The battles for pink and yellow have come and gone, now it’s time for the peloton to take on 21 challenging days of racing; fighting over steep mountains, full-gas sprint stages, challenging hilly days and efforts against the clock as they battle for the Maillot Rojo and more, at the last Grand Tour showdown – the Vuelta a España.
Beginning across the border in Portugal, a flat time trial will get the race underway in Lisbon, before a few probable sprint stages. Already on stage four, the first mountain-top finish at Pico Villuercas could see an early GC battle, before more hilly and mountainous terrain awaits. Week one is rounded off with one of the toughest stages of the race with 4500 metres of climbing before a dash into Granada. Returning to the north of the country; the sprinters and breakaway riders will most likely battle it out before the race heads back to more serious climbing and a brutal finish on Cuitu Negro with its 14 percent average for over two kilometres. The closing week of racing sets the tone with no easy start and a summit finish on Lagos de Covadonga. Two rolling days will give the sprinters and breakaway opportunists chance, followed by a final foray into the mountains with the queen stage on day 20 sure to see some fireworks. The GC battle could potentially go down to the wire with a 24-kilometre race against the clock into Madrid rounding out the three weeks of action.
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL head to the start line in Lisbon, adorned in their distinctive two-striped jersey and ready to get stuck into what should be an exciting 21 days of racing.
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Phil West expressed: “We’re really looking forward to coming back to the Vuelta this year, especially after having such a good experience last year. This season we once again come with a balanced squad that includes some debutants and guys with more experience. We hope to be competitive with our young-gun Max, who’s coming back from a challenging year but has shown good legs recently at Vuelta a Burgos. We will support him as he tests himself for the first time in the GC at a Grand Tour. Alongside that, we will aim for results in the sprint stages with Pavel as our finisher, who also showed he’s in form at Burgos where he took his first pro win. We want to be engaged in the race from the get-go and try to take our chances where we see them. There will be days where we will look for the break, but we will always have a focus on the GC. Some days that might mean we are there to have support up the road, but equally on other days it means we will go hunting for the stage results, but all the time we will keep Max protected. After the opening time trial, we have a couple of sprint chances with Pavel before stage four, which should see the GC guys do battle and from there our race will take shape, especially after the end of week one and the tough mountain finish. This will be Max’s first go at GC in a Grand Tour so we’ll keep the pressure low, learn as we go and put in good foundations for the future. We’ve made some positive steps the past week in Burgos, with some really nice results and strong riding as a group, so we will look to continue and build on that over the next three weeks.”
Looking forward to his return to the Vuelta a España, Poole said: “Last year overall we had quite a nice three weeks and came away happy with how it went. Obviously, it was the perfect start with the win in the TTT and then we added another win towards the end of the race. The morale was good in the group, and we worked really well together, so it was a nice way to experience my first Grand Tour last season. We also overcame the usual challenges of a three-week race like illness and crashes well together as a team. I’m looking forward to coming back to the race again this year and I know a bit more what to expect from the Vuelta. It’s a super hard route this year, starting with the TT in Lisbon, which I think will be nice and I’m looking forward to opening the legs there. Hopefully we can have a good start before an exciting three weeks with the team. It will be a big challenge to see how I can go in the GC battle and see if I can stay there, and hopefully come through well towards the end of the race. We have a nice team and have had a good week already in Burgos; both with some nice results but also how we’re getting on as a group and riding together. If we keep working on the level that we have been in Burgos and get some nice results along the way, then we can leave the race happy. I think the overall feeling, not just for me but for the team, is excitement. It will be a hard race and a big fight as always, so we just need to stay focused and keep going together all the way until Madrid.”
