- It's the third and final grand tour,
and it is the Tour of Spain, or
Vuelta a Espana.
Now Chris Froome is taking a well-earned rest,
but nevertheless, this year's Vuela a Espana
is packed full of climbing talent.
So this year's race is really going to one to watch,
and you can keep up with all the race analysis
over on our Facebook page,
where we'll be doing it daily
and you'll be kept up to date with all the action.
Now without further adieu, let's crack on
with our top 11 riders to watch in this year's race.
The 2010 winner, Vincenzo Nibali,
will be here to better his performance
on the Tour de France when he unfortunately crashed
going up Alpe d'Huez and fracturing vertebrae.
He'll be here primarily to prepare for the
world champships,
but don't discount him.
He did win in Milan San Remo,
so a stage win in the last week,
may be very possible.
Miguel Angel Lopez at just 24, has had
a formidable year.
He has finished eighth overall before in the Vuelta
and third in this year's Giro.
The 2018 season for the superhuman Lopez,
will be looking out for stage wins,
but don't discount him 'cause he could surprise you
for the overall.
Pete Sagan, while he's on our list because he's
Peter Sagan.
Since when does Peter Sagan not bring style,
animation and fun to a bike race?
Well, I can't think of one,
but he'll be primarily here to prepare
for the world champships,
and to see out his life in the rainbow bands in style.
But that's assuming he doesn't win it for the fourth time.
Sepp Kuss has timed his form to perfection,
winning three stages and the overall
over the Tour of Utah,
so it will be very interesting to see how his
first grand tour goes.
He'll go into the race as support for
George Bennet and Steven Kruijswijk,
but clearly has the form to do something himself.
Well, if he gets the opportunity.
The Yates brothers are coming off the back
of another fantastic season.
Adam didn't quite replicate
what Simon did at this year's Giro,
but you cannot take away the results he has achieved
in the rest of the season.
No doubt, they're going to be flamboyant
in their attacks, putting others under pressure.
They certainly have the climbing ITT kilometers
in their legs to help to help their bid
on the way to Madrid.
Tao Geoghegan Hart is another grand tour debutante,
and he's been looking formidable on the big climbs,
being the last one to pull off for Sky,
so you have to ask how he's going to on,
in his first three week grand tour.
Alejandro Valverde, in Spain, in September,
well in fact, any month of the year
is a very dependable bet of doing something of note.
He won't be in fact looking for a top ten on GC,
but a lot of the stage finishes do in fact,
really suit him.
So look out for a very meaningful attack,
hunting down a stage win.
Thibaut Pinot is looking to make up for the
illness he suffered at the Giro in May.
He has been looking really good,
in the tour of Pologne,
and this'll be his 10th grand tour he's starting,
of which he's only finished five,
but out of those five, he's finished 16th and better,
which isn't too bad.
But let's hope for a little less bad luck,
because it would be really interesting to see how
Thibaut Pinot can get on and be competitive
at this year's world tour.
Richie Porte will be here to reaffirm his intentions
as a grand tour contender.
But if you look back at his track record,
it doesn't bode well, as he's only finished twice
inside the top 10.
But that has been in the support of other team leaders.
But is this the last time for Richie Porte to show himself
as a grand tour contender?
I mean, the jury's out on that one.
Nairo Quintana has only finished twice outside the top 10
in previous grand tours,
but he is a little lighter on top results in 2018,
but that of course could change
over the course of le Vuelta,
not forgetting that formidable performance
on stage 17 of this year's tour.
The stage 20 of this year's Vuelta
could of course eclipse that
with the amount of climbing,
so we could of course see a big attack from Nairo
hunting for the win.
Elia Viviani is coming to the Vuelta off the back
of 15 wins.
He is heading a formidable Quickstep Floors team,
and will be hunting those flat sprint stages.
Coming just off the back of his big win in Hamburg
at the EuroEyes cycle classic, he is definitely
going to be one to watch in the spring stages.
As ever, we've probably missed out some of your favorites,
so if you think there are riders that we haven't mentioned
are gonna shine, then do put them in the comments below.
Now if you haven't seen our preview to the Vuelta,
that Dan, Si and I did, then go check out that
over here.
And if you want to get yourself one of these t-shirts,
then check out the shelf just up here.