The 78th edition of the Vuelta a Espana is back and on schedule with its usual mid-August start date. The 2021 race starts in Burgos on August 14 and runs until the finish in Santiago de Compostela on September 5. The brutal terrain will include a number of mountain stages and rolling hills across Spain and its scenic countryside as the world’s top riders battle for supremacy. The Spanish climate will also play it’s part with soaring temperatures which could reach as high as 86°F in some places.
With the Olympics behind us, all eyes will be on Spain and teams are beginning to announce their rosters.
EF Pro Cycling
For the 76th edition of the race, EF Pro Cycling brings a team which features riders with plenty of Grand Tour experience and a few riders who are still learning the ropes of WorldTour cycling.
The Vuelta has historically served as a testing ground for future Grand Tour riders and is a great time to develop the new talent that’s on the team, like Simon Carr and Diego Camargo.
“Here at the Vuelta, the stress on the flat stages will come from the echelons and the winds so if we play our cards right, we could even gain some time there. And then we go to the climbs. On the climbs, I don’t worry as much about those as they are a little more straightforward and we have a really strong team for those,” explains Garate. “With Scully, Keukeleire, Craddock and Cort, we have some guys that will be strong on those flatter stages. For the mountains we have a bunch of other guys – Diego Camargo, Simon Carr, and Jonathan Caicedo – that can be around Hugh up until the final climb,” explains Sport Director Juanma Garate.
“These guys, alongside our team veterans, can really learn a lot and we want to see where they can be in a couple of years,” says Garate. “I’m really looking forward to seeing Simon in a few different situations and I will really push him to the line every day to try to see what he can do. With Camargo, we really think that he is a big talent but he has to keep learning and keep improving without any pressure. He has to have a Grand Tour with some goals to start to become a real WorldTour cyclist.”
After last year’s third place overall and fresh off his stage win at the Vuelta a Burgos, Hugh Carthy says he is feeling ready going into the Vuelta and is looking forward to getting going on Saturday.
“I’m feeling good ahead of the Vuelta,” says Hugh. “The Vuelta a Burgos in the end, turned out quite nice and it was a good week of preparation. We didn’t start off as we would have hoped and my form and feeling on the bike wasn’t the best but by the end of the week I turned the corner. I was in the right place by the end so I’m excited for the Vuelta and I’m excited to kick things off here in Burgos.”
On Saturday, Hugh will take the start of his ninth Grand Tour and he is finally starting to feel like he is coming into his own in these three week races.
While this year’s race features many tough and iconic climbs – this years course includes nine summit finishes – Hugh is particularly excited for the newest addition: the Altu d’El Gamoniteiru. The climb resembles the Alto de L’Angliru, a climb that Hugh won on at last year’s race.
“I’m particularly looking forward to stage 18 and to the Gamoniteiru,” he says. “It’s a new climb and I think it could be a future classic. It’s deep into the race and really steep so I think it could produce some fireworks. That’s probably the climb I’m looking forward to the most.”
Team Qhubeka NextHash
Team Qhubeka NextHash has selected its team for the final grand tour of the season, La Vuelta a Espana. The Spanish grand tour will get underway on Saturday 14 August, from Padron, and will cover over 3400km before finishing in Santiago di Compostela, on Sunday 5 September.
Team Qhubeka NextHash was dealt a tough blow last week as our intended Vuelta a Espana race leader, Domenico Pozzovivo crashed at the Vuelta a Burgos and fractured his knee. Emil Vinjebo also crashed at the same race, fracturing his collarbone, forcing our team to make two late replacements to our La Vuelta lineup.
Fabio Aru and Sergio Henao will now share responsibility in leading Team Qhubeka NextHash at La Vuelta a Espana. Aru has shown an impressive return to form in recent weeks, and as a previous winner of the Vuelta a, we are proud to have the Sardinian lead our team at La Vuelta.
Henao makes a return to racing after a strong showing at the Tour de France this year, where he infiltrated numerous mountain stage breakaways and was set to ride into the top 20 overall before fracturing his arm in a crash, which slowed the Colombian climber though he did complete the race in Paris.
With Aru and Henao targeting the mountain stages, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg will be our man for the sprint stages. With three top-10 placings in sprints at last year’s edition of the race, the South African will be hoping to edge closer to the top of the results sheet with numerous sprint opportunities at this year’s edition of La Vuelta.
Dimitri Claeys and Dylan Sunderland, the two late replacement riders, will both be starting their first ever La Vuelta’s although the duo do have grand tour experience at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, respectively. Their strength and ‘diesel engine’ characteristics will be key in supporting roles but also on stages for the opportunists.
