Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, winner of the last two cycling Tour de France, is certain that he will not be at the start;
the compatriot and outgoing champion Primoz Roglic with the Colombian Egan Bernal, winner of the last Giro d'Italia, on the other hand, yes.
They will be competing, at least on paper (but also look at the Spaniard Mikel Landa and the Colombian Rigoberto Uran), the Vuelta di Spagna 2021, now in its 76th edition, which will start on Saturday and will end on 5 September. The start from Burgos, with an individual time trial almost 8 kilometers long (and a 3 / a category GPM within it, to complicate things for the specialists), which will assign the first 'camiseta roja' as leader of the general classification. The grand finale includes another individual time trial, from Padron to Santiago de Compostela, 33.7 kilometers long. A total of 3,336.1 kilometers will be covered by the Vuelta caravan, within which there will also be several Italian athletes: from Matteo Trentin to Giulio Ciccone and Gianluca Brambilla,but also Sacha Modolo and Vincenzo Nibali's brother, Antonio.
The Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, winner of the Giro d'Italia 2019, but above all fresh from the triumph in the road test at the Tokyo Olympics, just ended, should also be at the start. In the hierarchy of the Ineos Granadier, the Olympian should support Bernal in the assault on the final success, provided that the Colombian is able to repeat the success achieved on the pink roads. In the same team also the British Adam Yates.
Among the most feared stages is 9 / a, scheduled for Sunday 22 August, starting from Puerto Lumbreras and arriving on the Alto de Velefique (188 km): there will be three GPMs to be tackled before reaching the summit at over 1,800 meters above sea level. height, on a climb such as the Alto de Velefique which includes 6.4 kilometers at an average gradient of 13.2%. On September 1st, in the 17th stage, the runners from Unquera to Lagos de Covadonga (185.8 km), after having faced twice a very hard summit pass at La Collada Llomena, will have to climb the route towards Covadonga, with slopes consistently over 10%. The day after, in stage 18, from Salas to the Alto d'El Gamoniteiru (162.6 km), there will be two Gpm of 1 / a Category, one of 2 / a, to anticipate the Alto d'El Gamoniteiru : it is an unprecedented climb, with 14,6 kilometers at 10% ranging up to 1,770 meters in height.