For the first time since 2010, neither Chris Froome nor Alberto Contador will be heading to the climb-heavy Vuelta a España, Spain’s three-week Grand Tour. However, that’s not to say that the 2018 edition is devoid of talent. With so many contenders, and a characteristically climb-heavy parcours, this is set to be one electric edition.
The key stages
The 2018 edition of the Vuelta starts as it means to go on with a speedy prologue around the streets of Malaga, providing a GC test to kick off proceedings. From there, the riders will have completed two summit finishes and crested three tough category 1 climbs all by the finish of stage 4. If there was one race that will break the riders’ legs before the end of week one, it’s the Vuelta.
Stage 9 lies directly before the rest day, but it’s certain to make the GC favourites work for their day of downtime. The first of two hors catégorie climbs rears its ugly head on this stage with a 19.7km ascent to the cloud-crested summit. Double digit ramps to the finish are bound to throw the GC into disarray, sorting the contenders from the pretenders as early as week one.
The second week finishes just like the first – with a hellish mountain stage. Stage 15 sees the return of the Lagos de Covadonga climb, a mountain pass that is slowly becoming synonymous with the three-week race itself. A rest day follows this stage, further encouraging GC riders behind on time to launch a full-on assault. With 17.5% ramps in the finale, it’s only going to suit a select few mountain goats.
The riders will traverse a long, but thankfully flat individual time trial on stage 16 before they head straight back into the mountains. Aside from stage 18, and the processional stage 21 in Madrid, the rest are pure mountain stages, designed to whittle down the bunch until only the victor remains. The hardest of the three killers is stage 20, a short but snappy affair that manages to cram six super-steep climbs into just 106km.
In all, the 2018 Vuelta has no less than nine summit finishes, ten mountain stages, six rolling days, two flat time trials and only three sure-fire sprint stages – time for the riders to get their crampons on.
Riders to watch
The 2018 race may be lacking Froome and Contador, but there are four other former winners stepping up to the plate, along with a number of talented youngsters and super-domestiques turned team leaders.
Team Sunweb’s Wilco Kelderman will get a first bite of the team leader apple in this race. The young Dutchman is eager to learn and replicate the winning ways of his teammate, Tom Dumoulin, aboard the versatile Giant TCR. With a Grand Tour-winning bike, Kelderman is prepped to contend with some of the best over the steep mountain passes as well as hold his own on the flats and speedy descents.
Another rider getting their first taste of team leadership will be Bora-hansgrohe’s Emmanuel Buchmann, the young German a GC star in the making. With Davide Formolo and Rafal Majka for company in the mountains, as well as the super-light S-Works Tarmac, this is one team that will soar uphill. Another rider to look out for, is Quick-Step Floor’s Enric Mas, last year’s breakout star also on-board the Tarmac. The young Spaniard is touted as the next Alberto Contador and he’ll be hoping home roads can help him live up to that name.
Trek-Segafredo come to this race after a successful Tour de France – thank you John Degengolb – and will be hoping that their star Dutchman, Bauke Mollema, can have some better personal luck in Spain. He’ll be joined by wily Italian climber, Gianluca Brambilla and former points classification winner, Fabio Felline. As the roads ramp up, all three will rely on their super stiff, but extremely lightweight Trek Emondas to power them to the summit.
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