Preview, route, riders in rivalry and the best way to watch Vuelta a España 2022

The lads’s road cycling season continues, following the Commonwealth Games and European championships, with the third and final Grand Tour of the 2022 males’s season, the 77th Vuelta ciclista a España or Tour of Spain, which runs from 19 August to 11 September 2022.

Primoz Roglic, Slovenia’s three-time defending champion of La Vuelta for Staff Jumbo-Visma, and Olympic gold medalist is aiming to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive Normal Classification crown and change into solely the second man to win the race 4 instances. To take action, he might want to cowl the three,280-kilometre (2,038 mile) route the quickest, in a race that can function 9 finishes at altitude.

This yr’s La Vuelta ’22 begins with a Grand Depart within the Netherlands, postponed from 2020 after pandemic restrictions compelled the cancellation of the Dutch begin that yr, which compelled a lowered 18-stage race. This yr’s race includes 21 phases, because it did final yr.

La Roja – the chief’s purple jersey – will likely be contested between 176 riders from 22 groups every fashioned of eight males. As well as, the inexperienced factors jersey, blue-and-white polka dot mountain classification jersey, and the white younger riders’ jersey are all additionally up for grabs. Moreover, for the opening three phases, the general chief will put on a particular model of the maillot rojo, which pays tribute to the race’s Dutch hosts.

The final 5 days of the race, from 7 by way of 11 September, will coincide with the ladies’s Problem by La Vuelta stage race, though the 2 can have completely different routes. La Vuelta is the one males’s Grand Tour with no ladies’s counterpart; from 2023 the Problem by La Vuelta race will formally change into “La Vuelta Feminina”.

Learn on to seek out out what you want to find out about this yr’s La Vuelta 22.

Vuelta a España 2022 Normal Classification: favourites to look at

Primoz Roglic: Might he full the inconceivable? By no means earlier than performed, the Slovenian former ski jumper is aiming to change into the primary man to win La Vuelta 4 years operating. The 32-year-old will lead Jumbo-Visma as soon as extra, hoping to bounce again from a disappointing Tour de France which he deserted after 14 phases. Roglic hasn’t raced since then, recovering from a again fracture he suffered in the course of the Tour. Roglic was additionally the Olympic males’s time trial gold medallist on the Tokyo 2020 video games in 2021.

Richard Carapaz: The Ecuadorian Olympic highway race champion misplaced the 2020 Vuelta to Roglic by simply 24 seconds, and is a Grand Tour winner in his personal proper having gained the 2019 Giro d’Italia for Movistar Staff. The Ineos Grenadiers rider, who will probably break up management duties inside his group with the 2020 Giro winner Tao Geoghegan Hart, can have huge assist from Latin American followers across the roads of Spain.

João Almeida: UAE Staff Emirates will rely on Portuguese teen Almeida for La Vuelta, with Tadej Pogacar given a relaxation. Almeida has expertise within the huge races, main the 2020 Giro after Stage 3 by way of Stage 17 earlier than conceding the lead and finally ending fourth. The 2021 Tour de Pologne and Tour de Luxembourg winner will search for his first Grand Tour podium right here.

Enric Mas: Mas will likely be a joint-leader of the house group, Movistar Staff, alongside the 42-year-old veteran Alejandro Valverde, who has repeatedly pushed his retirement again however is predicted to be contesting his last Vuelta. Mas completed runner-up behind Roglic final yr and was additionally second total in 2018, and it might lastly be time for Mas to make the step up.

Colombian contender Nairo Quintana withdrew on the eve of La Vuelta after being retrospectively disqualified from the 2022 Tour de France following a optimistic check for tramadol.