The Portuguese capital, Lisbon, is dressed in his best clothes to welcome today the beginning of 79th Roundan edition of the Spanish round presented without a clear prediction in the absence of three tenors of the international platoon –Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel–, in Sepp Kuss’s defense of the success achieved last year and in a Primoz Roglic who a priori starts in the role of top favorite, as long as his form is at its best after the fall that forced him to abandon, once again, the Tour de France. looking for ‘Rogla’ equaling the four victories held by Roberto Heras from Bejar as the event record (2000, 2003, 2004, 2005), and thus breaking the tie with the Swiss Tony Rominger (1992, 1993, 1994) and the man from Madrid Alberto Contador (2008, 2012, 2014), Pinto was the last Spanish cyclist to achieve victory in La Vuelta.
Lisbon hosted the start of the first stage of La Vuelta in 1997, for the first time the test started outside of Spain. With a route of 22 stages, this edition has a luxurious team, with great runners such as Claudio Chiappucci, Tony Rominger, Pável Tonkov, Gianni Bugno or Abraham Olanothe final Swiss victory was recorded at the end Alex Zülle. At that time the Spanish round started rolling with the 160 kilometer stage won by the Dane. Lars Michaelsena different scenario than the 176 cyclists who will start today (the first to leave is Luis Angel Maté at 4:23 pm and the last one Wout Van Aer(at 7:18 p.m.).
Bet on the time trial
As has been the custom in recent years, La Vuelta began rolling in a time trial. If last year in Barcelona It was a team time trial, now in 2024 an individual time trial was chosen. The last time the Spanish round started with an ITT was in 2021, when Burgos, with a measure of only 7.1 kilometers.
Fortunately, this Saturday’s time trial has a slightly longer mileage, 12 kilometers, and it will probably have the same winner, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic. This season the leader of Red Bull has already won the preliminary test at the time of Itzulia (10 km) and 3rd in Dauphiné Criterium and the Tour de France, both won by Remco Evenepoel, absent this year in the race.
The initial time trial, designed by and for specialists and for runners to take the pulse of the race, does not present any relative difficulties, where good temperatures and winds from the north are expected with moderate intervals (30 km/h) without reaching strong gusts of wind. It starts in Lisbon and ends in coastal town of Oeiras, district of Lisbon.
After the starting signal of the time trial, the next two proposals have a similar profile, with the fourth climbing the category in the final kilometers of the day, drawing a scenario where a close battle is expected between the sprinters present at La Vuelta and those who bravely break the law of the platoon and seek escape. Three first stages where the first red jersey of the race is at stake, where in a certain way it is possible to see how the big favorites are doing and where aspiring cyclists must go with four eyes to avoid making mistakes which destroys previous difficult personal and team work.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
