Tour de France 2013: Valverde leads Movistar into battle

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Iván Gutiérrez, Valverde (Movistar), Mancebo (5hr) (Image credit: El Pelotón - http://www.elpeloton.net)

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Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

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Nairo Quintana (Movistar) wins a stage of the Basque Tour, showing the strength of both Movistar and the Colombian riders. (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

As expected Alejandro Valverde will lead Movistar at the Tour de France, which starts June 29 on the island of Corsica. The former Vuelta winner will be backed up by a strong line-up including Nairo Quintana and Tour de Suisse winner Rui Costa.

Valverde and Quintana recon critical Tour de France stages

Tour victory remains a dream for Valverde

“Our goal is to try and get Alejandro on the overall podium,” said team manager Eusebio Unzué, who guided Miguel Indurain, Pedro Delgado and Oscar Pereiro to Tour de France glory in the past.

Movistar team for the 2013 Tour de France:

Alejandro Valverde, Rui Costa, Nairo Quintana, Andrey Amador, Jonathan Castroviejo, Rubén Plaza, Imanol Erviti, Iván Gutiérrez and José Joaquín Rojas.