Movistar’s 2017 team presentation was hosted in the same venue as last year, an auditorium with an entrance hall located in the immense headquarters of Telefónica, Spain’s biggest phone company whose main brand sponsors the team formerly known as Caisse d’Épargne, Banesto and Reynolds.
The event was modest compared to the 2016 presentation and wasn’t broadcasted live. Yet its echoes will last longer since it showcased a great challenge for the team’s marquee rider, Nairo Quintana: attempting the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France double in 2017.
The narrative used by the team to introduce this quest was suited to Telefónica’s ambition of positioning itself as a cutting-edge company on the data management business. The Chief Data Officer of the company presented a detailed analysis of the Pyrenean stage of the Vuelta a España 2016. Meanwhile, both team officials and riders pointed constantly to “data” when talking about Quintana’s bid.
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“We are in possession of data that gives us confidence that, if he completes the Giro d’Italia in good fashion, he will tackle the Tour de France in perfect shape,” Movistar Team’s General Manager Eusebio Unzue declared as an answer to the first question of a group interview.
When asked to elaborate this statement, Unzue explained: “In 2016 we saw in Alejandro Valverde that a rider is able to perform at a great level in both Giro and Tour. In the case of Nairo, after analysing his data, we are positive he performs better in his second Grand Tour of the season than in his first one.”
This allegedly uplifting evidence will be reinforced with a race program tailored to avoid fatigue. “Since his last race, which was the final stage of the 2016 Vuelta a España on September 11th, until the start of the Tour de France on July 1th, there are nine and a half months, in which he will only race 40 days. Thus, he won’t be tired even if the Giro will surely take its toll,” Unzue explained.
Unfinished business, unfulfilled dream
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