While it was confirmed a month ago that the Caisse d’Epargne team was to become Team Movistar from 2011, Spanish telecommunications giant Telefonica officially put pen to paper with the team’s parent company Abarca Sports today. The parties chose the second rest day of the Vuelta a España to meet with the Spanish press and confirm the deal.
According to Luis Abril, technical secretary of the presidency of Telefonica, the company is “probably the biggest sponsor ever for a cycling team.” Abarca Sports manager Eusabio Unzué acknowledged that “everybody is aware of the importance of having such a big sponsor”.
The agreement is for a three-year sponsorship, although Abril declared that he hopes that it will be “a longer commitment”. He also confirmed that “there will not be any added pressure on the riders, as our aspirations are to grow in the medium term.” This will come as something as a relief for the 25-strong roster since Alejandro Valverde, its most successful rider for many years, is currently suspended; Luis Leon Sanchez, the team’s best rider this season, has signed for Rabobank from next year; and David Arroyo, the runner-up in the Giro d’Italia, is rumoured to be bound for either Astana or Liquigas-Doimo.
The team will be “focused on the Spanish races and the most important ones of the international calendar,” and may also create a subsidiary team based in Latin America in order to promote the Movistar brand in that part of the world.
According to Abril there are three reasons for sponsoring a cycling team. “First of all,” he explained, “cycling is a sport which has known very bad moment, but has risen again. Second is a commitment of working again with a staff I met in the times of Banesto and with whom it has been thrilling to meet again.
“Finally,” he added, “I have a personal relationship with Eusebio Unzué who has worked to have the necessary conditions for this sponsorship”.
The confirmation of the sponsorship ensures the continuation of one of the longest lasting teams in the history of the peloton. Starting in 1980 as Reynolds, the team became Banesto in 1990, before being sponsored by the Illes Balears and the French bank Caisse d’Epargne.
With the departure of the French bank as sponsor all five of the French riders on the team, who many said were there just to appease the sponsor, have departed.