There will be a Movistar Team until at least 2029

The president of Telefónica announces the renewal of sponsorship for five more years at the presentation of the Unzue team for the next season.

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Everything around them is changing, executives from auditing firms are taking over the teams, which they lead with one eye on the bottom line and the other on the list of victories, and without losing sight of technological and scientific innovations that bring them startups from dreamy engineers that sprout like mushrooms every day; beardless young men with acne proclaim their superiority on the road; lifelong cyclists hang up their bikes; millionaire fans are giving themselves over to two wheels; big data and AI experts with computers in every corner. Figures that seemed eternal like Patrick Lefévère, the boss of Quick Step, or Vincent Lavenu, of Ag2r, have taken forced retirement. The cycling landscape has changed in a flash. Everything is new. Everything? No. Eusebio Unzue, 69 years old, is still there, firm, immovable. A dinosaur? The last dinosaur to survive the ice age? Yes, perhaps, and also a totem of old cycling, director of Reynolds already in 1984, renovated, rejuvenated, in the Telefónica skyscraper on Madrid’s Gran Vía who smiles happily because José María Álvarez Pallete, the boss of it all, has just publicly announced that his company will continue to sponsor Unzue’s cycling team for five more years: there will be Movistar in the WorldTour pelotons, both men’s and women’s, until December 31, 2029. At least.

A moment from the presentation of the Movistar Team 2025.JOHN BARBOSSA

“And I will continue with everything. I don’t have the feeling that it’s my turn to retire too,” said Unzue during the presentation of the teams for the next season. “The president’s announcement is the most emotional moment. I was very happy to have a sponsorship extended that was born in 2011, and it will be 19 years with us, at least. It’s almost inconceivable that Telefónica continues to hold on despite these difficult years we’ve been through.”

This is the first time that such a long-term renewal agreement has been reached in their shared journey, which allows Unzue, apart from a sigh of relief, a small dose of optimism for the future. “We have often been unable to convince the youngest talents in Spanish cycling to come with us because we could not offer them a long-term project. Now that has changed. Now we will have the weapons to fight, to be at the level of the best,” says Unzue, with his sights set on other teams, such as UAE, Trek, Red Bull or Visma, which offer almost lifelong contracts to emerging cyclists, and thinking of new Spanish gems such as Pablo Torres, Héctor Álvarez, Pau Martí or Adrià Pericas, who have signed abroad. “We will also have time to consolidate the youngsters.”

Movistar CEO José María Álvarez-Pallete speaks at the presentation of the Movistar team.JOHN BARBOSSA

The youngsters with potential in the team, such as Iván Romeo, 21 years old, world champion in the U-23 time trial, or the recently signed Pablo Castrillo, 23 years old and winner of two major stages in the last Vuelta, will probably make their debut in the Tour, where they will be supported by the natural leader of the team, Enric Mas, who at 30 years old (he will turn 30 on January 7) will repeat the calendar (Tour and Vuelta) for the sixth consecutive year. “We cannot give up on the Tour and the best race for Enric is the Vuelta,” Unzue sums up. The Giro will continue to be an unknown race for the Mallorcan, four times on the podium in the Spanish round. The youngest of all, the promising Colombian Diego Pescador, 20 years old, is a longer-term project. “He is a young man who progresses more slowly,” calculates Unzue. “Until he is 26 or 27 years old, he will not be ready for great things.”

The rest of the team is what Unzue calls a very good middle class, despite the departure of Oier Lazkano, their best classics rider, to Red Bull. “And let’s not forget Nairo Quintana, who will lead Movistar in the Giro d’Italia alongside Einer Rubio. And I hope that Nairo is much better than last year, when he was so affected by the falls and the 15 months he was away from the peloton,” says the general manager of Movistar, who began his career as director of the Reynolds amateur in 1980 and went on to direct the first team of Perico Delgado, the first Tour for Spain since 1973, and José Luis Laguía together with José Miguel Echávarri in 1984. The team continued to grow with the sponsorship of Banesto, and the five Tours of Indurain, between 1989 and 2003. Later it was Illes Balears (2004 and 2005) and Caisse d’Épargne (2006-2010), and the Tour of Pereiro. Echávarri retired. Movistar arrived. Valverde stayed until the age of 42. Unzue continues. No expiration date known.