The FREE Vuelta a Espana manager is live!! - Five tips

The 2025 Vuelta a España will begin on August 23 and will feature many of the world's top climbers, sprinters, and classics specialists. CyclingUpToDate's free Vuelta manager can make your next few weeks even more exciting and test your knowledge of the pro peloton to the limit. But besides the proven winners such as Jonas Vingegaard and Mads Pedersen, who are the riders with the best value for your Vuelta fantasy team? We take a look at some of them. Following the Vuelta a España becomes even more exciting with the Fantasy Vuelta a España!

All riders have been assigned a value, and before the start of the race, you select 25 riders within a budget of 380 million. For each stage, you then choose 8 riders to compete for points for your team. It’s important to find the right balance between sprinters, climbers, time trial specialists, and attackers.

Each day, the top 25 finishers of the stage earn points. The top 25 of the overall classification also earn points, but for this, all of your riders are eligible, so no lineup selection is needed.

With 25 riders to choose and a budget of €380 million, it takes some math to build the perfect team in this climber-oriented Vuelta. There won't be many sprinters at the start line, but we do have some strong faces that should have guaranteed points as long as the peloton is able to control those stages. As is the case every year, the final Grand Tour of the season is also one where breakaways succeed very often; and in August many riders are coming in with different preparations and ambitions into the race, which makes it perhaps the most open Grand Tour of all. Here are five riders which might be a good addition to your lineup taking into consideration their value:

Ganna's presence on this list is a no-brainer. The INEOS Grenadiers rider had aimed for the Tour de France but was it's very first withdrawal due to a crash. However the concussion wasn't a serious injury, and the Italian should have been able to prepare very well for this Vuelta. Now, the time-trial on stage 18 has his name written all over it, but besides that the INEOS rider could contest bunch sprints and also aim for wins on several stages from breakaways as he will without a doubt have that freedom. For just €10 million he is an absolute top pick and perhaps the best value in the entire list.

There are only four stages which you could say are purely for the sprinters but nevertheless the value on the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider is huge. Right above him are riders such as Giulio Pellizzari and Felix Gall who have much less chances of winning a stage here. The Belgian is a top name sprinter and out of the 'big three' in the field he's the only one present at the Vuelta. Yes, he was injured at the Tour de France and didn't have his best legs yet at the Tour of Denmark, but form isn't as important for the sprinters and he still has quite some time to improve on it. Besides a top-form Philipsen is also able to perform in several hilly days, making it a bonus.

The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider has been under the radar for a lot of the year, but those with a good eye will know that the €12.9 million the Frenchman costs are not at all a bad price. The Dutch team will aim for overall win, but the truth is that Jonas Vingegaard already has luxurious support both for the flat and mountainous days. Zingle is the outlier in the lineup, the one rider who should get freedom to do his thing on most days, including fighting for the bunch sprints but mainly hunting stages in the hills. The 26-year old is an incredibly explosive rider and is perfectly suited to the rugged days the Vuelta usually presents; and only this past weekend he was going head-to-head with none other than Mads Pedersen on the final stage of the Tour of Denmark.

Age matters little when you've got a motivated rider and Damiano Caruso provides great evidence for that. At the ripe age of 37 the Italian continues to put out masterful performances and has shown his very best level this year by finishing fifth at the Giro d'Italia. However, heading into his seventh Vuelta, he may either chase GC together with Antonio Tiberi and Santiago Buitrago, or aim to win a stage as he did in 2021. At the Vuelta a Burgos Caruso joined the breakaway on stage 4 to take a dominant solo win. He is capable of a lot in a mountainous Vuelta that presents several opportunities.

The Movistar rider is an absolute steal on this list. One major factor to take into consideration is the absence of riders such as Enric Mas, Nairo Quintana and Fernando Gaviria which give the Spaniard full freedom to pursue his own goals. Because he has not yet battled for a GC in a Grand Tour until today, he is likely one of the best climbers who comes into the race with stage aspirations which makes him a great asset for breakaways. Winner of a stage and second at the Tour Down Under this year, alongside a few other impressive performances since joining the team in 2024, Romo could be a make or break for any lineup.