For the first time in the team's long history, Movistar will field a team in one of the Middle East races as the Spaniards have decided to attend the new Dubai Tour which kicks off on Wednesday. The team will be led by Alejandro Valverde who will do his first race of the season and feature time trial specialists Jonathan Castroviejo, Adriano Malori, Alex Dowsett and Ion Izagirre.

After their victories in Argentina and following last Friday's launch at Telefónica's headquarters in Madrid, the Movistar Team will get back into racing from Wednesday as they tackle the first-ever Dubai Tour, a four-day stage race that until Saturday. Movistar Team will face a 10km opening, individual time trial in the Emirati city, followed by two short sprint stages and a mid-mountain stage en route to Hatta, on Friday 7.

The Blues' debut in Middle East will also be Alejandro Valverde's first competition of the 2014 season as the grand tour star will be the leader of the team. The Spaniard will use the race to prepare for later objectives that include the Ardennes classics, the Tour de France, the Vuelta a Espana and the World Championships.

Valverde has a history of strong season starts and last year he won no less than 4 races in February - his only victories in an otherwise successful season. However, he will find little terrain to his liking in a race that will suit the sprinters and the time trialists who are set to battle for the overall win on the opening day.

Aware of this fact, Movistar have lined up all their time trial specialists in Dubai. Jonathan Castroviejo and Giro stage winner Alex  Dowsett will be eager to show themselves in the 10km race against the clock but the team's best card could be an in-form Adriano Malori who won the Tour de San Luis time trial in his first race for the Spanish team.

Another new signing, Ion Izagirre, who is also a very capable time trialist will also be on hand as will Spanish road race champion Jesus Herrada. Enrique Sanz and Juanjo Lobato complete the roster and will defend the team's colours in the expected bunch sprints.

CyclingQuotes will have live coverage of all stages and will have an extensive preview of the stage online tomorrow.

Movistar for the Dubai Tour:

Alejandro Valverde, Adriano Malori, Jonathan Castroviejo, Alex Dowsett, Jesus Herrada, Ion Izagirre, Juan Jose Lobato and Enrique Sanz