004,

Illes Balears The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

, the Balearic Island's Tourism Board, became the team's principal sponsor, the team's name was Illes Balears-Banesto until 2005. Caisse d'Epargne took over from Banesto as the second sponsor in the 2005 season, the team was then known as Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne. Caisse d'Epargne then became the main sponsor in 2006 reversing the title sponsor ordering with the name, Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears. The team fielded a number of strong contenders in the

2005 Tour de France The 2005 Tour de France was the 92nd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. It took place between 2–24 July, with 21 stages covering a distance . It has no overall winner—although American cyclist ...

including Francisco Mancebo ( former National Champion of Spain),

Alejandro Valverde Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (born 25 April 1980) is a Spanish cyclist, who competed as a professional in road bicycle racing from 2002 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2022, and now competes in gravel cycling for the Movistar Team Gravel Squad. During ...

, Vladimir Karpets and sprinter Isaac Gálvez. Mancebo produced the best results finishing fourth overall in the General Classification.

Caisse d'Epargne (2006–2010)

Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears finished fifth overall (56 minutes, 53 seconds behind Team T-Mobile) in the Team Classification at the

2006 Tour de France The 2006 Tour de France was the 93rd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. It took place between the 1st and the 23rd of July. It was won by Óscar Pereiro following the disqualification of Floyd Land ...

. Individually, the team's top rider,

Óscar Pereiro Óscar Pereiro Sío (; born 3 August 1977) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. Pereiro was declared the winner of the 2006 Tour de France, after the original winner Floyd Landis was disqualified for failing a Doping (sport), do ...

, finished in second place. The Tour victory of

Phonak Sonova Holding AG (Phonak Holding AG before 1 August 2007) is an internationally active Swiss group of companies headquartered in Stäfa that specializes in hearing care (hearing aids, hearing instruments, cochlear implants, wireless communicat ...

rider

Floyd Landis Floyd Landis (born October 14, 1975) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. At the 2006 Tour de France, he would have been the third non-European winner in the event's history, but was disqualified after testing positive for p ...

was almost immediately called into question, after a urine sample taken after his Stage 17 win twice tested positive for banned synthetic

testosterone Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone and androgen in Male, males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testicles and prostate, as well as promoting se ...

as well as a ratio of

epitestosterone Epitestosterone, or isotestosterone, also known as 17α-testosterone or as androst-4-en-17α-ol-3-one, is an endogenous steroid and an epimer of the androgen sex hormone testosterone. It is a weak competitive antagonist of the androgen receptor ...

nearly three times the limit allowed by

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; , AMA) is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against d ...

rules. After hearing of the positive "A" test, Pereiro stated that it was only an initial, unconfirmed result and he would not yet consider Landis guilty or himself the Tour winner. "I have too much respect for Landis to do otherwise", he said. After hearing that the Landis "B" test also came back positive, Pereiro stated that he now considers himself Tour champion and the Landis scandal should not diminish his own achievement. "Right now I feel like the winner of the Tour de France", Pereiro said. "It's a victory for the whole team." After nearly two years of appeals, Pereiro was officially upgraded to Tour champion for 2006.

Movistar (2011– )

On 31 May 2010, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the appeals from WADA and the UCI regarding the suspension of Alejandro Valverde for his implication in the Operación Puerto doping case. Valverde was banned for two years, starting 1 January 2010 and after serving the two-year suspension returned to competition in 2012 riding for the Movistar Team. The 2011 season proved to be a transitional one for the team, with their first victory coming as a single stage win in the

Tour Down Under The Tour Down Under (currently branded as the Santos Tour Down Under for sponsorship reasons) is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and UCI Women’s WorldTour ...

, courtesy of Francisco José Ventoso. The team found success with stage wins in the

Volta a Catalunya The Volta a Catalunya (; Tour of Catalonia, ) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of the Basque Country. The race has had ...

and

Tour of the Basque Country The Tour of the Basque Country (Officially: ''Itzulia Basque Country'') is an annual road cycling stage race held in the Spanish Basque Country in April. It is one of the races that make up the UCI World Tour calendar. As the Basque Country is ...

. The team also won two stages of the

: Ventoso won stage 6 and Vasil Kiryienka won stage 20. The team's final Grand Tour win came courtesy of

Rui Costa Rui Manuel César Costa (; born 29 March 1972) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who is the 34th president of sports club S.L. Benfica. He also succeeded Luís Filipe Vieira as president of the club's SAD board of directors. ...

in the

. The 2012 season saw the team re-establish itself as one of the major general classification contenders. The return of Valverde almost immediately brought the team success with a stage win in the Tour Down Under, followed by the overall win of the

Vuelta a Andalucía The Vuelta a Andalucía (Tour of Andalusia) or Ruta del Sol (Route of the Sun) is a regional Spanish road bicycle race first held in 1925. Since 2005, it has been a 2.1 category race on the UCI Europe Tour. The race became a part of the new UCI ...

as well as a stage win. Colombian new recruit Nairo Quintana also brought the team overall victory at the

Vuelta a Murcia The Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia () is a road bicycle race held in and around Murcia, Spain. The first four editions were reserved to amateurs. Originally the race was held in early March and consisted of five stages. However, due to Spain's fina ...

