Cycling: Routes, favorites, tricolor chances... Everything you need to know before the Vuelta

This Saturday is the launch of the 78th edition of the Vuelta. After the Giro in Italy and the Tour de France, this is the last Grand Tour of the year. Last season, Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) triumphed over locals Enric Mas (Movistar) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates). This year, the former world champion is putting his title on the line against XXL competition.

The entire Vuelta 2023 will be broadcast exclusively on Eurosport, live. As always, before and after each stage, the program “Les Rois de la Pédale” will cover the race. If the first stage, a team time trial in Barcelona, ​​will be contested exceptionally from 7 p.m., the start will always be given around 1 p.m. Depending on the speed of the race, the finish will be judged between 5.30 p.m. and 6 p.m.

This Tour of Spain 2023 will start this Saturday from Barcelona and will end three weeks later, on September 17. To start, the riders will compete in a 14.6 km team time trial through the streets of the Catalan capital. Renowned for its significant difference in altitude and its appalling heat at the top of explosive arrivals, this year again, the Tour of Spain will offer a sacred relief with no less than ten altitude arrivals. In total, the peloton will cover 3,156.5 kilometers between Spain, France and Andorra, including 39.6 kilometers of time trial divided into two stages. The highest peak of the three weeks of racing awaiting the peloton is the Tourmalet, which rises to 2115 meters above sea level, the final theater of the 13th stage on Friday 8 September.

After Primoz Roglic's victory in the Giro and that of Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour de France, the yellow armada will start La Vuelta with the hope of achieving a legendary and unprecedented performance: winning all three Grand Tours in the same season. In an attempt to pull off this capital feat, team boss Richard Plugge decided to field his best cards. At the start in Barcelona, ​​the two leaders, Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic, will be present. The Slovenian has already won this Tour of Spain three times (2019, 2020 and 2021). The Dane, who voluntarily missed the world championships, will return to the Spanish roads, three years after his first participation where he was revealed at altitude. Another record in sight for Sepp Kuss, systematically aligned with the Grand Tours this season, the American could become the first rider to win the Giro, the Tour de France and La Vuelta in the same season as a team member.

In addition to the two big favorites Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard, the line-up for this Vuelta is very tough with several big names on the bill. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) just crowned time trial world champion is determined to keep his crown in Spain. Slight shadow on the board, the Belgian will have to deal with a team not cut out for the mountains unlike those of his competitors. Respectively 2nd and 3rd in the last edition, the Spaniards Enric Mas (Movistar) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) hope to shine again. Ayuso will be in the shoes of a co-leader alongside the Portuguese Joao Almeida 5th last year who seems to have passed a milestone this year. The two men will want to show that they are serious alternatives to Tadej Pogacar. Another headliner, Geraint Thomas the leader of the Ineos Grenadier formation. The Welshman did not come far from winning the last Giro. He wore the leader's pink jersey in Italy until the day before the finish, before handing it over to future winner Primoz Roglic. Finally, we will also have to count on Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA-hansgrohe). Absent at the last minute from the Tour de France, the Russian is a regular in three-week races, he could create a sensation by taking advantage of his status as an outsider to surprise the favorites.

On the tricolor side, the list of entries is well supplied. The headliner is Romain Bardet (DSM). After having abandoned prematurely on the last Tour de France, the Auvergnat wants to shine again on the Spanish roads where he has already raised his arms in 2021. The eyes will be riveted on the two hopes of the Groupama-FDJ team, Romain Grégoire and Lenny Martinez. After their respective rises this year, the two 20-year-old Frenchmen will compete in their first Grand Tour with a good part to play on certain stages. Despite the terrible climbs, the sprinters will have some opportunities to express themselves, Bryan Coquard is aligned by his Cofidis formation. In good form, the "Rooster" hopes to win his first victory on a Grand Tour at 31 years old. Finally, in the quest for distinctive jerseys, one of the regulars in the best climber's polka dot jersey, Geoffrey Bouchard, almost guaranteed the blue mountain jersey, will start in Barcelona with AG2R Citroën. The 31-year-old Frenchman has already reached the final podium of the Giro in 2021 and that of the Vuelta in 2019 with the best climber's tunic on his shoulders.

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