Prediction of the popular riders in the Vuelta! And a summary of the S1-S2 stage!

If cycling has an end, it must be the three major tours where the top GC riders of human cycling gather. Every year, all cycling enthusiasts will focus on the three major tours. At the end of the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, Tadej Pogačar presented a nearly perfect performance to everyone, and we also sighed that this talented boy is really too strong. It seems that we have forgotten the existence of other geniuses, but now let us turn our attention to the Vuelta a España, what kind of story will happen in this beautiful land and beautiful coast!

2024 Vuelta hot riders

Sepp Kuss

As the overall champion of last year's Vuelta and an impressive VISMA workhorse last year, Sepp Kuss has high hopes for this year's Vuelta despite his disappointing performance this year

Primož Roglič and Daniel Martínez

Primož Roglič is undoubtedly one of the biggest favorites besides the defending champion. Despite crashing out of the Tour de France and being in an unknown state, the Slovenian has won the Vuelta several times in the past and experience is a big part of success.

 

There were doubts about Daniel Martínez before, but his runner-up finish in the Giro d'Italia earlier this year certainly proved his Grand Tour championship potential. His previous performances in the Vuelta were not great, the most recent being four years ago when he crashed hard on the first stage and retired two days later. The 28-year-old had planned to compete in the Olympic road race as a warm-up for this year's Spanish race, but last-minute visa issues prevented him from competing. He will no doubt turn his disappointment into a strong performance in the Vuelta. He could have his best result yet in Spain, with a podium and even a win not out of reach.

 

João Almeida and Adam Richard Yates

 

One of the best co-pilots at this year’s Tour de France, Almeida has great climbing ability and the potential to be a co-pilot.

 

UAE Team Emirates has a near-perfect record this season, having already won the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France under Pogačar, and facing the final Grand Tour of the season, the team’s other co-pilot is super stable veteran Adam Richard Yates. Although Almeida will be the team’s primary protection, if anything goes wrong, this veteran will be the undisputed co-pilot, with Grand Tour experience and podium ability.

 

Mikel Landa

Perhaps surprisingly, although this is Landa’s home race, he tends to perform better in the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France. But with many of his main competitors absent this year, this may be his closest chance to get close to his personal best so far (fifth last year). The Spaniard has been in excellent form this season, finishing fifth in the Tour de France, which is pretty good considering he was serving teammate and eventual third-place finisher Remco Evenepoel. Maintaining that form just three weeks into the second Grand Tour will be a huge challenge. We (and probably him) will only know how well he has recovered when the Tour of Spain begins.

 

Richard Carapaz

The Ecuadorian rider just had one of the best Tour de France races of his career, taking his first stage wins for both himself and Ecuador and winning the King of the Mountains title. If he can keep up that form at the Tour of Spain, he’ll be one of the favorites for the overall title, but that’s a tall order. He’s a former Olympic road race champion who won solo against Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogačar in Japan. But he was unable to defend his title as the Ecuadorian National Cycling Team chose Johnatan Navarrez to race the road race and time trial. The Paris track isn’t ideal terrain for Carapaz, but again, the frustration of missing out on the world’s biggest sporting event might make him push harder in Spain.

Carlos Rodríguez

Many eyes were on young Spaniard Carlos Rodríguez at the Tour de France in July. There were high hopes, expectations, and pressure from the team, media, and fans as he tried to surpass last year's fifth place. He ultimately finished seventh, a respectable performance, but without winning any stages, the team still received a lot of criticism, with the media and fans questioning what had happened to the once unbeatable force. With only a month left in France, if he recovers well enough, climber Rodríguez could be at the heart of Ineos Grenadiers' overall result attack at the Tour of Spain.

 

Enric Mas

Spanish native climber Enric Mas. He's always had big ambitions for his home Grand Tour. After winning a stage and finishing second in 2018 (in his second season as a pro), he must have felt that multiple stage wins and the overall title were within his grasp. Alas, it hasn't happened yet. While he's come close each time, that's still his only stage win. He could only finish sixth last year after three-second places. But at the Tour de France in July, Mas was in great form, taking third and fifth place stages in the final week. Getting back to racing in the Vuelta is a big challenge, but a win and an overall podium could be within reach if Mas does it.

