The 2024 Vuelta a Espana is nearly here. Almost a week to go before the start of the last Grand Tour of the season, getting underway this year in Lisbon, on August 17. Moreover, it will be a very open edition without the presence of cycling's top stars as neither Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, nor Remco Evenepoel will be there.
With the presence of Primoz Roglic also looking increasingly unlikely due to injuries sustained in his crash at the Tour de France, it is difficult to guess which team might be able to take one of its riders to win this year's La Vuelta. However, at our sister channel Ciclismoaldia, they made a ranking based on the best riders that will participate in the race: Sepp Kuss, Enric Mas, João Almeida, Mikel Landa, Daniel Martínez, Adam Yates, Tao Geoghegan Hart and more. Below, in descending order, from among teams such as Team Visma | Lease a Bike, Movistar Team, Soudal - Quick-Step, UAE Team Emirates, INEOS Grenadiers, Lidl-Trek, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, those teams with chances winning this Vuelta a España are analysed.
1. Team Visma | Lease a Bike
- Leader: Sepp Kuss.
After the disappointing Giro d'Italia and ultimately unsuccessful Tour de France, the Vuelta a Espana is a chance for redemption after a complicated 2024 for Visma. They arrive as favourites because of Sepp Kuss' status as the defending champion of the race. Despite top-notch support riders like Wout van Aert and Cian Uijtdebroeks however, the American will have his work cut out for him to win his second consecutive edition, and thus avoid a possible UAE Team Emirates Grand Tour hat-trick this season.
2. UAE Team Emirates
- Leaders: Adam Yates, João Almeida and Isaac del Toro.
They will not have Pogacar, with whom they won the two previous Grand Tours, so the level of the team, as usual, drops considerably. To cope with his absence and looking to emulate the hat-trick that their main rival, the aforementioned Visma, did in 2023, the Emirati team will take a very ambitious lineup where up to 3 riders can potentially go for the victory: Adam Yates, João Almeida and the young but extremely talented Mexican, Isaac del Toro.
3. Movistar Team
- Leader: Enric Mas
Movistar Team's home Grand Tour has to be the best of a team that comes from completing solid Giro d'Italia and Tour de France performances. Now they really have to go for the general classification, and with Enric Mas who knows the race to perfection, finishing 2nd on three occasions, the Spaniard is one of the strongest names in the line-up. He finished the Grande Boucle with very promising legs, and will undoubtedly be in the fight for the red jersey.
4. Soudal Quick-Step
- Leader: Mikel Landa.
Mikel Landa's domestique work this season is done. The Basque rider signed with Soudal - Quick-Step primarily to be Remco Evenepoel's main support in the Tour de France. The result was almost unbeatable, with the Belgian on the overall podium in his debut, and Landa in 5th place. This means that the local rider arrives at the Vuelta a España without pressure and in spectacular form. At 34 he could be (along with Enric Mas) the rider to end the 10-year drought without a Spaniard winning La Vuelta. The last time was in 2014 with Alberto Contador. A lot will depend on the team Quick-Step brings around him.
5. Lidl-Trek
- Leader: Tao Geoghegan Hart.
Perhaps the most "unfancied" of the favourites, because the last years of its leader have been very hard, and because he has not participated in a Grand Tour since the Giro d'Italia 2023, where he had to abandon. Tao Geoghegan Hart will be the main card of the American team, which signed the Brit precisely for this reason. Surely, if Primoz Roglic were present in the race, Red Bull would occupy a place in the Top 5 and Lidl-Trek would be out, but at the moment this is not the case, and the quality of the 2021 Giro d'Italia winner is there.
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