With the upcoming Vuelta a España featuring seven summit finishes and just four flat stages, this year's race is hardly catered for the sprinters of the peloton. It's no surprise, then, that almost all of the world's top fastmen are skipping the final Grand Tour of the season.
The Vuelta begins with a Monaco time trial, a hilly stage in Provence, and two days in the Pyrenees, meaning there are no chances for a bunch sprint in the Vuelta's Gran Partida.
Sprinters will have to suffer through mountain stages to Font-Romeu, Andorra la Vella, Aramón Valdelinares, and the Alto de Aitana before the first real flat finish. Stage 11 in Lorca gives them the first cast-iron chance to battle it out, with only the subsequent visits to Loja, La Rábida, and Sevilla offering further opportunities.
So, if La Vuelta says 'No sprints please, we're Spanish', then where will the peloton's top sprinters be racing this month?
The cream of the crop are heading to Belgium for the Renewi Tour, which looks to offer three or four sprint opportunities in just five days of racing.
Each of the sprint winners at last month's Tour de France will be battling it out once again there, as Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) take the start in Diest.
They won't be alone, though – far from it, as Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché), Biniam Girmay (NSN), and more will also be racing.
Meanwhile, the Vuelta will host a handful of sprinters, more of the type who can battle over the hills and excel on tougher finishes. Headlining the sprint selection in Spain are Tour green jersey winner Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Visma-Lease a Bike pairing Wout van Aert and Matthew Brennan, and seven-time Vuelta stage winner Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech).
Soudal-QuickStep CEO Jurgen Foré told Het Nieuwsblad that the Vuelta is "just a little too tough" for Merlier, who already has the Tour in his legs and would have to wait half the race for a chance to sprint, while two Grand Tours in a single season is too much for 22-year-old Giro d'Italia star Paul Magnier.
Alpecin-Premier Tech manager Christoph Roodhooft added that the Vuelta, just four weeks after the Tour, is "simply unfeasible" for Philipsen to tackle.
"You really need to be a complete sprinter to win stages in the Vuelta," he said.
"By that I mean someone who can handle hilly courses relatively comfortably. Both Groves and Philipsen fall into that category."
Groves, likely racing his final Grand Tour with Alpecin-Premier Tech with a move to Tudor in the offing, is set for a duel with Pedersen in Spain. The pair both have two Vuelta points jerseys on their palmarès and will be aiming for a third.
They'll have to overcome 58,156 metres of elevation along the way, however – a record among this year's Grand Tours, with the Giro featuring 49,150 metres, and the Tour 54,450.
At the Renewi Tour, meanwhile, reigning champion De Lie should duke it out with the likes of Philipsen, Girmay, and Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) for overall victory.
Renewi Tour |
Vuelta a España |
|
|---|---|---|
Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) |
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) |
|
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) |
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) |
|
Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) |
Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) |
|
Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) |
Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech) |
|
Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) |
Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) |
|
Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets) |
Axel Laurance (Netcompany Ineos) |
|
Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché) |
Alberto Dainese (Soudal-QuickStep) |
|
Biniam Girmay (NSN) |
||
Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) |
||
Max Kanter (XDS-Astana) |
||
Tom Crabbe (Flanders-Baloise) |
||
Sam Bennett (Pinarello-Q36.5) |
||
Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor) |
||
Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL) |
||
Sam Welsford (Netcompany Ineos) |
||
Madis Mihkels (EF Education-EasyPost) |
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