For the second year on a row, the Movistar Team was present in the 2014 UCI WorldTour award ceremony, an event which recognizes the most consistent and outstanding in the cycling season held in the headquarters of the squad’s title sponsor, Madrid’s Distrito Telefónica. General Manager Eusebio Unzué, who picked up the teams’ prize, and World’s No. 1 Alejandro Valverde attended a gathering which also included Brian Cookson, president of the Union Cycliste International, and Royal Spanish Cycling Federation chairman José Luis López Cerrón. José María Sanz-Magallón, director of Sponsorships and Coordination of Telefónica, underlined "the big satisfaction that means to us to support a squad and a sport which are realluy growing nowadays."
In turn, Miguel Cardenal, Spanish Secretary of State for Sport, announced that the Royal Order of Sporting Merit will be awarded to the squad that, led by Unzué, has stood for 35 years on cycling’s top tier.
"It’s a big recognitiion for all of us: not only the riders, a marvellous roster which allows us to claim such important victory and, most especially, to take cycling in our country back to the place it deserves, but also the staff, all people into our team whose efforts lead us to the top," explained Unzué. "It makes us proud to receive these trophies at Telefónica’s headquarters, since they make really big efforts for us all the time. I also want to dedicate this victory to all cycling schools and youth teams – the young people, their families and coaches – they really help us to take this sport forward despite all bad moments our country is going through. This success is also theirs."
For Valverde, the award becomes the best possible recognition to his excellent performances all the way from February to October, with 11 victories and almost thirty top-10 finishes in 77 days of racing:
"It’s been undoubtedly a great season, and a proof of that is we got this prize that rewards the best throughout the season. It’s my third time and I think it was fais, because my season was quite good. It could have been even better with minor improvements, like the Tour podium, but at the end, I gave everything I had on my body and you can’t really ask for anything else. Though it’s difficult to repeat this season’s success, there are goals we didn’t achieve yet and we will fight to conquer them in 2015."
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