Why you should watch La Vuelta anyway - Domestique Cycling Podcast

Tadej Pogacar arrives at the Vuelta a España chasing the one Grand Tour missing from his palmares, seven years after finishing third here on debut at twenty. Primoz Roglic is now expected to start, five weeks after being hit by a car in training, still hoping for a fifth title that would make him the outright record holder. Felix Gall and Oscar Onley come in off the back of Burgos, where five seconds separated them, and on Monday morning Visma confirmed that defending champion Jonas Vingegaard will not race again this season. We don't think the GC battle is really a battle at all, but the podium behind Pogacar is wide open, and we go through all 21 stages to work out who takes it.

We cover the Monaco time trial and its F1 corners, the brutal short stage into Andorra, and the gravel sections and punchy finishes that should suit the breakaway all through week one. We get into the Alto de Aitana and the heat that comes with it, the Jerez time trial that could cost Felix Gall his podium spot, and the queen stage to the Collado del Alguacil, the only Categoría Especial climb of the race. Then we lay out our predictions for the podium and the green jersey, talk about what a "day by day" Vuelta actually looks like for Roglic, and go through the riders worth watching beyond the favourites.

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🎮 Play Domestique Predict

We're back for the Vuelta. Pick the rider you think will finish highest on every stage. You can only use each rider once across the whole race, and your score is their time behind the stage winner minus a bonus of 10, 6 or 4 seconds for a top three finish. It runs like its own GC, from Monaco on Saturday through to Granada on 13 September, and it's free. Come beat us at https://peloton.domestiquecycling.com/predict