184 cyclists divided into 23 teams will take part in the 77th edition of the Vuelta a España, which started in Utrecht on Friday 19 August. The peloton completes 21 stages, the first three in the Netherlands and the rest in Spain, before reaching Madrid on September 11, where they are crowned champions of the third Major of the season. A total of 3,280.5 kilometers where you will find two high finishes, an individual time trial and one for teams, and a handful of days of climbs and dizzying descents. Everyone wants to wear the leader’s red, but only one can wear it on the streets of Madrid. These are the main candidates:
Runners of the Vuelta a España
Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo Visma): The champion of the Spanish round in the last three editions is looking for his fourth wound to equal the record of Roberto Heras from Bejarano, who scored another, albeit with interruptions. The Slovenian, who appears to have recovered from the spectacular crash that forced him to withdraw from the Tour de France, comes to the Vuelta as the main favorite, although they convey from his team that the preparation has not been the best: “Maybe he will come not in the best of conditions”. Of course, when it comes to the Vuelta, Roglic is the enemy to beat.
Richard Carapaz (INEOS Team): The Ecuadorian will be the leader of his team and fight for his first win in the Spanish round after finishing second to Roglic in 2020. The Vuelta will be Carapaz’s last major race with the British team, which announced this week they will part ways from 2023. To help him defeat the Slovenian tyrant, he will have the help of Tao Geoghegan Hart, the 2020 Giro d’Italia champion, and Pavel Sivakov, the recent winner of the Vuelta a Burgos.
Jai Hindley (Team Bora-Hansgrohe): After the surprising victory at the last Giro d’Italia, the Australian is among the favorites for a big round for the first time. Confident that he can surprise again, the Giro Vuelta double is within reach, something only Spaniard Alberto Contador achieved in 2008. The stages with high goals can favor him in addition to the fact that the track does not have high mountains stages, although the time trial can be his must-do.
Joao Almeida (UAE Team): Pogacar’s absence will hand leadership of the team to the Portuguese, who is making his debut at the Vuelta a España for the first time. At his side will be promising Spaniard Juan Ayuso, 19, making his debut in a big round. Almeida has just withdrawn from the Giro after testing positive for Covid-19 in fourth place, but more recently he has achieved a second place finish at the Vuelta a Burgos and this year he was named Portuguese champion and was third in the Volta a Catalonia.
Enric Mas (Movistar Team): The Mallorcan, runner-up in 2018 and 2021, will be Alejandro Valverde’s boss in his last cycling event before retirement. Mas will look to put his poor performance in the Tour de France, where he had to retire on stage 19 due to the coronavirus, behind him in the standings already with no options. In principle, he will be the Spaniard with the best options in La Vuelta.
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Tour of Spain teams
Jumbo Visma: Primoz Roglic, Edoardo Affini, Sepp Kuss, Sam Oomen, Robert Gesink, Mike Teunissen, Chris Harper and Rohan Dennis.
INEOS: Richard Carapaz, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Ethan Hayter, Luke Plapp, Carlos Rodríguez, Pavel Sivakov, Ben Turner, and Dylan van Baarle.
Bora Hansgrohe: Jai Hindley, Sergio Higuita, Wilco Kelderman, Emanuel Buchmann, Sam Bennett, Ryan Mullen, Danny van Poppel and Jonas Koch.
UAE: Joao Almeida, Pascal Ackermann, Juan Ayuso, Brandon McNulty, Juan Sebastián Molano, Ivo Oliveira, Jan Polanc and Marc Soler.
Movistar: Enric Mas, Alejandro Valverde, Carlos Verona, José Joaquín Rojas, Lluís Mas, Nelson Oliveira, Mathias Norsgaard and Gregor Muhlberger.
AG2R Citroën: Clément Champoussin, Dorian Godon, Jaakko Hanninen, Bob Jungels, Ben O’Connor, Nans Peters, Nicolas Prodhomme, and Andrea Vendrame.
Astana Kazakhstan: Miguel Angel Lopez, Harold Tejada, Alexey Lutsenko, Vadim Pronskiy, Yevgeniy Fedorov, Vincenzo Nibali, Samuele Battistella and David de la Cruz.
Bahrain victorious: Mikel Landa, Santiago Buitrago, Gino Mäder, Wout Poels, Luis Leon Sanchez, Jasha Sutterlin, Fred Wright and Edoardo Zambanini
Cofidis: Bryan Coquard, Thomas Champion, Rémy Rochas, Jesús Herrada, José Herrada, Rubén Fernández, Davide Villella and Davide Cimolai.
EF Education – Easypost: You haven’t confirmed your team yet.
Groupama – FDJ: Thibaut Pinot, Rudy Molard, Sebastien Reichenbach, Bruno Armirail, Fabian Lienhard, Quentin Pacher, Miles Scotson and Jake Stewart.
Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux: Jan Bakelants, Jan Hirt, Julius Johansen, Louis Meintjes, Domenico Pozzovivo, Rein Taaramae, Gerben Thijssen and Boy van Poppel.
Israel Premier Tech: Patrick Bevin, Alessandro De Marchi, Itamar Einhorn, Chris Froome, Omer Goldstein, Carl Fredrik Hagen, Daryl Impey and Michael Woods.
Lotto Soudal: Cedric Beullens, Steff Cras, Thomas De Gendt, Maxim Van Gils, Filippo Conca, Kamil Malecki, Harry Sweeny, and Jarrad Drizners.
Quick Step Alpha Vinyl: Remco Evenepoel, Julian Alaphilippe, Ilan Van Wilder, Rémi Cavagna, Pieter Serry, Fausto Masnada, Dries Devenyns and Louis Vervaeke.
BikeExchange – Jayco: Simon Yates, Lawson Craddock, Kaden Groves, Kelland O’Brien, Luke Durbridge, Michael Hepburn, Lucas Hamilton, and Callum Scotson.
DSM: Thymen Arensman, Nikias Arndt, Marco Brenner, John Degenkolb, Mark Donovan, Jonas Hvideberg, Joris Nieuwenhuis, and Henri Vandenabeele.
Trek–Segafredo: Julien Bernard, Mads Pedersen, Juan Pedro López, Antonio Tiberi, Alex Kirsch, Daan Hoole, Darío Cataldo and Kenny Elissonde.
Alpecin-Fenix: Tim Merlier, Jay Vine, Xandro Meurisse, Gianni Vermeersch, Robert Stannard, Lionel Taminiaux, Oscar Riesebeek and Jimmy Janssens.
Arkéa-Samsic: Nairo Quintana, Daniel McLay, Élie Gesbert, Anthony Delaplace, Clément Russo, Thibault Guernalec, Simon Guglielmi and Lukasz Owsian.
Euskaltel: Xabier Mikel Azparren, Ibai Azurmendi, Mikel Bizkarra, Joan Bou, Carlos Canal, Gotzon Martín, Mikel Iturria and Luis Ángel Maté.
Kern Pharma: Roger Adrià, Urko Berrade, Héctor Carretero, Kiko Galván, Raúl García Pierna, Pau Miquel, José Felix Parra and Vojtech Repa.
Burgos – bra: Jetse Bol, Óscar Cabedo, José Manuel Díaz Gallego, Jesús Ezquerra, Ángel Madrazo, Dani Navarro, Ander Okamika and Manuel Peñalver.
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