2025 Preview #20 – Movistar (Men)

All images: Wikimedia Commons

The never-ending downward spiral

Over the past few years, Movistar have lost some of their splendour. The Spanish team, a giant in the peloton since the 1980s, has slowly fallen in the World ranking, a tendency that was further confirmed last season.

Indeed, in 2024, Movistar only managed to win eight times, their lowest total since 1981 if we don’t include the Covid season in 2020. Even worse, among these successes, only one was at World Tour level - the victory of Pelayo Sanchez on stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia. The team's primary leader, Enric Mas, had quite a good season despite the lack of successes, finishing third at La Vuelta and Il Lombardia, and racking up top-10s in several World Tour stage races such as the Volta a Catalunya and Tour de Romandie.

Mas was one of only two riders from the Spanish team to finish in the top 100 of the UCI ranking, along with his compatriot Alex Aranburu. The recent Spanish champion was really consistent throughout the season, posting a second place at Eschborn-Frankfurt and taking home the points jersey at Itzulia Basque Country.

Outside of these few riders, the season was quite poor from Movistar, including from some of the leaders such as Nairo Quintana, Davide Formolo and Fernando Gaviria. Even if some riders such as Einer Rubio (7^th at the Giro) and Oier Lazkano (9^th at the Critérium du Dauphiné) managed to step up in several races, Movistar’s concluded with them residing in 13^th place in the UCI classification, far from their former glory.

Losing important riders

After a complicated season, it was important for Movistar to have a good transfer window, in order to start the year with new hopes. However, the Spanish team suffered significant losses, with Alex Aranburu and Oier Lazkano joining other teams despite being among the team’s key riders.

To compensate for these losses, the first recruitment of the winter was Pablo Castrillo. At 24 years-old, the Spaniard became one of the sensations of last season when he raised his arms twice during La Vuelta, for his first two professional successes. The native of Jaca showed his incredible climbing abilities but also his amazing resilience in a breakaway. The former rider of Kern Pharma had many offers on the table for 2025 but chose to sign with Movistar, in order to climb another step in the future. This season, Castrillo will discover many World Tour races such as Paris-Nice and the Tour de Suisse, before heading to Lille to take the start of his first ever Tour de France.

With the loss of Aranburu, Movistar needed a quick rider able to pass the hills quite easily. They may have found it in Natnael Tesfatsion, the recent Eritrean Champion. This very complete rider has never won outside of Africa but showed great strength on difficult roads during races such as the Tour de Wallonie and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race last year. Alongside the Eritrean, the former Venezuelan champion Orluis Aular will occupy the same role. The former Caja-Rural rider will discover the World Tour level at 28 years old after several seasons at ProTeam level. A strong sprinter, Aular has managed some very good results at high level races, scoring two top 10s at the Volta a Catalunya and even a podium at Itzulia Basque Country last season.

To complete their 2025 roster, Movistar’s management team bet on another rider from Caja-Rural as Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda joined the Spanish team. Last year, the Ecuadorian climber proved his climbing capacities with a top 5 overall at O Gran Camino, before adding the Tour of Qinghai Lake to his trophy cabinet. Cepeda was not the only addition to Movistar’s mountains squad, as the young Diego Pescador also joined the team. At 20 years old, this wonderkid could very well be the future of the Spanish team, as implied by his top 10 at the latest Tour de l’Avenir. Finally, the German Michel Hessmann will make his return to competition after his doping suspension after a test at the 2023 Giro d’Italia, which was recently overturned.

Enric Mas: carrying the team alone?

After a 2024 season where he was the main leader of Movistar, the departures of Aranburu and Lazkano have made Movistar even more dependant on Enric Mas and they may find themselves in difficulty during the Grand Tours if the Mallorcan should have a problem.

In 2024, Enric Mas proved once again that he was one of the better climbers in the international peloton. Indeed, after top-10s at the Volta a Catalunya, the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse, the native of Artà recorded a third-place finish at La Vuelta, his fourth podium at his national Grand Tour. The only dark spot of Mas’ season was the Tour de France, where he couldn’t do better than 19^th place in the general classification after a complicated first week. The Spanish finished his season with two top 10s, during the World Championships and then at Il Lombardia.

In 2025, Enric Mas will enter the final year of his contract and may leave the team in 2026 to take on a new challenge. Before that, Mas will have the Tour de France and La Vuelta as objectives, with the aim of improving on last year. However, with the announced presence of Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar at both of these races, the competition will be daunting for the former winner of the Gree-Tour of Guangxi. The Ardennes Classics will also be an objective for Mas in 2025.

While their main leader heads to the Tour, Movistar’s management decided to send several good climbers to the Giro, hoping for a good GC but also stage wins. Indeed, the second-best climber of last season, Einer Rubio, will take on the Italian Grand Tour, a race where he finished seventh last year. Alongside the Colombian, his countryman Nairo Quintana will try to find his legs of the past whereas the Italian Davide Formolo will surely aim for a stage win, ten years after his first and only on his national Tour. On the French roads in July, Mas will count on the experienced Nelson Oliveira and last year’s revelation Pablo Castrillo to accompany him in the mountains.

Looking for opportunities

With a roster lacking in riders who amass a lot of wins, Movistar’s riders will have to take all the opportunities they get to raise their arms in 2025. They started very well, as Javier Romo just launched his team’s season by crossing the line first at the third stage of the Tour Down Under.

The win of Romo is exactly what Eusebio Unzue’s men will try to do this season in order to garnish their trophy cabinet. Indeed, despite his numerous former successes, the main sprinter of the team, Fernando Gaviria, only won once last season, during the first stage of the Tour of Colombia. Behind the Colombian, Ivan Garcia Cortina also seems to have had difficulties in recent years, as his last win was in 2022. If these two quick riders manage to return to their best level, they could be a very important source of wins for Movistar.

The best way for the Spanish team to collect victories in 2025 could be the breakaways. Indeed, outside of Mas, Movistar does not seem to have a key leader, able to succeed from the peloton, at least in the world’s biggest races. However, many of the riders under contract this season have already shone from breakaways, particularly during the Grand Tours. Indeed, while Pablo Castrillo raised his arms twice on last year’s Vuelta, his countryman Pelayo Sanchez also saw a breakaway lead him to victory during the Giro. Overall, nine of the 29 riders that compose the 2025 roster of Movistar have already triumphed at a Grand Tour, which is promising for the Spanish team.

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