While this year's Giro d'Italia was a foregone conclusion and the Tour de France the preserve of an elite few, the Vuelta a España promises to be a more open affair. That is, of course, entirely in keeping with the tenor of the season’s third Grand Tour, which has a habit of producing surprising surprises and even the occasional shock winner.
Nobody expected Juan José Cobo or Chris Froome to fight it out for red in 2011, after all, while Chris Horner’s victory two years later was a bolt from the blue. In 2015, Tom Dumoulin announced himself as a Grand Tour rider by almost winning the race, and Sepp Kuss’ overall victory twelve months ago brought an unexpected dash of drama to Jumbo-Visma’s procession.