I think Primož Roglič is the favorite for this year's Vuelta!

Vuelta S1: Brandon McNulty wins the first stage individual time trial and wears the red jersey

The American won the 12km coastal race, beating Mathias Vacek and Wout van Aert.

 

The 2024 Vuelta a Espana Grand Depart is a short coastal race from Lisbon to Oeiras. In addition to the time trialists' chance to compete for the first red jersey, the first stage is also a stage for all the riders who hope to wear this red jersey in Madrid to show their strength.
The howling wind from the vast Atlantic Ocean hit the riders, and as the race progressed, the wind gradually increased, which may benefit the early starters. Italian power rider Edoardo Affini of Team Visma was the first to set a benchmark time of 12 minutes and 43 seconds,while the favorites bided their time.

 

Josh Tarling of Ineos Grenadiers was the first favorite to start the race, and he started when the wind was strongest. He led Affini by three seconds at the intermediate time point, but lost the advantage in the second half and ended up less than 0.3 seconds slower than the Italian.

Mathias Vacek, the young Czech rider for the Lidl-Trek team, beat Tallinn with a blistering pace, winning by two seconds at the intermediate time and extending that advantage to six seconds at the end, setting a time that looked like he might challenge for the title.

 

The time trial was a good test of the form of Primož Roglič, who has performed well in this event many times. He finished 17 seconds behind McNulty, the best performance of all the general classification contenders, perhaps easing some doubts that he could challenge for the red jersey.

The track was perfect for Groupama-FDJ, but he finished a few seconds behind. A few minutes later, as the last few riders flew towards Oeiras, McNulty passed Vacek at a blistering pace, and he was one second behind Vacek at the halfway point.

Wout van Aert was the last rider to start, as the sun began to set. He was the only rider to beat Vacek at the intermediate time, winning by one second and looking like he would take the red jersey. But the Belgian slowed slightly as McNult held strong, and ended up three seconds behind.

 

The 12km time trial doesn’t feel long, but it’s easy to create gaps over that distance, and those gaps can be crucial in Madrid. Mikel Landa (Quick-Step) was the biggest loser in the overall race, finishing 1m 05s behind McNulty. Defending champion Sepp Kuss (Visma) also fell far behind, losing 53s. João Almeida
(UAE Team Emirates) finished 10th, 19s behind, and Lidl-Trek finished 13th, 22s behind.

 

Honor Jersey

After stage 1, the jerseys were:

Stage results

 

Overall results

 

Vuelta S2: Groves sprints to win stage 2, Wout van Aert takes red jersey

Australian rider Kaden Groves won stage 2 by beating Wout van Aert on an uphill sprint in Orem.

 

 

Wout van Aert led the charge with 200 meters to go, but Groves burst through at the last minute to overtake the Belgian. Corbin Strong finished third. Brandon McNulty took the lead in Saturday's opening 12km individual time trial, but Wout van Aert's six-second time bonus at the finish was enough to overtake the American for the overall lead.

The last 3km of Stage 2

Groves' last professional win came at last year's Vuelta. The Australian rider also took the sprint points jersey and was happy to end a difficult season with this victory. "I think there are a lot of reasons. I was injured in the spring and missed a lot of races," Groves said of why he didn't do well in 2024. "I recovered well in the Giro but didn't have enough speed in the end to beat Jonathan Milan or Tim Merlier. That keeps me motivated and trying to come to races like this which are very suitable for me." Groves knows that this year's race is considered one of the toughest Grand Tours in years, and there are few opportunities for sprinters. "The schedule is very difficult this year. So we only have today and tomorrow and a few opportunities in the first week, so I feel a lot of pressure."

 

 

Wout van Aert led the sprint, but Groves surpassed him with great power and speed. It was Wout van Aert's second narrow defeat in two stages, but he will wear the red jersey and lead the third stage.

Honor Jersey

Stage Results

Overall Results