Movistar's days in cycling may be numbered
Movistar has had a consistent presence in cycling for a decade and a half, having provided the team that bears its name one of the most durable identities in the sport. However, reports suggest that is set to change in the coming years as Telefónica, the company behind the Movistar brand, seeks to withdraw its sponsorship.
Bloomberg reports that one driver influencing the shift is Telefónica's recent partial withdrawal from Latin America, where the Movistar team had a significant cultural cache during the peak of Nairo Quintana's career, while a restructuring of the company's marketing now calls for a reallocation of the reported €25 million poured into the cycling team.
Telefónica still has a contract with Eusebio Unzué's WorldTeam until 2029, its 50th year of operation, but the telecom company hopes to be replaced or to share the budgetary load with a co-title sponsor before then. Team Movistar is proudly the oldest continuously operating cycling team in the history of the WorldTour (and its previous iterations), and has gone through several evolutions since its foundation as the Reynolds team in 1980, including the storied Banesto and Caisse d'Epargne years, before Telefónica and Movistar took over sponsorship from 2011.
