Movistar Team Confirm The 2026 Vuelta Femenina Roster — Liane Lippert Leads A Seven With Arlenis Sierra Restored As The Experienced Closer And Sara Martín The Spanish Wildcard
Wednesday morning Pamplona. Movistar Team closed the women's WorldTour roster bulletin board on Wednesday morning with the seventh and final Spanish-domiciled squad of the pre-Vuelta Femenina announcement window. Sports director Jorge Sanz lined up the seven on the steps of the team's Eibar service course at 09:30 CEST: Liane Lippert, Arlenis Sierra, Mareille Meijer, Tota Magalhães, Sara Martín, Lucía Ruiz, Aude Biannic. Sanz to RTVE: "we present a versatile group for all terrain — Liane is the captain on the climbs, Arlenis is the captain in the sprints, and the four Spanish riders give us numbers in every transition."
Lippert is the unambiguous overall card. The German has 13 career professional victories — including the 2026 Volta CV Féminas earlier this month, where she rode away solo on the Vall de Laguar to take Movistar's second win of the season. Her spring at Movistar has been built around the puncheur and short-mountain races: 9th at Strade Bianche, 6th at Amstel Gold Race Ladies, 11th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes. The 12.4km Angliru summit on Stage 7 is a longer, steeper proposition than anything she has tackled this year, but the Stage 6 Les Praeres ramp at 4km/13.5% is closer to her one-day power profile and is the more realistic stage win target.
Sierra is the headline name on the depth chart. The Cuban national champion missed the 2025 Vuelta Femenina with a femur stress reaction and only returned to racing in mid-March; this is her first Grand Tour start of 2026. Sanz: "Arlenis is back to the level we expect — she will pilot the lead-outs on Stages 1, 3 and 5 and she gives Liane a body to draft into the final kilometre." Sierra is a 4/1 outsider for Stage 1 in Salvaterra de Miño behind Wiebes and Balsamo, longer 8/1 for Stage 3 into Sigüenza.
The four Spanish riders carry the home-soil mandate. Sara Martín — third overall at the 2025 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana Féminas — has been Movistar's most improved climber over the winter. Lucía Ruiz, the under-23 national champion, is on her Grand Tour debut. Tota Magalhães returns from a January collarbone fracture and is in form-building mode through the first three days. Aude Biannic, the team's longest-serving rider, brings the breakaway-day experience: she has worn the polka-dot jersey at Le Tour de France Femmes twice and is the team's most likely Stage 4 (Bárcena de Pie de Concha) breakaway pick. Meijer rounds the seven as the rouleur on the flat lead-outs.
Lippert lines up at 14/1 for the overall, the sixth-shortest price on the field behind Vollering (4/9), Ferrand-Prévot (7/2), van der Breggen (8/1), Longo Borghini (10/1) and Niewiadoma-Phinney (12/1). Movistar were 33/1 for stage-or-better in early-April pricing; Wednesday morning's roster announcement shortened the team line to 9/2, third-favourite behind FDJ-Suez (4/6) and Visma-Lease a Bike (5/4).
Sanz framed the GC ambition carefully. "The podium is the realistic target — to be on a podium at the Vuelta Femenina is not a small achievement. The yellow jersey is for Demi or Pauline; the next three places are open and we believe Liane will be in that conversation on the morning of Stage 7." The seven flew from Bilbao to Santiago de Compostela on Wednesday lunchtime; Stage 1 reconnaissance is scheduled for Friday morning out of the Marín start village, with the 12.4km Cruceiro/Portela climb pairing as the focus.
The Movistar announcement closes the WorldTour roster window. Eighteen of the twenty-one starting teams have now published their seven; the three Continental wildcards (Cynisca Cycling, Coop-Repsol, and Massi-Tactic) confirm by Thursday lunchtime ahead of the Stage 1 sign-on. The 819.5km Carrefour.es-sponsored race rolls out from Marín on Sunday 3 May at 13:30 CEST and finishes seven days later on top of the Alto de l'Angliru on Saturday 9 May. Vollering is 4/9 outright; the field price ladder is now fully drawn.