David Stanley
2024 Vuelta a España preview
David Stanley is an experienced cycling writer. His work has appeared in Velo, Velo-news.com, Road, Peloton, and the late, lamented Bicycle Guide (my favorite all-time cycling magazine). Here's his Facebook page. He is also a highly regarded voice artist with many audiobooks to his credit, including McGann Publishing's The Story of the Tour de France and Cycling Heroes.
David L. Stanley
David L. Stanley's masterful telling of his bout with skin cancer Melanoma: It Started with a Freckle is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
David L. Stanley writes:
The 2024 Vuelta! What a capper to an incredible Grand Tour season. Vingegaard is back to top form after his stunning Tour return. Tadej is ready to grab the never before accomplished Grand Tour Triple! Remco, the 2022 Vuelta Champ, will be anxious to show off his double Olympics gold medals.
Does Tadej Pogacar add a red jersey to his 2024 Grand Tour jersey collection? Sirotti photo
Nope. None of that. What we have instead, on a typically brutal Vuelta parcours, are five loaded teams with genuine GC podium aspirations in Lisbon, plus four teams who could shake things up, possibly even podium, if things go right for them. For those who claimed the first 2 Grand Tours were boring because of the Pogačar Reverberation, this Vuelta is for you.
Is it time for Remco Eveneoel to win a Grand Tour? Sirotti photo
The Parcours. The official word from La Vuelta on this year’s parcours is this:
- 1 flat stage
- 5 medium mountain stages
- 8 mountain stages
- 2 individual time-trial stages
- 5 hilly stages (2 with high-altitude finales)
To that, I gently and respectfully say bullshit. On my inspection, I classified stages 1 and 21, the opening and closing time trials, as flat. Stages 2 and 5 are also flat. The rest, at the very least, offer a multitude of climbs that would quality as significant bergs in they were featured in a spring time Classic in Flanders or the Ardennes. Some of the stages were clearly designed by Count Tyrone Rugen, the six-fingered man with the machine designed to suck the life out of Wesley, the Dread Pirate Roberts in the black mask who was in love with Princess Buttercup.
Vuelta stage 4 profile, the first day in Spain after the Portuguese stages. Ouch!
The Weather. It promises to be ghoulish. This Vuelta circumnavigates Spain as it touches many of the major regions. Madrid sits squarely in the Spain’s middle. Mid-August in Madrid is no joke. Its temps range from 102F/39C in the day to 59F/15C in the evening. The average daily temperature in Madrid is 93F/34C. The teams that excel will not only have the finest climbers, they will also have the very best in science working for them as they seek to keep their riders’ core temperatures at a reasonable level. You’ll see more riders guzzling slushies than teenagers on the last day of the school year at the 7-11 as they queue up for Slurpies.
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Five loaded teams with real GC aspirations.
1. Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale. Ben O'Connor (AUS), Valentin Paret-Peintre and Clément Berthet (FRA), and Felix Gall (AUT). O’Connor is true blue, mate, and he will argue his case for a place in the podium right from the Day 1 TT. His 4th at the Giro shows he can compete for the podium over three weeks. As he was the only rider who could respond to Tadej’s brutal attack in the Giro, we know he is fearless. With Paret-Peintre, Berthet, and Felix Gall at his service, he must be considered a podium challenger.
Ben O'Connor finishes 2024 Giro d'Italia stage 10. Sirotti photo
2. EF Education-EasyPost. 2019 Giro d’Italia winner Richard Carapaz (ECU) won a Tour de France stage and the king of the mountains last month. He will be ready to win this Vuelta. With Rigoberto Uran and Rui Costa in tow, I feel that Richie enters this Vuelta as one of the three step favorites.
Richard Carapaz throwing high heat in 2024 Tour de France stage 20. Sirotti photo
3. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. HOT-TAKE->Dani Martínez (COL) will be the leader of this team before the race concludes in Madrid. His 2nd place to Tadej in the 24 Giro shows he is there. Primoz (SLO) seems to be the betting favorite, as well the pundit’s favorite, but as strongly as the man can dominate a one week stage race, his record shows a distinct inability of late to seal the deal over three weeks. Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS) is an incredibly strong domestique for whichever rider shows up as the team leader. (BTW- did you know that Roglič was a top international ski jumper? Hehehe.)
