The Vuelta starts tomorrow and it is the 79th edition. Last year Sepp Kuss he had arrived at the finish line in Madrid escorted by Jonas Vingegaard And Primoz Roglicthe two captains who had always been served wonderfully and who, for the occasion, had given way to him and he had been the third man from Jumbo-Visma to win a stage race: Roglic the Giro, Vingegaard the Tour and Kuss, precisely, the Tour of Spain. Three out of three to reaffirm an absolute domination that had aroused the admiration of many, the resignation of many and the rancor of those who, as often happens when one is enraged, have brought up tricks and doping, obviously without a shred of evidence. But that’s how it is. It seems like a lifetime ago. Everything has changed or almost and in any case a lot has changed, including Visma (and not only in name) which this year, partly due to bad luck, partly because it found itself in its path with a Tadej Pogačar stratospheric, he hasn’t won any major races yet. So the Vuelta is more than a goal. The 30-year-old American from Durango in Colorado starts among the favorites but among the favorites there will also be Primoz Roglic who now wears the colors of Red-Bull Bora and who won the race three times in a row between 2019 and 2021 and is aiming for poker to equal the record of Roberto Heras, the only one to win the red jersey four times. However, the UAE Team Emirates’ top riders could also slip in between the two “quarrelsome” riders Joao Almeida And Adam Yatesin addition to possible “outsiders” such as Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) and above all Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) already polka dot jersey at the Tour. As for Italy, the hope is called Antonio Tiberi, Bahrain climber Victorius white jersey at the Giro d’Italia, who will have at his side Damian Caruso. There is also Julius Ciccone who, after having lost tenth place in the Tour de France only in the final time trial in Nice, will try to redeem himself with a Lidl-Treck team that will also field Mattias Skjelmose And Tao Geoghegan Hart already winner of a Giro d’Italia. As per tradition, from tomorrow to September 8th it will still be a very tough Vuelta, with no peaks over 2,000 meters (the highest is Cuitu Negru, 1,843 meters), but with 54 Grand Prix of the Mountain and a total difference in altitude of over 59,000 meters. The first three stages will take place in Portugal: after tomorrow’s time trial with the 12 km between Lisbon and Oeiras, on Sunday it starts with the 194 km of Cascais-Ourem with two fourth-category GPMs, while the first stage in Spain, the Plasencia-Pico Villuercas, will be held on Tuesday, August 20th and will be the first uphill finish.