The third and final of the Grand Tours is set to begin tomorrow, so here's my pre-race analysis with the eight riders I expect to be hearing the most from in my 'Dream Squad' & my top picks for the respective jerseys.
As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on who you think will outperform their rivals in this year's La Vuelta; so your comments are very welcome below!
The composition of the 'Dream Squad' will be the following; Marquee A, Marquee B/Super Domestique, Sprinter, Time-Trialist, Baroudeur, Domestiques A, B & C
Marquee A - Vincenzo Nibali | Bahrain-Merida
Nibali was so unlucky to not finish the Tour de France and definitely could have caused Geraint Thomas & Team Sky some serious headaches in the remaining mountain stages; he looked like he had the best legs out of all the GC riders in the climbs he did ride and I think that will continue to be the case into this year's La Vuelta.
Bahrain-Merida have chosen to again ride both the Izagirre brothers (Ion and Gorka) in the race and that will no doubt play into Nibali's hands having two very, very strong domestiques; if Nibali doesn't perform or he sees a repeat of the Tour de France and has to retire, both Ion and Gorka are strong enough to fight for individual stage victories.
Marquee B / Super Domestique - Richard Carapaz | Movistar
Carapaz had a very strong performance Giro d'Italia in which the Ecuadorian finished 4th in the overall GC standings, taking a stage win on Stage 8 and 2nd-place on Stage 19. Looking at his other performances this year (1st in GC at Vuelta Asturias, 3rd in GC at Settimana Internazionale & 11th in GC at Paris-Nice) I think he could definitely give us another good showing at La Vuelta.
Probably will end up being in some sort of Joint Leadership or Super Domestique role with both Nario Quintana and Alejandro Valverde both making an appearance.
Sprinter - Elia Viviani | Quick-Step Floors
Viviani has been winning for fun this year and has taken a monumental rise up the UCI World Rankings to 3rd (behind Sagan and Froome). Not many other star sprinters are being taken so his main competition will come from Peter Sagan (and Bora-Hansgrohe) & Nacer Bouhanni (and Cofidis), so Viviani should be taking a handful of victories to add to his already giant tally for the season.
Time-Trialist - Rohan Dennis | BMC Racing Team
Rohan Dennis took an ITT victory in a 34.2km-long route & runner-up in a 9.7km-long route at the Giro; at La Vuelta this year we have two almost identical time-trial routes and I'm backing the Australian to go well in both.
He could potentially also do well in the GC standings and might be up there fighting for a top 10 finish by the end of it, these TTs will give him a solid platform.
Baroudeur - Sepp Kuss | LottoNL-Jumbo
Took 3 incredible Stage wins at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah a couple of weeks ago, and walked himself into the overall GC lead. Looked absolutely insane up the mountains and should he be able to reproduce his efforts over in the US, he could be a huge asset for the LottoNL-Jumbo team.
Stick him up the road in the break and he should be able to sweep up all the KOM Classification points and then provide a springboard for Steven Kruijswijk. If Kruijswijk doesn't go well, give Sepp Kuss leadership and he definitely has the promise to finish strongly.
Domestique A - Simon Geschke | Team Sunweb
One of the strongest domestiques around and was part of Tom Dumoulin's strong performance at the Tour de France. Should be able to repeat his efforts for Wilco Kelderman who I expect to finish in the top 5 of the GC.
Domestique B - Jack Haig | Mitchelton-Scott
Did some solid work for Simon Yates in the Giro and was a huge part of Yates' dominance in the early mountain stages. Looks like he has improved further into the season and finished a highly respectable 13th in the Tour de Suisse GC and 3rd in the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah GC. Assuming Simon Yates has full leadership with Adam Yates being a Super Domestique, Jack Haig will be a huge asset to have for the both of them.
Domestique C - Pello Bilbao | Astana Pro Team
Finished 6th in the GC at the Giro as a domestique for Miguel Angel Lopez (who finished 3rd). Will definitely be a big part of Lopez's assault on the GC at La Vuelta.