. The team scored multiple overall classification victories; Quintana claimed the Route du Sud, Rui Costa the

Tour de Suisse The Tour de Suisse () is an annual road cycling stage race. Raced over eight days, the event covers two weekends in June, and along with the Critérium du Dauphiné, it is considered a proving ground for the Tour de France, which is on the calend ...

, Javier Moreno the Vuelta a Castilla y León and finally

Beñat Intxausti Beñat Intxausti Elorriaga (born 20 March 1986) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2007 and 2019 for the Nicolas Mateos, , , , and teams. Career Intxausti was born in Amorebieta-Etxano, Bisca ...

won the

Vuelta a Asturias Vuelta Asturias is a professional cycle road race held in Spain in early May each year. The event was first run in 1925 but has not been held consistently until 1968 to present. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI ...

. The team also won stages in all three Grand Tours. The 2013 season closely followed the previous years, Valverde scored multiple early season results with the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana and an overall win in the

. Quintana further reinforced his potential as a Grand Tour GC rider with the overall win in the Tour of the Basque Country as well as claiming second place in the

, taking the King of the Mountains in addition to the Young rider classification. He further reinforced his reputation as a force to be reckoned with, with an overall win in the

Vuelta a Burgos Vuelta Ciclista a Burgos is an elite professional road bicycle racing event held annually in the Burgos (province), Burgos province of Spain. The men's Vuelta a Burgos has been a multi-day stage race as part of the UCI Europe Tour since 2005. In ...

. Intxausti got the team's final overall win of the year and Costa won the UCI World Road Race championships. For the 2014 season the team confirmed that they would shift from

bikes to

Canyon Bicycles Canyon Bicycles GmbH (abbr.: Canyon) is a German distributor and partly manufacturer of road bikes, mountain bikes, hybrid bikes, triathlon bikes and electric bicycle, e-bikes based in Koblenz, Germany. History In 1985, Roman Arnold and his br ...

. For 2014, the team adopted a 'divide and conquer' based tactic for the season's Grand Tours; first sending Quintana to the Giro, Valverde to the Tour and then finally both riders to the Vuelta. Quintana achieved the team's first victory – winning stage 4 of the

Tour de San Luis Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which ...

as well as the overall classification, Adriano Malori also won the individual time trial stage. Once again Valverde won the Vuelta a Andalucía as well as the Vuelta a Murcia, Roma Maxima,

GP Miguel Induráin The Grand Prix Miguel Induráin (), formerly the "Grand Prix Navarre" is a Spanish one-day road bicycle race. History The race was inaugurated in 1951, but was limited to local competition. It was rebranded after Spanish cyclist Miguel Indurái ...

and

La Flèche Wallonne La Flèche Wallonne (, French for "The Walloon Arrow") is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium. It is part of the UCI World Tour. The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is ...

. In May, Quintana won the team's first Grand Tour since Valverde's 2009 Vuelta victory, the

2014 Giro d'Italia The 2014 Giro d'Italia was the 97th running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tour races. The race started off in Belfast, on 9 May, with a team time trial and concluded in Trieste, on 1 June, with a flat st ...

. As with the previous season, Quintana defended his Vuelta a Burgos title winning it for the second straight year. In August 2014, the team announced the signing of

Marc Soler Marc Soler Giménez (born 22 November 1993) is a Spanish cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Soler was born in Vilanova i la Geltru. In 2017, Soler finished third overall behind team mate Alejandro Valverde and Alberto Conta ...

() and Rubén Fernández () on a 2-year contract. At the

2015 Tour de France The 2015 Tour de France was the 102nd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The -long race consisted of 21 stages, starting on 4 July in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and concluding on 26 July with the Champs-Élysées sta ...

, the team finished first in the teams classification, and the two top men of the team, Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde finished second and third in the general classification, respectively, with Quintana also winning the white jersey as best young rider, and finishing second in the king of the mountains classification. During the 2016 Tour, the team finished first in the teams classification by 8' 14" over Team Sky. Nairo Quintana made the podium by finishing third overall in the general classification standings and Ion Izagirre claimed victory on stage 20. Later during the

2016 Vuelta a España The 2016 Vuelta a España was a three-week Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tour cycling stage race that took place in Spain between 20 August and 11 September 2016. The race was the 71st edition of the Vuelta a España and the final Grand Tour of the ...

