Igor Anton is preparing himself for his first year as a Movistar rider and will return to the Giro d'Italia in debut season with the Spanish team. The Basque climber is likely to ride in support of Alejandro Valverde in the Italian grand tour.

After having struggled to find a new team for most of the off-season, Igor Anton can finally continue his preparation of 2014 with peace in mind. Having signed a deal with Movistar in December, Anton managed to save his career at the last minute and even managed to stay in the WorldTour.

While he was one of the Euskaltel's leaders, Anton has already admitted that he will have to take a step back in 2014. While he will get his own chances in select races, he has mostly been signed as a luxury domestique for Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde.

It has already been confirmed that Valverde will do the Tour de France while it appears to be almost guaranteed that Quintana will lead the team in the Giro d'Italia. Anton has made it clear that he prefers the Italian grand tour over the French one, having won the big mountain stage to Monte Zoncolan in 2011, and it seems that he will get his chance to return to his happy Italian hunting ground next year.

Biciciclismo reports that Anton has been selected for the Movistar roster for the Giro d'Italia where he will be one of Quintana's key support riders. Although this may reduce Anton's personal opportunities, there is no doubt that he will be happy to return to the Zoncolan which will feature at the end of the penultimate stage.

Anton's race schedule hasn't been finalized yet but an outlined has been created. He will start his season in the Challenge de Mallorca and will do the Tour du Haut Var in preparation of the two major Spanish WorldTour races in the spring, Volta a Catalunya and Vuelta al Pais Vasco.

After doing his Basque home race, he will head to the Ardennes classics where he has already finished in the top 10 of the Fleche Wallonne and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege. This year he is, however, likely to ride in support of Valverde in the hilly one-day races.

In 2013 Anton failed to win a single race and his most recent win dates back to 2011 when he won a Vuelta stage that finished in the Basque Country.