With the courses for the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France both known, Movistar team manager Eusebio Unzue has drawn up a first plan for the 2014 season. According to Biciciclismo, the Spanish team will be led by Nairo Quintana in Italy while Alejandro Valverde will be the Tour captain before the duo will combine forces in the Vuelta a Espana.

Since Nairo Quintana showed his potential as a grand tour rider in the Tour de France where he finished 2nd overall, won a big mountain stage and took both the white and polka-dot jerseys, it has been unclear whether the Movistar team will back the Colombian or the team's veteran captain Alejandro Valverde in next year's edition of the Grande Boucle. When the courses for the Giro d'Italia and the French grand tour had been unveiled, team manager Eusebio Unzue said that he would now take his time to analyse the routes before making a final decision on team leadership.

According to Biciclismo, Unzue has now draw up an initial plan, with Quintana being selected as the Giro leader and Valverde as the Tour captain. The duo will share the leadership role in the final grand tour of the year, the Vuelta a Espana.

Shortly after the end of this year's Tour, Quintana stated his intentions of going back to the world' biggest race in 2014, claiming that he thought that an overall win would be feasible within the next few years. When the Giro d'Italia course was unveiled, he appeared, however, to have changed his mind.

“I would have liked to have been at the Giro already this year, but [Movistar manager Eusebio] Unzue preferred to send me to the Tour,” Quintana told Gazzetta dello Sport at the time. “The Giro has always attracted me and I’ve always preferred it to the Tour because there are more mountains, which makes the race more suited to me.”

With its 9 summit finishes and only one long, flat time trial, next year's edition of the Giro appears to be better suited to Quintana than the Tour which includes 5 real mountaintop finishes, a longer time trial and several nervous stages, including one with numerous cobblestone sections. At the time of the Giro presentation, Quintana admitted that he liked the layout.

“I like this route a lot because from first glance you can see that it’s well suited to my characteristics as a pure climber," he told Gazzetta dello Sport. "In the first week, you have to be careful not to get caught out by any traps, perhaps because of the wind- The third week, even if I don’t know any Italian mountains, seems really hard to me. The only real stage that isn’t good for me is the [Barolo] time trial, because it’s very long [46km].”

On the other hand, Valverde has always been attracted by the Tour and has never done the Giro. This year he has what was probably his best ever short at a podium finish but missed the opportunity due to bad luck on the windy stage to Saint-Armand-Montrond. When the route for next year's edition was unveiled, he made no secret of the fact that he would prefer to target the French grand tour as time is running out for the 33-year-old Spaniard.

If the rumours are confirmed, Unzue may now fulfil his wishes, preferring to give Quintana a shot at victory in a smaller grand tour before targeting the biggest of them all. At the end of the season, the team will then line up a formidable roster for the Vuelta, with Quintana and Valverde combining forces in the squad's home race.

A final decision is expected to be made at the team's camp in mid-December.