ALEX Dowsett has been selected for a place on the Movistar team for this year’s Tour de France.

The Maldon-born rider, fresh from reclaiming his British time-trial champion crown last Thursday, was named in the Spanish team’s line-up for the event on Monday morning.

Five days before the 102nd edition of the Tour de France starts in Utrecht (Netherlands), Eusebio Unzué confirmed the nine riders the Movistar Team will bring to the start.

Dowsett will be joined by Nairo Quintana, Alejandro Valverde, Imanol Erviti, Jonathan Castroviejo, Gorka Izagirre, José Herrada, Adriano Malori and Winner Anacona, with José Luis Arrieta and Chente García Acosta as sports directors.

Unzué said: “It’s the most balanced squad and the one that brought us everything we needed in all terrains.

“I already stated before the Giro that building the nine-man squad for Italy had already been really difficult, but seeing the names we had left out shows that doing so for the Tour was even harder.

“We start with riders ascribed to three different roles: a more climbing group, with Winner and José; allrounders like Gorka or Jonathan, useful in all situations; and talented rouleurs like Alex, Adriano or Imanol, who will keeps us calm into the flat stages.

“Our leadership is clear.

“Nairo is the team’s main reference on the road.

“However, and knowing how this race works and all the circumstances you can go through during a Tour de France, we can't rule out Alejandro staying by his side and also keeping his chances alive, (which are the whole team’s), until the facts show otherwise.”