, Quintana won stage 10 and the overall. The team concluded the year with their fourth win in the team ranking of

2016 UCI World Tour The 2016 UCI World Tour was a competition that included 27 road bicycle racing, road cycling events throughout the 2016 in men's road cycling, 2016 men's cycling season. It was the eighth edition of the ranking system launched by the Union Cycli ...

. In 2019,

Richard Carapaz Richard Antonio Carapaz Montenegro (born 29 May 1993) is an Ecuadorian professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Carapaz won the 2019 Giro d'Italia, becoming the first Ecuadorian rider to win the race. In July 2021 ...

won the

, and the team won the team classification in all three Grand Tours. The team's season is captured in a documentary series, '' The Least Expected Day: Inside the Movistar Team 2019'', available on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. File:Charla de Pedro Delgado sobre ciclismo - 25110481922 (cropped).jpg,

showing an old Reynolds jersey in 2016 File:Joan HORRACH RIPPOLL 144 HEW Cyclassics 2005.jpg, Joan Horrach in an Illes Balears jersey at the 2005 HEW Cyclassics

Team roster

Major wins

National, continental and world champions

;1982 : Spain Road Race José Luis Laguía ;1983 : Spain Road Race Carlos Hernández ;1992 : Spain Road Race

;1995 :

World Time Trial

;1997 :

British Road Race

Jeremy Hunt Sir Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (born 1 November 1966) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2022 to 2024 and Foreign Secretary from 2018 to 2019, having previously served as Secretary of State for Health a ...

: Spain Road Race José María Jiménez ;1998 : Jersey rainbow chrono

World Time Trial

;2003 : Spain Road Race Rubén Plaza ;2004 : Spain Road Race Francisco Mancebo : Spain Time Trial José Iván Gutiérrez ;2005 : Spain Time Trial José Iván Gutiérrez ;2006 : MaillotFra

France Road Race Florent Brard ;2007 : Spain Road Race Joaquim Rodríguez : Spain Time Trial José Iván Gutiérrez ;2008 : Spain Road Race

: Spain Time Trial

Luis León Sánchez Luis León Sánchez Gil (born 24 November 1983) is a Spanish former road bicycle racer, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . Sánchez's major achievements include winning the overall classifications of the 2009 Paris–Nice and the 2005 Tour Down U ...

;2010 : Spain Road Race José Iván Gutiérrez : Spain Time Trial

Portugal Time Trial

;2011 : Spain Road Race

José Joaquín Rojas José Joaquín Rojas Gil (born 8 June 1985) is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2006 to 2023. Career Rojas turned professional in 2006 with . His older brother Mariano Rojas, was a profess ...

;2012 : Spain Road Race

Francisco Ventoso Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (born 6 May 1982) is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2020, for the , , , and squads. Career Ventoso turned professional with in 2004 before moving t ...

Belarus Time Trial

Branislau Samoilau Branislau Samoilau (; born 25 May 1985) is a Belarusian former road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2007 and 2022 for six different professional teams. He took six professional victories during his career, four of which came in Nat ...

;2013 :

British Time Trial

Alex Dowsett Alex Edward Albert Dowsett (born 3 October 1988) is a British former professional Road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . He was a time trial specialist, and in 2015, he broke track cycling's world hour record ...

: Spain Time Trial

Jonathan Castroviejo Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolás (born 27 April 1987) is a Spanish professional cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Castroviejo specialises in time trials, with all of his eleven professional victories – including a gold medal at the 2016 Eur ...

Portugal Time Trial

: Spain Road Race Jesús Herrada : Jersey rainbow

World Road Race

;2014 : Spain Time Trial

: Spain Road Race Ion Izagirre : MaillotItalia

Italy Time Trial Adriano Malori ;2015 : MaillotReinoUnido

British Time Trial

Italy Time Trial Adriano Malori : Spain Time Trial

: Spain Road Race

;2016 :

British Time Trial

: Spain Time Trial Ion Izagirre : MaillotPortugal

Portugal Time Trial Nelson Oliveira : Spain Road Race

European Time Trial

;2017 : Spain Time Trial

: Spain Road Race Jesús Herrada ;2018 : Jersey rainbow

World Road Race

;2019 : Spain Road Race

;2020 :

European Track Championships The European Track Cycling Championships are a set of elite level competition events held annually for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling, exclusively for European cyclists, and regulated by the European Cycling Union (UEC) ...

(Madison) Sebastián Mora & Albert Torres : European champion jersey 2016

(Points race) Sebastián Mora ;2021 : MaillotPuertoRico