The Vuelta a Andalucia was set to offer the first big battle between Chris Froome, Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana. Unfortunately, the latter has been forced out of the race after crashing at the Colombian championships.

While a group led by Alejandro Valverde continues with their Gulf tournee with the Tour of Oman - starting on Tuesday - and another roster heads into the Volta ao Algarve, Movistar Team will focus many of its efforts in the 61st Vuelta a Andalucía - Ruta del Sol, over six stages including a double sector on Wednesday 18 and finishing at Alhaurín, Malaga, on Sunday, February 22.

Two mountain-top finishes - Haza Llana (stage 3, Friday 20) and the Allanadas (La Guardia de Jaén, st. 4, Saturday 21)-  plus a tough final kick on day five will gather all attention together with the 8.2km ITT in Coria del Río, during the afternoon leg of stage one. Lots of tricks will also be hidden in a course where Movistar Team will line up its two locals: Juanjo Lobato and Javi Moreno. The solid Blue roster in Spain will be completed by Beñat Intxausti, Gorka Izagirre, Eros Capecchi, Giovanni Visconti and José Herrada.

Nairo Quintana, originally scheduled to ride, continues to recover from the blows and bruises caused by a crash at the end of last Sunday's Colombian Championships road race, which has caused a delay to his return to racing. His next stage race will be Tirreno-Adriatico, in mid March.