Duo hoping to push squad into top three of rankings
Encouraged by their performances this season, the Movistar team has named two strong, developing riders to spearhead the line-up in next month’s Tour of Beijing.
Tour de Suisse winner and 2011 Tour de France stage victor Rui Costa is the younger of the two and has consistently clocked up fine performances after his Switzerland success; since netting 18th in the Tour de France, he has taken fifth and tenth on stages of the Tour du Poitou Charantes, second in the GP Plouay, third in the GP de Québec, eighth in the GP de Montréal and eleventh last Sunday in the world road race championships.
Andrey Amador is one year older and has also shown this year that he has the qualities for success. He won stage fourteen in the Giro d’Italia, was third overall in the mountains classification and recently helped the Movistar squad to sixth place in the world championship time trial.
They will be backed by a very solid line-up comprising three-time Italian champion Giovanni Visconti, 2011 Vuelta winner Juan José Cobo, the 2005 world time trial silver medallist Iván Gutiérrez and Pablo Lastras, stage winner in each of the Grand Tours. Jesús Herrada and Enrique Sanz Unzue complete the squad.
“I think we’re bringing quite a competitive roster,” said general manager Eusebio Unzué. “Rui Costa is having a sensational season and we hope he can round it off there, but apart from him, there are riders like Visconti, Amador or Lastras who are finishing the year strong and might also be at the front. Last year’s event was a beautiful experience and hopefully we can notch up some victories this season.”
The team has confirmed that it will change its kit for the race, switching to wearing the branding of the China Unicom company. It is a partner of Movistar parent company Telefonica, and the logo will adorn jersey and shorts.
“This is the first time we will race with China Unicom in our jersey,” said Unzue. “We are fully conscious of the responsibility we have, but it is an extra motivation for the team.”
The Tour of Beijing is the last event on the UCI’s WorldTour calendar and runs from October 9th to 13th.