NEW: Cycling Mugs — Premium UK-Made Gifts for Cycling Fans. Shop Now →
Giro d'Italia

Movistar Confirm 2026 Giro D'Italia Roster — Rubio Anchors The GC, Nairo Quintana Returns For His Final Grand Tour, Higuita And Daniel Martínez Complete A Colombian-Heavy Climbing Core

CYCLING LOOKOUT • 30 APRIL 2026

Thursday afternoon Eibar. Movistar Team have confirmed their seven-rider line-up for the 2026 Giro d'Italia and the headline of the announcement is the return of Nairo Quintana for what the Colombian himself has now confirmed will be the final Grand Tour of his career. The 36-year-old, fresh off his overall victory at the Vuelta a Asturias on Sunday, slots in as a super-domestique behind Einer Rubio, with the team's GC card resting on the 28-year-old Boyacá climber.

Rubio, who finished sixth at the 2024 Giro and abandoned with illness in 2025, is the structure of the team. Movistar's race programme since the start of the year has been built around bringing him to Nessebar in peak shape, with altitude blocks at Sierra Nevada and the Sestriere camp in late March followed by an active racing block at Itzulia and the Tour of the Alps. Sport director Pablo Lastras described him pre-roster as "the most balanced Rubio we've had — better in the time trial, sharper on the steep finishes, and finally injury free for a full Spring".

The Quintana selection is the more sentimental piece. Nairo had been pre-registered alongside Rubio but his place was contingent on his performance through April. After a steady Tour de la Provence, a quietly strong Itzulia and then the Asturias overall on Sunday on the Cadena climb, the 2014 Giro champion has earned the spot. Movistar are explicit that he is not riding for the maglia rosa — instead he will be the captain on the road in the high mountains, and a presence in the daily tactical decisions for Rubio. "Nairo finished better than he started in Asturias and that is the version of him we wanted on the bike for the Dolomites," Lastras said in the team's statement.

Joining the two Colombian leaders is a Colombian climbing core. Sergio Higuita returns to the Giro for the first time since 2023, fully recovered from the wrist surgery that ended his 2025 prematurely. Higuita is one of the better all-round climbers in the squad and is expected to be Rubio's last man on the harder summit finishes — particularly the Cervinia stage and the Brentonico Altopiano queen stage. Daniel Felipe Martínez completes the Latin American contingent. Martínez, in his second year at Movistar after leaving Bora at the end of 2025, gives the team a second top-ten contender if Rubio struggles, and a powerful tempo rider for the long valley stages between Bulgaria and the Italian Riviera.

Rounding out the seven are three European workers. Ivan Sosa-style strongman Javier Romo is named as the breakaway and rouleur card, the rider Movistar will look to send up the road on rolling stages where the GC is unlikely to fight. Will Barta is the time-trial specialist and engine for the long flat days into Lake Garda, while German neo-pro Jan Christen anchors the lead-out and helps Quintana protect Rubio in the wind. There is no pure sprinter on the team — Movistar have explicitly written off the flat finishes in favour of GC-focused logistics.

The numbers are unforgiving. Movistar haven't had a podium finisher at the Giro since Carapaz won outright in 2019, and last year Rubio's GC bid imploded on the Mortirolo with stomach problems. The team's best results in 2025 came from the Movistar domestiques rather than its leaders — Romo's Volta stage win, Lippert's eight-day Vuelta Femenina yellow streak. A repeat of that pattern in Italy would be considered a quiet failure given the Spanish structure has spent four years rebuilding around Rubio.

The Bulgarian start in Nessebar is on Friday May 8. The first three Giro stages run on Bulgarian soil before the race transfers to Italy via the Tirana rest day, with the first major selection expected on the Lyaskovets Monastery climb on stage 2 to Veliko Tarnovo. With Jonas Vingegaard the overwhelming favourite after the triple withdrawal of Almeida, Landa and Carapaz, Movistar have a clearer top-five window than they have seen in years. For Quintana, simply finishing in Rome on May 31 alongside Rubio in the top ten would close the loop on a career that began with that same maglia rosa twelve years ago.

Movistar Team for the 2026 Giro d'Italia: Einer Rubio, Nairo Quintana, Daniel Felipe Martínez, Sergio Higuita, Javier Romo, Will Barta, Jan Christen.

Related Articles