Movistar blends youth and experience for Tour de France, all-in on Mas for GC success

The 30-year-old rider from Mallorca will be lining up for the seventh time in Lille for La Grande Boucle. Mas has competed in the Tour every year since 2019. His best result was fifth place in the 2020 GC, six minutes behind the winner Tadej Pogacar. He has never won a stage, although he came close last year with a third-place finish in the stage to Superdévoluy.

Mas is, therefore, the leader, and the Spaniard will be well supported. Brand new Spanish road champion Iván Romeo will make his Tour debut, as will Einer Rubio (eighth in this year's Giro), Will Barta, and Vuelta revelation Pablo Castrillo. With Romeo and Castrillo, Movistar has a lot of youth at the start.

The Spanish team is balancing this with a wealth of experience in the selection of Nelson Oliveira and Gregor Mühlberger. The Austrian is already in his seventh consecutive Tour, but his Portuguese teammate has even more Grand Départs under his belt. The 36-year-old Oliveira is, in fact, preparing for his ninth participation in the Tour de France. The eighth and final participant on behalf of Movistar is Iván García Cortina. The team says it will “support Mas, but also look for opportunities in the race.”

Interestingly, when you add up all the victories of this eight-man team in the Tour, you end up with zero. Nevertheless, the team knows what it takes to win in a Grand Tour. Rubio won a stage in the Giro in 2023, Oliveira won a stage in the Vuelta ten years ago, Castrillo won two stages in the Vuelta last year, and Mas also won a stage in the Vuelta a España in 2018.

Enric Mas