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The 22 teams participating in the 77th edition of La Vuelta were introduced to the fans in Utrecht on Thursday evening, on the eve of the first stage around the Dutch city.
Winner of the last three editions, Primož Roglič aims for a historic conquest while Movistar get ready for Alejandro Valverde’s last dance with a special jersey celebrating his successes in the last 20 years.
Photo by HERBERT MOOS
The world champion Julian Alaphilippe and his Belgian partner Remco Evenepoel are also eager to shine in the Spanish Grand Tour.
Utrecht salutes the riders of La Vuelta 22
The 22 teams, with their 183 riders, saluted the crowds in Utrecht on the eve of the Gran Salida of La Vuelta 22 in the Dutch city. In a lively ceremony, the future heroes of the race were introduced to the fans on a stage set in Vredenburg-Platz before leaving in boats on the city’s canals. On Friday morning, at 11AM, in the headquarters of La Vuelta 22 in Utrecht, Sharon Dijksma (Mayor of Utrecht), David Escudé (Barcelona City Councillor for Sports) and Javier Guillén (Managing Director of La Vuelta) will celebrate the handover from Utrecht to Barcelona, set to welcome the start of La Vuelta 23. The race will then kick off in the evening, with Burgos-BH setting off at 18:30.
Roglic aims for a historic fourth
For the third year in a row, Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) starts La Vuelta with bib number 1 on his back, as the defending champion aiming for more conquests in the Spanish Grand Tour. A fourth consecutive success would be a first in the history of the event. “It definitely is something different, something special. We will go for that”, the Slovenian star said on Thursday. He sounded upbeat regarding his condition a month after abandoning the Tour de France with fractured vertebrae: “It’s definitely a lot better than it was. I recovered, I can still feel some things but we will see. Now I’m here, and when I come, I’m ready. We’ll see in the coming days and weeks what it means.” According to team captain Robert Gesink, it can only mean Roglic is up for battle: “A rider of his level, with all the things he’s been doing the last years, he would only come to a race like this if he thinks there’s something he can do.”
Valverde’s last dance, 20 years later
No less than twenty years after his debut in La Vuelta, in 2002, Alejandro Valverde bids farewell to a race that has seen him rise as one of the most outstanding riders in the history of the event, with the overall victory in 2009, 7 podium finishes and 12 stage wins. “La Vuelta is the Grand Tour I love the most, by far”, the Spanish veteran highlighted. “I have enjoyed it a lot: seven podiums, many victories, the affection of the public… I hope to enjoy it and do well. If I can achieve a stage victory it would be very nice for me, and doing a good job of supporting the team would be very rewarding.” For this occasion, Movistar riders will wear a white jersey with imprints highlighting Valverde’s biggest conquests. “Yesterday, we were joking that they should let him win the stage in Madrid”, his teammate Enric Mas explained before discussing his own conditions, a few weeks after abandoning the Tour de France with Covid: “We are here very shortly after the Tour, and despite having made a small ‘reset’ I still have enough left to be the same Enric as before. We will see first how we get out of the team time trial and then we will go day by day. It is my home race, where I have always felt very comfortable and a place where I can start again.”
Evenepoel and Alaphilippe’s shared ambitions
Among the most awaited stars in this edition of La Vuelta, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe expressed their confidence in their ability to chase different successes together. “It’s not complicated to have two different goals in the team”, Alaphilippe assured. “I’m here to try to win a stage. Remco is our leader for the GC, that’s clear, and he will have full support from the team.” Returning to La Vuelta five years after he took a stage, the Frenchman comes with “a lot of grit and will to shine until the end of the season, and it starts with La Vuelta”. As for Evenepoel, he wants to “focus on the goal for the three weeks but the more stage wins we take, the better. The first stage is already very important for us with the team time-trial. It’s difficult to talk about the final standings because you never know what can happen over three weeks. We have ambitions, myself and the team, and we all prepared very well to combine stages and GC.”
How to follow La Vuelta 22
From Utrecht to Madrid, the 21 stages will benefit from extensive coverage on all platforms, through the media reporting on the event and the official channels of La Vuelta 22. The live TV broadcast will be available in 190 countries and amount to more than 70 hours of coverage, including all the action in the Netherlands as well as four more stages broadcasted from km 0 later in the race (stages 8, 9, 15 and 20). Highlights and live info will also be available on the official website (lavuelta.es/en), the official app (https://www.lavuelta.es/en/mobiles-apps) and on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, with #LaVuelta22). The fans will also be able to get further involved with the La Vuelta Fantasy Game by Tissot, organised by Biwenger and Diario AS.
More information about La Vuelta on lavuelta.es