Progress without payoff - Movistar 2025 verdict

2024 saw Movistar win eight races, including a Giro d’Italia stage via Pelayo Sanchez, which was the team’s only WorldTour success. From a GC perspective, the team finished 3rd at the Vuelta a España with Enric Mas and 7th at the Giro d’Italia with Einer Rubio.

However, the team would need to adapt for 2025 to the loss of two of the team’s top UCI points scorers. Alex Aranburu and Oier Lazkano, the 2nd and 5th biggest point scorers for Movistar, moved elsewhere for 2025, leaving the team with a significant void to fill. 

There were some interesting incomings, including the Caja Rural duo of Orluis Aular and Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda, as well as Pablo Castrillo, fresh off winning two stages at the 2024 Vuelta. Additionally, Diego Pescador, Natnael Tesfatsion, and Michel Hessmann, who had served a suspension after testing positive for the diuretic substance chlorthalidone.

For 2025, the Vuelta a España would once more be a primary target, with Enric Mas as leader, and an improved Tour de France would have also been an ambition after a low-key appearance in 2024.

Wins: 9
UCI Ranking: 15th
The Verdict: 4.5/10

2025 was a season of ups and downs for Movistar. Whilst some of their young guns and new signings impressed, their GC leader Enric Mas’s season was blighted by injury in its second half, ruling him out for major goals.

In total, the team won nine races, an increase of one from the previous season, and dropped two positions in the UCI season rankings to 15th.

The season started on a high at the Santos Tour Down Under, where Javier Romo stormed to a stage victory and was on the cusp of sealing the general classification, before losing out on the final stage atop Willunga Hill.

Iván Romeo soloed to a stage win at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, marking the start of what would be a breakthrough season for the Spanish rider. There were also victories on Spanish soil for Jon Barrenetxea and Iván García Cortina in the first half of the season.

Romeo continued his fine season with a breakaway stage win at the Critérium du Dauphine, the team’s second and last WorldTour win of the season. Via his stage success, Romeo also wore the yellow jersey for the time trial on the following stage. More success would follow when Romeo soloed to victory to become the Spanish road race champion.

Ultimately, though, the Spanish team missed Enric Mas when it came to the Grand Tour GC hopes in 2025. The Spaniard is such a reliable rider at his home Grand Tour, to the extent that no rider has finished on the podium of the Vuelta more times than Mas (4) without winning the general classification. 

Mas had some solid results in the build-up to the Tour de France, finishing on the podium at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (3rd) and Itzulia Basque Country (2nd), before finishing 7th at the Dauphiné. 

However, the Tour de France didn’t go to plan, with Mas abandoning in the final week, and he was diagnosed with thrombophlebitis in his left leg shortly after. This meant that the team would have to look elsewhere when it came to success at their home Grand Tour, a major objective.

Without a GC prospect, the team focused on individual stages with different avenues. Orluis Aular was able to score plenty of good stage results with his quick finish. The rest of the team were also active in breakaways, with Javier Romo and Pablo Castrillo both coming close to stage wins. Beyond the Vuelta, the team endured a quieter end to the campaign than they would have anticipated.

Orluis Aular was Movistar’s highest points scorer in 2025 and ended the season 65th in the UCI rankings, a big jump from 93rd the previous year.

His only two victories of the year came when he did the double at his national championships, but there were plenty of impressive performances throughout the year.

Across the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España, Aular achieved 11 top-10 finishes, 5 of which were stage podiums. This amount of high-stage places contributed significantly to Aular becoming Movistar’s highest point scorer in 2025.

Another impressive aspect of Aular is that he isn’t just a rider who relies on his fast finish, but he is also combative and can get himself into breakaways on tough days. At the Vuelta, Aular made the breakaway on four occasions, two of which were stages with summit finishes, the shortened Bilbao stage, which was a very difficult route, and finally the transition day on stage 15, where he finished 2nd to Mads Pedersen.

If Aular can continue to deliver these sorts of performances in the future and even make another step up, he will remain a valuable asset to Movistar for years to come.

Iván Romeo's stage victory at the Critérium du Dauphiné was a real highlight of the team's season. The fact that Romeo also got to wear the yellow jersey for a stage was also an additional bonus. 

On the GC front, Enric Mas had a steady race, finishing 7th, but there were positive signs from the team's GC leader ahead of the Tour de France. Gregor Mühlberger was also climbing well at the Dauphiné, finishing 16th ahead of what would be his best Grand Tour finish, a month later, when he ended 18th at the Tour de France

By courtesy of being Movistar's highest points scorer in 2025, Orluis Aular is also a natural pick for the team's best transfer this season.

For many years at Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Aular was one of the most valuable riders racing for a ProTeam. The Venezuelan’s fast finish, combined with his ability to survive hills better than the pure sprinters, illustrated his versatility and was therefore a no-brainer when Movistar signed him.

In his debut season with Movistar, Aular operated once more at a strong level, but the difference this season is that the Venezuelan champion had more opportunities to ride in the biggest races courtesy of now representing a WorldTour team, and he capitalised on said opportunities with double figures in terms of top 10 stage finishes at Grand Tours in 2025.

These consistent points are crucial for a team like Movistar, as they helped to keep the team comfortably clear of the UCI relegation battle throughout this season

Iván García Cortina had the most race days for Movistar in 2025 with 87, including the Tour de France and Vuelta a España.

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