Primoz Roglic at the Critéium du Dauphiné this year. In yellow.
4. UAE Team Emirates. Isaac del Toro (MEX), Brandon McNulty (USA), Adam Yates (GB), João Almeida (PRT), Jay Vine (AUS), Pavel Sivakov. This team; Holy crap. McNulty is pissed because 1) he wasn’t named to the Tour team, despite having won 7 races this year and 2) his near medal in the Olympic TT was deeply unsatisfying. Adam Yates is in extra-good form. Almeida is ready to win his first Grand Tour after taking 4th in this Tour de France past. Jay Vine seems to be in excellent form after his bad crash and is eager to prove his health. Sivakov, a Franco-Russian born in Italy, is solid and utterly dependable in every situation. As for Isaac del Toro, this being the Vuelta, it might also be time for the kid to bust out, just as Chris Froome did with his 2011 Vuelta GC win. He is a climber of the utmost category. Perhaps this is the time he declares himself hors categorie.
Isaac del Toro earlier this year at the Tour Down Under. Sirotti photo
5. Visma-Lease-a-Bike. Sepp Kuss (USA). Wout van Aert (BEL). Cian Uijtdebroeks (BEL). Can Sepp repeat? Unlikely. He was a most deserving winner in 23, but for this year, his best help is Cian who lacks experience in the firestorm that is the Grand Tour. Wout, I believe, will help when he can, and he is a superb ally. Yet, don’t we think that WvA will be going for a few stage wins on the punchy, Classics type stages on offer?
Sepp Kuss at the end of the 2023 Vuelta a España. Note the red jersey. Sirotti photo
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4 solid teams who could shake things and possibly even podium if things fall their way.
1. Ineos Grenadiers. Josh Tarling (WAL) will win the opening TT. His talent against the clock in this race is unmatched. Carlos Rodriguez (ESP) is much like Dani Martinez and Isaac del Toro, a young man just busting to show everyone. He will have the sturdy Thymen Arensman (NED) at his side as the hills steepen, an excellent ally, but one guy is not enough in this year’s Vuelta.
Thyman Arensman wins 2022 Vuelta stage 15. Sprint Cycling Agency photo
2. Israel-PremierTech. Michael Woods (CAN) will win a stage. He may well be in the top ten. He does have George Bennett (NZL), an exceptional pure climber at his side as well as the seriously gifted young USA rider Matthew Riccitello. Matthew’s climbing gifts are noteworthy. If Ricci gets away in a small group, he can absolutely win an alpine stage.
Michael Woods: 2023 Tour de France stage nine. Sirotti photo
3. Lidl-Trek. Tao Geoghegan Hart will ride his first Grand Tour for Lidl-Trek, after he was ruled out of the Tour de France with Covid. He will be joined by Giulio Ciccone and Mattias Skjelmose in a strong lineup from the American team. Much like Rusty Woods, he’s a top ten pick.
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Tao Geoghegan Hart: 2023 Tour of the Alps stage 1 is his. Sirotti photo
4. Soudal-QuickStep. Mikel Landa (ESP), will once again, very quietly, ride his way into the top ten, and perhaps the top five in Madrid. After his fifth place in the Tour, he comes into the Vuelta fit and ready to race. No one reads a race quite like Landa, and that’s good, because he is limited in his climbing sidekicks. Luke Lamperti (USA) is a darkhorse pick to win one of the rolling stages. Watch for him to be glued to Wout van Aert’s wheel on those days.
Mikel Landa, 2024 Tour de France stage 19. Landa was 8th that day.
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My top ten:
- Joao Almeida
- Richard Carapaz
- Carlos Rodriguez/Mikel Landa
- Mikel Landa/Carlos Rodriguez
- Brandon McNulty
- Sepp Kuss
- Ben O’Connor
- Isaac Del Toro
- Adam Yates
- Wout van Aert
There you go. But for the love of all that is wholesome and good in the world, please don’t go and bet the rent this month on my picks. See you Lisbon! See you in Madrid. Hasta la vista and buena suerte, baby.
David Stanley, like nearly all of us, has spent his life working and playing outdoors. He got a case of Melanoma as a result. Here's his telling of his beating that disease. And when you go out, please put on sunscreen.