
The Vuelta a Espana gets underway on Saturday, with the final grand tour of the season packed with its usual mix of undulating terrain, harsh, irregular climbs, and nary a flat stage in sight.
In truth there are any number of stages which could trip up promising maillot rojo contenders, from back-to-back early summit finishes in the opening week to the tricky final descent on stage 12, a banana skin for the less accomplished descenders of the peloton.