Movistar define Grand Tour leadership plans and early transfer strategy 🇪🇸
Sebastián Unzué on roles for Reusser, Lippert and Ferguson
Sebastián Unzué has laid out Movistar’s Grand Tour ambitions for the season and his priorities for structuring the team in 2026 and beyond.
The Spanish team boss revamped Movistar over the winter, signing Carys Lloyd, Cat Ferguson, Ana Vitória Magalhães and Marlen Reusser.
Reusser will spearhead the team in all three Grand Tours this season, with a special GC focus on the Giro d’Italia. The Swiss rider moved from SD Worx over the winter, where she was often deployed as a super domestique - especially in Grand Tours. Her arrival at Movistar coincides with a new set of objectives.
“With the Vuelta, the plan is to try and do the GC with Marlen Reusser. It’s the first and important test for her. We also have Mareille Meijering, who was almost in the top ten in the Giro last year. We’re confident that she can do well there, and it’s obviously an important race for us. It’s our home race and for sure we want to do well. We want to fight for stage wins, like we always do in the Grand Tours, and let's see how far we can go in the GC,” Unzué recently told us.
The Vuelta España Femenina is the first Grand Tour of the women’s season, running May 4-10. Reusser will ease herself into the race, but Unzué believes that she’ll head there with little pressure, as the Giro d'Italia Women in July is her primary target when it comes to the GC.
“The GC is one of our big goals in terms of the Grand Tours. It’s the goal that Marlen is preparing carefully for. It’s her biggest goal, alongside the Tour de France, obviously, but we really want to be able to go for GC in the Giro with Marlen and see if she can be on the podium, or even in the pink jersey. Who knows. We’ll see,” Unzué said.
“The Giro is more important and the Vuelta will be test to see where she is at after the comeback from last year. So we go to the Vuelta not with super high expectations, but if she’s good and Mareille is good, then we can do a GC. Then for the Tour we go with Mareille, Marlen, and Liane Lippert. The three of them will target the GC and we’ll see what we can get out of it. We’re confident with Marlen’s Grand Tour potential and that she can do well this season,” he added.
Reusser was plagued by health issues in 2024 and didn’t race after June due to long-COVID. She remained a major transfer target for Unzué, who had been trying to sign the 33-year-old for the last few seasons.
Reusser won her second race in Movistar colours at the Trofeo Palma Femina and backed that up with second overall at the Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana. Crashes disrupted her cobbled Classics campaign, although she did finish a respectable 10th in the Tour of Flanders.
“We’ve been chasing her for a couple of years already, trying to bring her into the team. It wasn’t possible in the past but finally this year we were able to have her on the team. She’s a rider that I always admired when she was a rival because I like this type of rider, who can climb, who has power, and who can TT. She’s super complete. I thought also that she would fit in well with the team, and that’s what’s happened. This proves that it was a good move,” Unzué told us.
Another marque signing to join the team in the off-season was Cat Ferguson. The junior world champion finished third in Trofeo Alfredo Binda earlier this year and had her first taste of WorldTour cobbled racing this spring.
There has been much speculation about whether the 18-year-old will race a Grand Tour this season. Back December, when Ferguson first gave interviews about the idea, the response was cautious, with no confirmed plans on the table.
In the last few weeks the stance has altered ever so slightly.
“At the moment it’s not the plan but we’re open for it,” Unzué said.
“It’s a possibility but I’d keep the possibilities low. We want to go step-by-step but if she proves herself and deserves to be in a Grand Tour then we’ll be happy to take her, but for now the plan is to be a little more calm and focus on one-day races and then give her some chances in races like the Tour of Britain, and let her grow in an organic and natural way. She’s really good already but we don’t want to put too much pressure on an 18-year-old. We want to carefully manage the start of her career in the WorldTour but everything is possible with these young talented riders. If she deserves to have a spot in a Grand Tour, we’ll do it, but for now, it’s not the plan. All three are options. I’d rather it’s not the Tour but Vuelta or Giro could be an option but it’s not the plan at the moment,” he said.
Retaining key riders for 2026
After several major signings ahead of this season, the main focus for Unzué is building the roster for 2026. Most of the high-profile riders in the women’s peloton either changed teams last year or won’t be available for contract negotiation for another twelve months. However, Lippert and several other squad members are up for renewal at this point.
Lippert, 27, is arguably one of the best riders in the WWT who is up contract this season, and Unzué’s focus is to retain the rider he signed from DSM at the end of 2022, and extend her current terms.
“To keep the good riders on the team. That’s my main goal,” he said.
“We’ll try and go into the market and try and reinforce the team and make it better overall but my main focus is on extending the contracts of those riders who are ending, like Lippert. We really want her to stay, and that’s where we’re focused on the moment, not really looking at the outside. Paula Patiño, Aude Biannic and Sara Martín are also out of contract. We have some work to do,” he added.
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