Tour From Burgos Cathedral to Santiago Cathedral: a lot of cycling and no night parties
Primoz Roglic cultivates a redemptive relationship with the Vuelta a España, the race that he has already won twice and that heals his sleeplessness and disappointments in the other two major races, as Giro and Tour continue to be forbidden territories for the new Olympic time trial champion. He debuted his record in the Vuelta in 2019, after being overtaken by Carapaz in the Corsa Rosa, and repeated in 2020, weeks after
Pogacar's
historic
sorpasso
at La Planche des Belles Filles. The edition that starts today from inside the cathedral of Burgos comes after a Tour in which he could not even compete, crashed in the third stage and retired from the race in the ninth. The Vuelta, always the Vuelta, grants him a new opportunity for compensation.
«I have been able to recover from the falls, emotionally as well.
It is part of cycling, of life.
You go up and down, but the important thing is to keep going and I come here to do my best », expressed Roglic, before setting off for Santiago, where he has an appointment with History.
If he manages to overcome the last stage, on September 5, with the red jersey, he will add three consecutive victories in the Vuelta, a milestone only reached so far by Tony
Rominger
(1992-94) and Roberto
Heras
(2002-04).
And it would be only one of the record of total triumphs, in the hands of the Spanish.
"I am more concerned with the present"
"I do not think about that. I am more concerned about the present, about the challenges to come, ”he replies, aware that the competition will be greater than ever. Among the most pedigree
Vueltómanos
, only
Tadej Pogacar
has deleted the Vuelta from his calendar, after having included it in his initial forecast. The rest of the absences (Thomas, Almeida, Evenepoel, Kelderman, Urán ...) do not tarnish a top-level poster, one of the best in recent times.
After Roglic, the greatest favoritism falls on Ineos, which once again presents a very powerful block with two leaders capable of everything.
Egan Bernal
seems to have an advantage in the internal hierarchy of the British team, but
Richard Carapaz
is a more than safe bet. Last year, in fact, he came within 24 seconds of snatching the glory from the Slovenian. As squires, Adam
Yates
, Pavel
Sivakov
and Olympic mountain biking champion Tom
Pidcock
, who debuts in a big one. Be careful with him in mid-mountain stages.
The Movistar, as is tradition, also presents itself with all its artillery except for Marc Soler, who at the end of the year will leave the team for the UAE of Pogacar.
As happened on the Tour, Enric Mas and the recently renovated
Miguel Ángel López will
share stripes, with
Alejandro Valverde
as an exceptional gregarious and always attentive to partial triumphs.
The podium is a realistic goal for
Eusebio Unzué's
squad
.
The return of Landa
Along with Mas, the great Spanish asset is
Mikel Landa
(Bahrain), who returns to the Vuelta after six years of absence.
He does so surrounded by a team of maximum guarantees (Caruso, Padun, Mäder, Poels, Haig ...) and with the ambition to once again demonstrate his category after the disappointment caused by his forced abandonment due to a hard fall in the past Giro.
Aleksandr Vlasov
will have the support of the
Izagirre
brothers
,
Luis León Sánchez
,
Omar Fraile
,
Álex Aranburu
and
Óscar Rodríguez
at Astana
.
Hugh Carthy
-third last year-, Giulio
Ciccone
and Romain
Bardet
They complete the roster of candidates for the podium.
All of them will have to face a demanding route, which limits the usual endings on goat slopes in favor of longer ascents that dot the entire route. After today's short time trial through Burgos - passing through Alto del Castillo - and the end of tomorrow's sprint, Picón Blanco will start to make a difference on Monday. Looking ahead to next weekend, after a couple more opportunities for sprinters -Philipsen, Démare, Cimolai, Jakobsen and Matthews are the most outstanding-, the Balcón de Alicante (Friday) and the Alto de Velefique (Sunday) will return the focus to the men of the general.
The race will be resolved during the last eight stages (starting on Saturday 28), five of them in the mountains - the fearsome Gamoniteiru, the end of the 18th stage, opens - and the 33.8-kilometer time trial on the last day between Padrón and Santiago , terminus station for the Xacobeo Year instead of Madrid.
There will be a total of nine high finals in a Vuelta in which the heat will once again be a determining factor.
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