Bert-Jan Lindeman and Sander Armee, both two former La Vuelta stage winners, will be leaned upon throughout the race as their experience and selfless team support will be invaluable in every race scenario.
Finally, it is a great pleasure for our team to have Connor Brown starting his debut grand tour. A graduate from our continental feeder team last season, the 23-year-old who has dual South African and Kiwi citizenship completes our lineup for La Vuelta a Espana.
UAE Team Emirates
UAE Team Emirates will take on Vuelta with David De La Cruz as team leader.
Local favourite De La Cruz comes into the race having claimed 7th in the 2020 edition and a recent 5th place in the Vuelta Burgos will have him hoping for a strong showing. Rafal Majka also comes in as a former podium finisher at La Vuelta and will hope to find the form he displayed in the final week of this years Tour de France where he guided Pogačar to victory.
Elsewhere Sebastian Molano comes in hot off the back of two stage wins in Burgos and will again team-up with Trentin for the sprint finishes.
The squad will be overseen by Team Manager Joxean Matxin Fernandez (Spa) while Sports Directors Simone Pedrazzini (Swi), John Wakefield (RSA), Aurelio Corral (Spa) and Manuele Mori (Ita) will all rotate over the three weeks.
Roster:
- David De La Cruz (Spa)
- Joe Dombrowski (USA)
- Ryan Gibbons (RSA)
- Rafal Majka (Pol)
- Sebastian Molano (Col)
- Rui Oliveira (Por)
- Jan Polanc (Slo)
- Matteo Trentin (Ita)
Team Lotto Soudal
Lotto Soudal will be hunting stage successes at the 76th Vuelta with the following eight riders: Steff Cras (25), Frederik Frison (29), Matthew Holmes (27), Andreas Kron (23), Sylvain Moniquet (23), Harm Vanhoucke (24), Maxim Van Gils (21) and Florian Vermeersch (22).
Kron, Moniquet, Van Gils and Vermeersch will all make their Grand Tour debut. This Saturday, August 14, La Vuelta kicks off with a prologue in Burgos. The final Grand Tour of the season will be drawn to a close with an individual time trial towards Santiago de Compostela. Sports director Nikolas Maes explains the Vuelta line-up of Lotto Soudal.
“Due to the absence of Caleb Ewan and Jasper De Buyst, we needed to adjust our Vuelta line-up, which is now more focused towards the hilly and mountain stages”, says Nikolas Maes. “Guys like Andreas Kron and Harm Vanhoucke have already proven that they can obtain some nice results. They will be supported by Steff Cras, Matthew Holmes, Sylvain Moniquet and Maxim Van Gils. With Frederik Frison and Florian Vermeersch, we have two powerhouses in our team. Overall, our selection doesn’t have a ton of Grand Tour experience yet, but they all have big potential. I am convinced that each one of them will prove himself at La Vuelta. With these young guys, we certainly can’t expect them to be there every day, but our ambition is to win a stage, which is in my opinion more than justified with this team. We will mainly be aiming at the transition stages and the tough uphill finishes. On paper, there are some really nice opportunities to show ourselves.”
Team Bike Exchange
Team BikeExchange name a powerful and diverse eight-rider line-up for the final Grand Tour of the season, the Vuelta a España, led by Australian puncheur Michael Matthews.
After coming close on multiple occasions at the Tour de France, the former three-time Vuelta a España stage winner is hungry for stage success and will have a solid foundation built around him, divided into fast men and talented climbers.
Team BikeExchange at La Vuelta a España (14th August – 5th September):
Lucas Hamilton – Debut appearance
Damien Howson – 5th appearance
Michael Matthews – 3rd appearance
Luka Mezgec – 4th appearance
Mikel Nieve – 9th appearance
Nick Schultz – 5th appearance
Robert Stannard – 2nd appearance
Andrey Zeits – 8th appearance
“I’m feeling ready for the Vuelta, I recovered well after a hard Tour de France and now, after many close calls at the Tour with second and third places, I am motivated to try and get on the top step at the Vuelta. I’ve won a few stages here before and it’s a Grand Tour that I really enjoy,” said Matthews. “We have a strong team; we saw at the Tour that Luka Mezgec was in good form so I am happy to be lining-up with him again and it will be good to race with Rob Stannard too and have him alongside us for the fast sprint stages.
“I think there’s a few stages that look like they should suit us, for sprinting but also in the climbs. It’s really nice to see Lucas Hamilton back racing after he was unlucky crashing out of the Tour. I think we’ve generally got a strong team and a team that can sprint but that can climb well too. I feel prepared, now I just want to start racing and hope we can have some really good results.”
