Quintana, Valverde and Landa 'all ready and in great shape' for Tour de France

'Mission accomplished' was how longstanding Movistar team manager Eusebio Unzue presented his three leaders - Nairo Quintana, Mikel Landa and Alejandro Valverde - for this year's Tour de France on Monday in Madrid. "They're all ready and in great shape for July."

Being sure that all three top names were in ideal condition to challenge for the Tour de France was easier said than done, but as the triumvirate of leaders took to the stage in Movistar’s glitzy Madrid headquarters, both the riders and their manager insist there is every sign they are on track to give their best in the Tour de France.

Valverde comes to the Tour fresh from winning the Route d'Occitaine for the first time in his career, and is - as he said - "in at least as good a condition as I was before last year's Tour, if not better." Quintana has come off the Tour de Suisse, where he won a tough stage, and perhaps equally importantly, limited his losses in the race's individual time trial to end up in third place overall. Landa, too, launched a dangerous, though ultimately unsuccessful, break through the mountains of Switzerland on stage 5.

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The million dollar question of how the three will sort out team responsibilities and the final hierarchy in the Tour was not exactly avoided, but it would appear to be business as usual for now. In other words, the jury remains out when it comes to giving a public verdict. Unzue repeated his idea that the demanding nature of the Tour’s first week, particularly the cobbled Roubaix stage, may well help decide, so it may be that Movistar is deep into the Tour before the issue begins to be resolved.

Unzue gave Movistar’s long list of 10 riders for the Tour de France, from which eight will be selected. Apart from the triumvirate of Landa, Valverde and Quintana, the seven other possible starters are Andrey Amador, Nelson Oliveira, Imanol Erviti, Daniele Bennati, Jose Joaquin Rojas, Marc Soler and Jasha Sütterlin. Winner Anacona, currently training in Colombia, is the team’s eleventh man, should he been needed, but in any case, a final decision will be taken after Sunday's National Championships.

"We saw the other day I was doing well," Quintana told reporters, "and together with Mikel, we're moving in the right direction. It's a very complicated Tour, but we’ll try to do something."

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