With the start of the Vuelta a España less than a week away, the stage is set and the contenders for the overall title will have applied the finishing touches to their preparation ahead of the trip to Utrecht.
However, one uncertainty hangs over the whole race. It is still not known whether Primož Roglič, winner of the past three editions of the Spanish Grand Tour, will even take to the start line given his last-minute comeback from his Tour de France injuries.
Roglič could be one of a number of Tour de France riders looking for redemption in Spain, while most others have had more breathing room after targeting the Giro d’Italia earlier in the year, including the champion Jai HIndley and indeed the other podium finishers in Richard Carapaz and Mikel Landa.
One man, however, comes fresh into his first Grand Tour of the year and the second of his career, with Remco Evenepoel’s showing in Spain sure to be one of the major talking points over the next three weeks.
Here, Cyclingnews takes a look at the principal pretenders to the red jersey and picks apart their preparation and chances. The ordering of riders does not necessarily reflect likelihood of overall success but rather is our barometer of form ahead of the start of the race.
1. Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl)
Remco Evenepoel is 22 years old, has only ridden one Grand Tour, and didn’t finish it. Logic would suggest he’s not a bona fide top favourite for the Vuelta, and that’s exactly the line his entourage are trying to spin. And yet, expectation and excitement – some would say excessive amounts of both – have clung to him ever since his extraordinary rise as a junior just a few years ago.
With a resounding victory at the recent Clásica San Sebastián, Evenepoel did little to dampen those expectations ahead of what is set to be a revelatory experience at the Vuelta. He has been consistently compared to Eddy Merckx, while, somewhat incongruously, facing continual scepticism over his credentials as a three-week racer. How he handles the mountains and the pressure over the next few weeks will shape the future of one of the sport’s most exciting talents, as well as the Grand Tour landscape itself.
After a chastening Grand Tour debut in a 2021 season that came with the large caveat of his recovery from a pelvis fracture, Evenepoel has mixed swathes of brilliance in 2022 with flashes of inconsistency which have fuelled those Grand Tour doubts. He has already won…
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