The teams in LToN 2018 – Movistar even among the ladies
New in the ladies peloton this year are the blue jerseys of the Spanish top squad Movistar who is also presenting a ladies team at the highest level in 2018.
The blue jerseys will also be seen at the Ladies Tour of Norway in August – for the first time actually.
Movistar’s ladies team is built mainly with Spanish riders, but the team is strengthened with some foreign top riders to keep the highest level.
34 year old Polish star Malgorzata Jasinska is adding experience to the team and she knows how to deal with these things. Jasinska won double golds at the Polish championships this year, claiming both the road race and the individual time trial. Last year she was riding for Cylance and earlier the Italian team Alé Cipollini. She is for sure adding both strength, experience and power to the Movistar team.
Another experienced rider is the 36 years old Australian Rachel Neylan who was in a break at the last stage of LToN in 2017. Then for Orica-Scott, a team she represented for three years. Neylan was also in the Norwegian outfit Hitec Products in 2013 and she has a silver from the World Championships back in 2012.
Aude Biannic is the French champion of the year, coming from FDJ after last season. The 27 year old ist the third foreign rider for Movistar and she can also play a role in the sprints at LToN. Biannic has been 10th both at the Olympics and the World Championships in earlier years.
The rest of the team is a mix of Spanish riders. Like 24 year old Lourdes Oyarbide who was Spanish time trial champion last year. The 34 year old veteran Margarita Victoria Garcia is – just like Oyarbide and several other riders – coming from the Bizkaia-Durango team. Garcia might not be young and promising any longer, but she was the Spanish road champion in 2016 and the time trial champion this year. She was also a silver medalist in the road race in 2017.
23 year old Eider Merino won this years Spanish championships and is now riding with the Spanish champions jersey. The talented rider was also 8th on GC at the Giro Rosa in Italy. Team colleague Gloria Rodriguez, 26 was just behind and took silver in the Spanish championships where Movistar was dominating.
A lot of the spectators will for sure recognize the blue jerseys with the big M from the Tour de France and other races on TV. But now the riders names are not Alejandro Valverde or Nairo Quintana, but these ladies are also world class!
It will be another exciting newcomer to the Ladies Tour of Norway.
