It is a truth universally acknowledged that a World Tour team in possession of a roster must be in want of a fleet of cars to laden with spare wheels and angry directeurs sportifs.
For the 2026 and 2027 seasons, Movistar Team has found their solution close to home. The team announced this week that they are partnering with CUPRA, the Barcelona-based automotive brand, which will take over as the Official Car for the squad.
The timing, of course, is anything but coincidental.
With the 2026 Tour de France set to hold its Grand Départ in Barcelona—marking the first time the French Grand Tour has kicked off in the Catalan capital—the synergy was likely too potent for the marketing departments to ignore. CUPRA gets to showcase its vehicles on its home turf during the biggest bike race on earth, and Movistar gets a fresh fleet of vehicles to navigate the chaos of the peloton.
The Fleet: From Tarmac to Gravel
According to the press release, CUPRA isn’t doing things by halves. The partnership covers the entire Movistar ecosystem: the Men’s and Women’s World Tour teams, the U23 squad, and—because it is 2025 and legally required by cycling law—the gravel squad.
We can expect to see the CUPRA Terramar, Formentor, and Leon SP clogging up the caravan and performing sticky bottle duties across roughly 250 race days per season, including the Giro d’Italia, the Vuelta, and the Tour.
Meanwhile, the CUPRA Raval—the brand’s “electric urban car”—will be relegated to the fan zones. Presumably, this is because the range anxiety of an electric vehicle is the last thing a DS needs when chasing a breakaway up the Tourmalet, but the press release assures us it is to “bring innovation closer to cycling fans.”
“Shared DNA” and Winning Mindsets
No sponsorship announcement would be complete without a healthy dose of corporate poetry, and Sven Schuwirth, CUPRA’s Executive Vice-President, delivered the goods.
“We may not share the same way of moving as Movistar Team, but we share something greater: a competitive spirit and bold ambition,” Schuwirth said, invoking the industry-standard reference to “DNA.”
“Our goal is to inspire the world from Barcelona, so as the city will be hosting the first three stages of the 2026 Tour de France, there couldn’t be a more perfect moment to announce this partnership.”
Eusebio Unzué, the eternal patriarch of the Movistar Team (and the oldest boss in the game), seemed equally pleased to have the logistical support sorted for the next two years.
“Having [CUPRA’s] support in the coming seasons will allow us to strengthen the position of our men’s and women’s teams in all competitions, from road cycling to gravel racing,” Unzué noted.
The Bottom Line
For the average fan, this mostly means the blue Movistar jerseys will now be flanked by the aggressive, angular grilles of CUPRA vehicles rather than their previous suppliers. But for the business side of the sport, it’s a shrewd move to lock in a Barcelona-centric sponsor ahead of what will essentially be a home-game start for the Tour de France in 2026.
Now, we just have to wait and see if the CUPRA Leon SP has enough boot space for all the bidons required in July.