Paula Blasi will join Movistar Team from UAE Team L’IMAD for the 2027 season after signing a three-year contract with the Spanish Women’s WorldTour squad. The 23-year-old arrives as the reigning La Vuelta Femenina champion following a remarkable second year in professional cycling that also brought victory at Amstel Gold Race and fifth overall at the Tour de France Femmes.
Movistar confirmed the transfer on Wednesday, 21 October, ending months of speculation surrounding Blasi’s future. The Catalan rider had remained under contract with UAE through 2027, but her rapid development and desire for a different environment had prompted discussions about an early departure.
The signing places Blasi alongside Marlen Reusser and Liane Lippert in a team that is substantially strengthening its general classification options. She will also join fellow Spanish international Mireia Benito, whose arrival from AG Insurance–Soudal was announced in September.
For Movistar, it is one of the most important additions since the retirement of Annemiek van Vleuten in 2023.
Movistar finally confirm transfer after months of speculation
Blasi’s future had been the subject of repeated reports throughout the summer, particularly after her victory at La Vuelta Femenina established her among the leading riders in the peloton.
Her agreement with UAE Team L’IMAD was due to continue through 2027, meaning that a move to another team required an early release.
Reports in June suggested that Movistar were prepared to meet a release clause in her existing contract. There was also speculation about an earlier agreement with Lidl-Trek, but the Spanish squad gradually emerged as her most likely destination.
In September, Blasi confirmed during an interview with Spanish national radio station RNE that she would leave UAE for 2027. She stopped short of naming her new team, although she acknowledged that she was excited about the next stage of her career.
At that point, ProCyclingUK reported that Blasi was expected to sign for Movistar through 2029.
Wednesday’s announcement formally confirms both the destination and contract length.
Movistar have not disclosed the financial details of the agreement or the arrangements surrounding her release from UAE.
Blasi explained that she wanted to join a team whose ambitions matched her own and where she could continue improving while sharing leadership responsibilities.
She also highlighted the opportunity to learn from Marlen Reusser, who has been one of the most consistent stage racers in women’s cycling over recent seasons.
The geographical connection was another attraction. Born in Esplugues de Llobregat, near Barcelona, Blasi will now race for Spain’s principal WorldTour organisation.
Sebastián Unzué welcomed the agreement and said her arrival would improve the team’s ability to compete for the biggest races on the calendar.
Photo Credit: Naike ErenozagaFrom amateur racing to La Vuelta Femenina champion
Blasi’s progression has been unusually rapid, even by the standards of modern women’s cycling.
At the beginning of 2024, she was still competing as an amateur, combining road cycling with a background in running and triathlon.
That season, she won the Catalan road race and time-trial championships before finishing fourth at the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes.
Those performances brought her to the attention of UAE, who recruited her into their development programme for 2025.
She began racing with the organisation’s WorldTour squad almost immediately and was officially promoted to the top-level team in May.
By the end of her first professional season, she had won four races, including a stage of the Tour de Romandie Féminin.
Blasi also claimed the European under-23 road race title and finished third in the under-23 road race at the World Championships.
It was a substantial collection of results for a rider who had only recently begun racing against established professionals, but it offered little indication of just how successful her second season would become.
She opened 2026 by finishing third overall at the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under, showing that she could perform against strong WorldTour opposition before the European campaign had properly begun.
Her first major victory of the season came at Amstel Gold Race in April.
Blasi attacked with 26 kilometres remaining and rode alone to the finish, taking the biggest one-day victory of her career.
She followed that result with third at La Flèche Wallonne and fifth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, completing an exceptional Ardennes campaign.
The combination of long-range attacking and consistent performances on repeated climbs showed that she was developing into more than a specialist for mountainous stage races.
Angliru victory in the overall classification changed everything
The decisive moment of Blasi’s season came at La Vuelta Femenina in May.
Riding her first Grand Tour, she entered the final stage to the Angliru 18 seconds behind Anna van der Breggen in the general classification.
The previous day, Van der Breggen had won the summit finish at Les Praeres, taking the red jersey while Blasi limited her losses and remained close enough to challenge on the final stage.
On the Angliru, the race changed completely.
Van der Breggen struggled when the gradients became particularly severe, while Blasi maintained her climbing rhythm and moved ahead of the overnight leader.
Petra Stiasny eventually passed Blasi to win the stage, but the Spaniard had already done enough to overturn the general classification.
As covered in ProCyclingUK’s La Vuelta Femenina final classification report, Blasi won overall by 24 seconds from Van der Breggen, with Marion Bunel finishing third at 49 seconds.
She became the first Spanish rider to win the race in its current format.
