Evenepoel defends the Tour of Spain against a luxury poster

MADRID, 25 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) will seek in the 78th edition of the Tour of Spain, which starts this Saturday in Barcelona, ​​to repeat his victory from last year, but he will have tough opposition from the Spanish Enric Mas (Movistar Team) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) and the Jumbo-Visma riders, the Danish Jonas Vingegaard and the Slovenian Primoz Roglic, who are looking for a historic triplet.

The Belgian beat Enric Mas and Ayuso in 2022, who completed the podium, while Roglic had to leave due to a fall. In 2023 they all repeat, but the winner of the last two Tour, Vingegaard, is added, who is looking for a double that no one has achieved since the British Chris Froome achieved it in 2017.

Such a mountainous route does not seem the most suitable for a Remco who was already seen to suffer in the last edition at the top of Sierra Nevada. The doubts that he showed in the Giro d’Italia and in the World Cup road test were dispelled in the time trial, where he swept the clock, but precisely the lack of kilometers against the clock in this Tour, made his favoritism decrease.

After the brutal exhibition in the Tour de France, Vingegaard announced by surprise that he would seek the double. He has not competed since Paris, but if he arrives with good legs he is the great favorite, since the route and the physiognomy of the Spanish ports favor him.

In the Dutch team he will be accompanied by Roglic, who does not know defeat in 2023 and will look for his fourth red jersey, which would be the Giro-Vuelta double. In the event that one of the two Jumbo wins, it would be the first time that a team has won the big three in one year.

The Spanish army is led by the young Juan Ayuso, who after surprising the last edition by sneaking into the podium arrives at the start of Barcelona as the alternative to the roosters. In the UAE he is accompanied by the third of this Giro, Joao Almeida, who will be the second asset of the Emirati team.

The Movistar Team has its main asset in Enric Mas, but after his fall in the initial stage of the Tour, his physical condition is unknown, and the brutal competition does not invite optimism. Apart from the fight for the general, the Spanish champion, Oier Lazkano, appears, who with his state of form could be an asset to partial victories in the medium-mountain stages.

The historic list of riders presents, in addition to those already mentioned, two other grand tour winners, both in the Ineos Grenadiers team, the British Geraint Thomas, who after his great Giro in which Roglic overtook him in the final stage, arrives at La Returned with the aim of fighting for a race that he does not yet have in his record.

For his part, Egan Bernal is in his year of return to cycling after the brutal accident that almost cost him his life and will be another help in the mountain stages, although in the general he will not have a leading role. Who could have something to say is his Dutch teammate Thymen Arensmans, who marveled with sixth place last year and arrives in good shape if Thomas is not completely well.

It is not the best race for sprinters, but there will be ideal finals for them, where the Frenchman Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), the New Zealander Kaden Groves (Alpecin Deceunink), the Colombian Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates) or the Italian Alberno Dainese (Team DSM) will have their chances of victory.

2023-08-25 18:22:22
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