INEOS Grenadiers
The Grenadiers who will be taking to the startline is a stellar crew made up of:
Egan Bernal – 24, Colombia – After an emphatic win earlier this year at the Giro d’Italia, the Colombian will be back racing with the INEOS Grenadiers with his eyes set on the top step of another Grand Tour podium. Having spent time back at home in Colombia training at altitude, Bernal is back and ready to light up the race alongside his teammates as one of the race favourites.
Richard Carapaz – 28, Ecuador – What a year it has been for this racer! After making history at the Tour de France, being the first Ecuadorian to take a podium spot with his third place, he then went to Tokyo and won Olympic Gold in the road race, writing yet more history for his beloved nation. The newly-crowned Olympic champion will come to the Vuelta a España with his attacking style, doing his best to make the race as tough as possible for his opponents.
Jhonatan Narváez – 24, Ecuador – In Tokyo he helped play a part in supporting his compatriot to take gold at the Olympic Games, now Narváez will be racing his second Grand Tour of the season, after being a strong support rider and helping Bernal take the win at this year’s Giro d’Italia. His climbing strength will be depended upon by the team leaders when the road starts to tilt upwards in the mountains.
Tom Pidcock – 22, UK – In his first season at WorldTour level Pidcock has made his mark, having already racked up podium places in the Classics at Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne, Amstel Gold race and De Brabantse Pijl, the latter his first professional road race win. And off road he has achieved even more this year, taking the win at the MTB World Cup in Nové Město, before flying to Japan and winning an incredible Gold in the Olympic mountain bike race. Now the all-terrain rider will test himself across three weeks for the first time in his career.
Salvatore Puccio – 31, Italy – ‘Salva’ as he’s known amongst his teammates, is one of the most trusted domestiques at the team and was another key contributor to Bernal’s success at the Giro this year. About to embark on his 15th Grand Tour, all of which have been with this team, this will be his seventh Vuelta a España, where he will provide unwavering support for his team leaders and help captain the team on the road.
Pavel Sivakov – 24, Russia – After taking fourth in the general classification at Vuelta a Burgos this last week, Sivakov is looking to be in good form for supporting the team leaders ahead of the Vuelta. This will be his fifth Grand Tour, and after experiencing some bad luck at the Giro d’Italia this year, Sivakov is highly motivated to be lining up for his second time at the Spanish Grand Tour.
Dylan van Baarle – 29, Netherlands – Van Baarle has shown his diversity in strength this year, from a 50km long-range attack to take the win at Dwars Door Vlaanderen, to guiding the Tour de France team across all types of stages. At the recent Olympic Games, he was there helping light up the race in the final kilometres in support of his Dutch team leader, eventually finishing an impressive 15th in his own right. Dylan is as dependable as they come.
Adam Yates – 29, UK – Yates hit the ground running as a Grenadier and has enjoyed an excellent debut year with the team, winning the Volta a Catalunya, taking second at the UAE Tour and fourth at Itzulia Basque Country. He comes into the Vuelta as one of the favourites, and having raced nine Grand Tours during his career, he’s primed to take on the challenge of the next three weeks.
Astana – Premier Tech
Astana – Premier Tech is heading to the last Grand Tour of the season with a strong roster, planning to fight for both the General Classification and stage wins.
Aleksandr Vlasov, who finished fourth at this year’s Giro d’Italia, will be named as the team leader and will aim for a high place in the overall standings. He will find good support from Ion and Gorka Izagirre, Luis Leon Sanchez, Omar Fraile, Oscar Rodriguez, Alex Aranburu, and the young Kazakh rider Yuriy Natarov who is looking forward to making his debut at the Grand Tour level. At the same time, the team will look for the stage wins at La Vuelta, showcasing the colours of Astana – Premier Tech team in the best possible way.
“We are coming to Spain with a strong roster, and I think that we will have a chance to show ourselves in a good way,” said Dmitriy Fofonov, Team Performance Manager. “Aleksandr Vlasov will be our leader and he is motivated to try to improve on his previous result here at La Vuelta. After the Olympic Games and a very short break he is coming back into good form. We saw him gradually progressing at the Vuelta a Burgos, so we are expecting to see him in the mix for the high places in the General Classification.
Also, there are six Spanish riders in our team, and we know how much the home race means for them. So, Ion, Gorka, Luis Leon, Alex, Omar and Oscar will help Vlasov on the decisive stages but, at the same time, will try to find their own chance in the fight for a stage win. Our 24-year-old Yuriy Natarov is going to make his debut at the Vuelta and in general, at the Grand Tours. I think it is a good moment for him to make this step ahead and with the experience he will get here, he will be able to continue his progress as a professional rider..”
Trek – Segafredo
After fighting hard at the Giro d’Italia and rejoicing over a stage win at Tour de France, Trek-Segafredo is more than motivated to have its say in the final Grand Tour of the season, the Vuelta a España.