It was a significant moment for Spanish women’s cycling and for Blasi personally. Less than two years after competing as an amateur, she had beaten several established Grand Tour contenders on one of the hardest climbs in professional cycling.
The victory also changed her position in the transfer market.
Her profile was no longer that of a promising young rider who might eventually compete for major general classification victories. She had already demonstrated that she could win one of the biggest races on the calendar.
Photo Credit: GettyFurther stage-race victories and fifth at the Tour de France Femmes
Blasi continued winning after La Vuelta.
At the Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées, she took the overall classification following a dominant performance on the Tourmalet.
She then returned to Catalunya and won the mountainous second stage of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Femenina at La Molina.
The following day, she defended her advantage in Barcelona to secure another overall victory.
Those performances confirmed that the result at La Vuelta had not depended on one unusually successful week. She had developed the ability to repeatedly deliver winning performances on long climbs and recover sufficiently to maintain a general classification lead.
Her final major stage-race performance of the season came at the Tour de France Femmes.
Despite not having made the race her principal objective, Blasi finished fifth overall, 6 minutes and 13 seconds behind winner Demi Vollering.
She became stronger as the race progressed and finished second on the final stage in Nice.
The result was another indication of her potential over three weeks or, in the case of the women’s Tour, across a demanding nine-day programme.
Blasi was also second in the young rider classification, finishing behind Antonia Niedermaier, who took fourth overall.
As detailed in ProCyclingUK’s final Tour de France Femmes classification, Blasi finished ahead of several experienced Grand Tour contenders while racing her first Tour.
The consistency of her performances across the entire season makes the Movistar signing particularly important.
She has already won a major stage race, demonstrated her ability in the Ardennes and finished among the leading riders at the Tour de France Femmes, all before turning 24.
How Blasi fits alongside Reusser and Lippert
Blasi’s arrival will significantly change Movistar’s options in the major stage races.
Marlen Reusser remains one of the strongest time-triallists in the peloton and has developed into an accomplished general classification contender.
Liane Lippert offers a different profile, with established success in the Ardennes and an ability to win difficult one-day races and selective stages.
Blasi brings exceptional climbing form and increasing consistency across consecutive difficult days.
Those different strengths should give Movistar more tactical flexibility, although the team will still need to decide how leadership is divided between the biggest races.
Blasi has said that learning from Reusser is an important part of her decision to join. That suggests she views the move as another stage in her development rather than simply an opportunity to demand sole leadership immediately.
Movistar have also recruited Maud Oudeman from Visma | Lease a Bike, adding another rider capable of supporting leaders in mountainous races.
Oudeman finished eighth overall at the 2026 Volta a Catalunya and has become a more consistent performer on sustained climbs.
Meanwhile, Mireia Benito’s arrival from AG Insurance–Soudal provides further experience and time-trial strength.
That combination could allow Movistar to approach races with several potential leaders rather than concentrating all their resources around one rider.
It also brings difficult selection decisions.
Reusser and Blasi are both capable of targeting the general classification at major stage races, while Lippert’s results justify opportunities in the Ardennes and other selective events.
Finding the right balance between those ambitions will be an important task for the team’s management.
Photo Credit: A.S.O./Gaëtan FlammeMovistar rebuilding a Grand Tour-winning project
The signing also carries wider significance for Movistar’s women’s programme.
Annemiek van Vleuten’s retirement at the end of 2023 left the Spanish team without the rider who had delivered its greatest stage-racing successes.
Van Vleuten won the Tour de France Femmes, Giro d’Italia Women and La Vuelta Femenina during her time with Movistar, establishing the organisation among the strongest teams in the sport.
Replacing a rider with that record was never likely to be straightforward.
The subsequent seasons have brought individual successes and the emergence of younger talent, but the arrival of Blasi gives Movistar another rider who has already proved capable of winning a Grand Tour.
The team are also developing an impressive group of younger riders, including Cat Ferguson and Paula Ostiz.
That combination of established leaders and emerging talent gives Movistar a substantially different profile heading into 2027.
Blasi’s signing is not a guarantee of immediate success at the Tour de France Femmes, where the competition from FDJ United–SUEZ, Lidl-Trek, Canyon SRAM and other major squads will remain intense.
However, the Spaniard has already demonstrated that she can challenge those teams in the mountains and win when the general classification is decided on the hardest terrain.
Her three-year agreement provides Movistar with the opportunity to build around those qualities through 2029.
At 23, Blasi is still relatively new to professional road racing. Her achievements in 2026 suggest there is further room to develop, particularly through experience of leading a team across longer stage races.
Movistar have now secured one of the defining riders of the 2026 season and ended a lengthy transfer process.
The question for 2027 is how effectively they can combine Blasi’s climbing ability with the experience of Reusser, Lippert and their expanding group of younger riders.
