2014 Vuelta a España preview: the contenders

Cycling fans are full of anticipation regarding this year’s Vuelta, as many think it has the strongest GC field of 2014’s Grand Tours. One thing the field is a little short on is Spaniards. Only 28 are set to contest the Vuelta, as opposed to the 59 Italians who lined up at the Giro and 44 Frenchmen who launched from Yorkshire in the Tour. Somewhat interestingly, there are more Eritreans (3) than Canadians (Ryder Hesjedal and Guillaume Boivin).

Here are the main contenders:

Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar): Quintana is the odds-on favourite to become the first rider since Alberto Contador in 2008 to win the Giro-Vuelta double. His performance in the Giro was splendid, and his recent defense of his Vuelta a Burgos title shows that he’s on good form. Quintana’s time trialing has improved too; he was second in the Burgos chrono. He has a strong team to support him, including 2009 winner Alejandro Valverde.

Chris Horner (USA/Lampre): Horner was a shock winner last season and then had a bit of difficulty finding a new team. Lampre scooped him up but his career looked to be in danger after a vehicle hit him while he was training in Italy. Horner’s comeback has been admirable, as he placed 17th in the Tour and recently came runner up in the Tour of Utah. He’ll have good support from Winner Anacona and Damiano Cunego.

Chris Froome (Great Britain/Sky): Froome’s Tour was destroyed on the cobbles; while Vincenzo Nibali was laying the foundation of his victory, Froome was crashing. He climbed off with fractures in his wrist and hand. Up until that point Froome was having a fine season, having won the Tours of Oman and Romandie and placing 6th in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and 12th in the Critérium du Dauphiné. Froome has been runner-up in the Vuelta twice. Can Sky wrest control away from Movistar and boss the peloton once again?

Rigoberto Uran (Colombia/Omega Pharma-QuickStep): Uran came runner-up to Quintana in the Giro and mostly recently placed 22nd in the Tour de l’Ain. Last season, after coming second to Vincenzo Nibali in the Giro, Rigo came 27th in the Spanish race. His other Vuelta performances were 29th and 32nd, so he’s going to have to ride outside himself to have a chance at the podium.

Fabio Aru (Italy/Astana): With Aru’s inclusion we get the full Giro final podium starting the Vuelta. Aru was the revelation of the Italian Grand Tour, but his most recent stage race, the Tour de Pologne, was underwhelming with a 64th placing. He’ll have a sharp team around him, with Mikel Landa, Paolo Tiralongo and Tanel Kangert being his main helpers.

Thibault Pinot (France/FDJ): After a bummer 2013, Pinot came raging back in the Tour, becoming one of two Frenchmen on the Paris podium. Last year he came 7th in the Vuelta, but it’s difficult to hold form from July through mid-September. He’ll have heaps of confidence, though, and race with élan.

Carlos Betancur (Colombia/Ag2r): Ah, the wildcard of this year’s Vuelta. No one knows which Betancur will show up to the race – the fellow who won Paris-Nice in March, or a guy weakened by sickness and petulant indiscipline. He’s off to Omega Pharma-Quickstep (er, Etixx-QuickStep) next year, so the Belgian team’s management will be hoping that he looks like an asset instead of a liability. He seemed ordinary in the Burgos race.

Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain/Katusha): El Purito has had it rough this year, and one can see last year’s fourth place in the Vuelta as the start of a string of disappointment: losing the Worlds and crying on the podium, crashing in the Ardennes and Giro, and coming 54th in the Tour, his worst Grand Tour result in nine years. One bright spot in 2014 was winning the Volta a Catalunya. He’ll be desperate to get a good result, and his recent 3rd place in the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian might be a sign that he is ready.

Alberto Contador (Spain/Tinkoff-Saxo): Contador’s broken leg at the Tour seemed to have doomed him from starting the Vuelta, but last week he announced that he would be contesting his home tour after all. It’s too much to ask of Bertie to win the Vuelta, but I expect him to be hunting stage wins in the latter half of the race. His team isn’t as strong as some of the squads Tinkoff-Saxo have surrounded him with in the past.

The Garmin Three-Headed Argyle Hydra of Ryder Hesjedal, Dan Martin and Andrew Talansky: Jonathan Vaughters has many options in this year’s race. Hesjedal, the only Canadian to have won a stage of the Vuelta, put up a fine fight at the Giro to come 9th, and only a mediocre Tour de Pologne time trial prevented him from finishing any higher than 17th. Dan Martin’s season fractured in the Giro’s team time trial, but he’s on the mend, most recently taking third at the Tour de l’Ain. Talanksy’s brilliant Critérium du Dauphiné triumph was nearly matched by his brave fight to avoid elimination on Stage 12 of the Tour before succumbing to back and hip injuries. His first Grand Tour top 10 was at the 2012 Vuelta.

Others:Cadel Evans (Australia/BMC) recently was on the attack at the Tour of Utah on his way to 6th. Robert Gesink and Laurens Ten Dam (The Netherlands/Belkin): after a mediocre mid-season Gesink is building back his form. He’s never finished lower than 7th in the Vuelta.”Foamy” Ten Dam is coming off his best-ever Tour result. Johan Chaves (Colombia/Orica-GreenEdge) could be the revelation of the Vuelta. Haimar Zubeldia (Spain/Trek) is Mr. Consistency, having place in the top 20 ten times in the 21 Grand Tours he has finished. Jurgen van den Broeck (Belgium/Lotto-Belisol) is also consistent but has completed only three of the six Grand Tours he has started in the past four years.