Madrid (AFP)
Will the Vuelta des cathédrales crown its pope for the third year in a row?
Slovenian Primoz Roglic, newly crowned Olympic time trial champion in Japan, tackles the 2021 Tour of Spain which starts on Saturday as a favorite to his own succession.
Like last season, Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) is lining up for the Tour of Spain to take revenge for a ruined Tour de France (retirement before the 9th stage) and to ride his performance at the foot of Mount Fuji at the end of July.
In case of victory at the end of the three weeks of racing between Burgos and Santiago de Compostela, the Galician capital which had already crowned Alberto Contador in 2014, Roglic could become the first rider to win three Vuelta in a row since Roberto Heras (2003 , 2004, 2005).
And this year, the course seems cut out for him, between altitude and speed: eleven stages of relief (including seven of mountain) and two individual time trials - during the first stage, Saturday around Burgos, and during the last, around the city of Compostela.
- Gamoniteiru, great first -
After a 2020 edition disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic (postponed to October-November 2020, shortened from 21 to 18 stages, cancellation of passages in the Netherlands, France and Portugal), the runners will return this year to a classic formula of 21 steps.
However, there will be a novelty: the ascent of the terrible Gamoniteiru, an endless pass of 15 km at 10-12% average slope which culminates at more than 1,700 meters, and which the Vuelta will climb for the first time in its history during the 18th stage.
2021 Tour of Spain cycling route Vincent LEFAI AFP
It will be the day after an already grueling 17th stage, which will end in style near the magnificent lakes of Covadonga (non-category pass), after two climbs to the top of Collada Llomena, also unprecedented on the Tour of Spain.
Two stages which could decide the fate of the race, before the last three stages in Galicia.
Facing Roglic, here, there will be no Tadej Pogacar.
But even in the absence of the double winner coming out of the Tour de France, the competition will be fierce.
- Bernal, Carapaz and Landa on the lookout -
Egan Bernal (Ineos), winner of the Giro in May, dreams of becoming the 10th rider to win two grand tours in the same year, a feat that only Contador (Giro and Vuelta in 2008) and Christopher Froome (Tour de France and Vuelta in 2017) ) have been able to achieve in the 21st century.
The joy of Colombian Egan Bernal, winner of the 16th stage of the Tour of Italy, disputed on May 24, 2021 between Sacile and Cortina d'Ampezzo Luca BETTINI AFP / Archives
With his coronation on the Grande Boucle in 2019, Bernal could even enter the very closed club of sacred champions on the three big tours (Froome, Nibali, Contador, Gimondi, Anquetil, Hinault, Merckx), and would become the youngest rider to achieve this treble, at only 24 years old.
The other main rival of Roglic will be Richard Carapaz (Ineos), who has just won the gold medal in the online event of the Olympics, just after finishing the Tour de France on the third step of the podium.
But the Ecuadorian will undoubtedly have to be satisfied with a role of Bernal's luxury teammate in this Vuelta.
The joy of Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, gold medalist in the road race at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, on July 24, 2021 at the Fuji International Speedway in Oyama celebrates after crossing the finish line to win the men's cycling road race during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Fuji International Speedway in Oyama, Japan, on July 24, 2021. Greg Baker AFP / Archives
Among the outsiders, there is in particular the Basque Mikel Landa, recent winner of the Tour de Burgos and well surrounded within the Bahrain formation, or the trio Valverde - Mas - Lopez for the Movistar.
Among the French, the two main attractions are Romain Bardet (DSM) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), who finished best climber and 14th in the Vuelta 2020.
© 2021 AFP