“We have a brilliant and united group that comes to the start with ambition and a desire to emerge,” introduces director Gregory Rast.
“We expect a tough and unpredictable race, where courage and the will to attack can make a big difference,” adds Yaroslav Popovych, the second half of the directors who will lead the team.
Trek-Segafredo will have a designated leader, Giulio Ciccone, on his debut in the Spanish Grand Tour, flanked in primis by experts Gianluca Brambilla and Kenny Elissonde, both with five editions on their shoulders and a stage win. Then, for the climbs, we have home rider Juan Pedro Lopez and Antonio Nibali, while for the flat and mixed stages, Alex Kirsch and Kiel Reijnen. Last but certainly not least, Quinn Simmons, who at 20 years of age will make his Grand Tour debut.
“We have a rider, Ciccone, who deserves the utmost trust and support. For the first time in his career, he will race a GT as the sole leader, and we intend to put him in the best conditions to leave his mark. Being a leader means bearing the weight of responsibility, and for this reason, we need every teammate to give their best to help him,” says Rast.
“Giulio’s skills are well suited to this race, that’s a fact, and that’s why it’s fair to aim, as a starting goal, for an important general classification placement. If we include this year’s unfortunate Giro, it will be only the second time he will try to measure himself on a three-week GC challenge, but we believe he has enough resolve and character to do well.”
Movistar Team
Movistar Team confirmed their eight-man lineup for Saturday’s start of the 76th Spanish grandtour in Burgos.
The Eusebio Unzué-managed team will take the start of the opening ITT with Imanol Erviti, Miguel Ángel López, Enric Mas, Gregor Mühlberger, Nelson Oliveira, José Joaquín Rojas, Alejandro Valverde and Carlos Verona.
It will be the 42nd consecutive appearance -they haven’t ever missed the race since the structure’s inception in 1980; 11 years under Telefónica’s sponsorship- of a squad whose decorated history includes four overall victories, 13 podiums, 63 stage wins and 12 team prizes.
Bahrain Victorious
Mikel Landa leads the Bahrain Victorious’ lineup off the back of winning the overall at Vuelta Burgos.
Damiano Caruso races his second Grand Tour of the season following his successful Giro, finishing second in GC and taking that memorable win on Stage 20. After crashing out of the Tour, Jack Haig returns to racing and has been working hard to get ready for the Vuelta
Wout Poels is back at the Vuelta after a top ten finish last year and in good form, putting on an excellent fight for climber’s classification at this year’s Tour. While promising young talents Gino Mäder and Mark Padun look to add to their two WorldTour stage wins this season. Finally, Yuki Arashiro and Slovenian TT Champion Jan Tratnik round up the line, both racing their second Grand Tour after the Giro.
Sports Director Gorazd Štangelj: “We go into the race with Landa as our race leader after a promising result at Burgos. We want to come out of the race with a podium finish, but our ambition is to win the Vuelta and fight for it.
We also have a strong lineup where every rider is capable of winning a stage at this race. So while we will be protecting Mikel and support him during every stage, we will be opportunistic with stages that give our team opportunities to go for stage wins. We want to race aggressively and add to our tally of stage wins at Grand Tours this season. This group of riders are ready for an exciting three weeks of racing ahead.”
Deceuninck – Quick-Step
Back in 2019, clad in the National Champion Jersey he had won that summer, Fabio Jakobsen made his Grand Tour at La Vuelta and it was a memorable one, as the Dutchman won two stages, in El Puig and Madrid. The soon to be 25-year-old sprinter, victorious in twenty races since turning pro with the Wolfpack, is returning to the Spanish Grand Tour and will rely on a strong lead-out train consisting of Czech ITT Champion Josef Cerny, Florian Sénéchal and Bert Van Lerberghe.
After coming close to a maiden Grand Tour top 10 overall two years ago, James Knox will feature again on Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s squad for the last three-week race of the season, which is set to include Zdenek Stybar, a stage winner at the race back in 2013, but also Andrea Bagioli and Grand Tour debutant Mauri Vansevenant, two of the team’s 15 riders to have scored a win so far this season.
“La Vuelta is La Vuelta, one of the hardest races of the season, but we are confident, as we have a strong team capable of fighting for a good result on almost all stages. Fabio is back in a Grand Tour after two years and comes at the start following a very good Tour de Wallonie and supported by a solid sprint train, consisting of Josef, Florian and Bert, all riders who have shown their quality in the past. Zdenek and Josef are both capable of seizing the opportunity if it will present itself, while James, Mauri and Andrea can try and do something in the mountains stages, where they have what it takes to go for a nice result”, explained Deceuninck – Quick-Step sports director Wilfried Peeters.
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