Spanish Vuelta starts, who are the participants?

Less than two weeks after the World Championships, another cycling holiday begins. From Saturday 26 August, the last of the Grand Tour events, the Vuelta a España, takes place. Last year’s defending overall triumph and the champions of the previous three-week races this season are not missing at the start.

The opening of this year’s edition, which is the 78th in history, will take place in Catalunya. The battle for the red jersey will begin with a nearly 15km time trial in Barcelona. The second day will include an ascent of the famous Montjuïc peak.

The peloton will reach the mountains in the third stage, which the organisers have placed in Andorra. The 2023 Vuelta will generally offer many climbing battles, for example the itinerary for the first week includes only one flat stage.

Only four classic spur finishes can be expected, including the last one in Madrid. Until then, however, we can look forward to a series of battles in the mountains, with the key ones in terms of the final classification likely to be those in the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain midway through week three.

The longest test will be the penultimate stage, the 208km Manzanares el Real to Guadarrama stage. On 4 and 11 September, rest days are scheduled. The first one is followed by the second individual time trial, almost 26 km long, with start and finish in Valladolid.

Among the favourites for triumph are the big stars of contemporary cycling. Belgian Remco Evenepoel will be looking to defend his first place from last year. He will be challenged by, among others, the winners of this year’s two Grand Tour events.

Both are members of the strong Jumbo-Visma stable. Slovenia’s Primož Roglič won the Giro d’Italia in May and Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard won the Tour de France in July. Roglič, who has won the Vuelta three times in the past, is likely to be the main leader of the Dutch team.

Other riders are also among the favourites. These include Movistar’s Enrico Mas, Portugal’s Joao Almeida of UAE Team Emirates and Britain’s Geraint Thomas of the traditionally strong INEOS Grenadiers group.

Czech Soudal Quick-Step’s Jan Hirt will play an important role as a domestique alongside Evenepoel. The thirty-two-year-old will be making his fifth start, having failed to finish last year. Like his talented Belgian teammate, he did not finish this year’s Giro due to a coronavirus infection.

Michal Schlegel, the second Czech rider of the second-division Spanish team Caja Rural – Seguros RGA, is a newcomer to the Vuelta and has been given a wild card by the organisers. The native of Ústí nad Orlicí tried his hand at the Giro d’Italia six years ago, finishing 45th.

The Vuelta a España will run until Sunday, September 17, when the Spanish capital will host the final finish. Live coverage will be broadcast by Eurosport.

Source: Vuelta a España, ProCyclingStats