Vuelta a España 2023 – The ultimate team guide

Jonas Vingegaard lines up as part of a strong Jumbo-Visma squad (Image credit: Getty Images)

We're heading towards the finale of the 2023 cycling season and with that comes the last of the three Grand Tours of the year, the Vuelta a España.

The Spanish Grand Tour, running its 78th edition this year, may not have as high a profile of the Tour de France or the Giro d'Italia, but August after August it finds itself welcoming the stars of the GC world to take on what is reliably a mountain-packed three weeks of racing.

In the absence of climbing stars Ben O’Connor and Felix Gall, AG2R Citroën Team will be hunting goals other than a high GC placing. Andrea Vendrame is a contender for what few sprinting opportunities there are, Geoffrey Bouchard could attempt to repeat his victory in the King of the Mountains classification from 2019, and American Larry Warbase has been doing altitude training with the intention of targeting breakaways.

New recruit Arnaud Démare will not be making his Grand Tour bow for Arkéa-Samsic, perhaps put off by the lack of flat stages on the parcours. The team might have hoped to have former rider Nairo Quintana lead them here had he not left the team at the end of last year under the shadow of a doping disqualification. Instead, they’ll hope riders like promising young climber Kévin Vauquelin and fast finishers Hugo Hofstetter can deliver them results.

As usual, Bahrain-Victorious have assembled a Grand Tour line-up full of climbing talent, with multiple potential GC options, but not one clear leader. It could be Damiano Caruso, who proved during the spring that he can still compete at the age of 35 by placing fourth overall at the Giro d’Italia. 23-year-old Santiago Buitrago is their new young hope, and comes into the race on the back of a near miss at the Vuelta a Burgos and, earlier, a stage win and podium finish at the Giro and Liège–Bastogne–Liège respectively. And can Mikel Landa return to his early season form in what will be his last Grand Tour before leaving the team?

There’s plenty of climbing talent in Bora-Hansgrhoe’s line-up for the Vuelta. Recent Vuelta a Burgos runner-up Aleksandr Vlasov looks set to be their GC leader, as he competes in his first Grand Tour since having to pull out of the Giro earlier this year with illness, and he’ll also be joined by quality climbers Sergio Higuita and Lennard Kämna. There’s also much interest in how 20-year-old former Tour de l'Avenir winner Cian Uijtdebroeks will perform on Grand Tour debut, having impressed and made the top ten at the Tour de Suisse, Tour de Romandie and Volta a Catalunya.

For the sixth year in succession, Burgos BH have been awarded a wildcard entry to the Vuelta. The man who delivered them a stage victory in 2019, Ángel Madrazo, will unfortunately miss the race due to injury, although the team who finished second behind him that day to complete a one-two, Jetse Bol, will be present. Veteran Daniel Navarro is set to compete in his 23rd Grand Tour at the grand old age of 40.

This is a team that can often be looked at for young surprise packages, and for the Vuelta they’re handing two British 20-year-olds Grand Tour debuts: Oscar Onley, who recently registered a couple of top-five stage finishes at the Tour of Poland, and Max Poole, who was eleventh and fourth overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de Romandie respectively. They’ll also have more experience to rely on, as Romani Bardet returns to try again for a GC ride having crashed out of the Tour de France, and Giro stage winner Alberto Dainese targets the sprints.

With Richard Carapaz ruled out having not recovered in time from his crash at the Tour de France, Hugh Carthy is set to lead EF Education-EasyPost’s GC challenge. The Brit enjoyed the best performance of his career here three years ago, when he finished third overall and won the Angliru stage, and has since made the top ten at both the 2021 and 2022 Giro d’Italia. Joining him will be a youthful roster of riders including Stefan Bissegger, Simon Carr, Marijn van den Berg and Andrea Piccolo.

For the first time since the 2022 Giro d'Italia, Groupama-FDJ go into a Grand Tour without either of their stars Thibaut Pinot or David Gaudu to lead them. Instead, there’s an opportunity for Michael Storer to see if he can return to the form that saw him win two stages of the 2021 Vuelta prior to his arrival at the team, and for much-hyped youngsters Romain Grégoire and Lenny Martinez to enjoy some freedom as they make their Grand Tour debuts.

Still searching for their first Grand Tour stage win of the season having found success at both the Giro and Vuelta last year, Intermarché-Circus-Wanty turns to a mixture of experience in former multiple stage winners Rui Costa and Rein Taaramäe, and youth in promising young talents Hugo Page and Rune Herregodts. But their best hope for a win might be Gerben Thijsssen, who was second during a stage at the 2020 edition and is on paper one of the fastest sprinters in the race.

Emboldened by his seventh-place finish from the Giro d’Italia earlier this year, Eddie Dunbar will again lead the line for Jayco-AlUla at the Vuelta. Considering that he reached as high as fourth-place overall during that race before falling back in the final three days, the Irishman may believe he can go even better this time. Among the riders supporting him will be Filippo Zanna, who won a stage himself at the Giro, and Matteo Sobrero, who may fancy his chances of winning the mid-race time trial.

Although Lotto-Dstny aren’t repeating what they did at the Giro d'Italia, when they declined an invitation to ride, they are far from sending their a-list riders to the Vuelta, with Caleb Ewan, Arnaud De Lie and Victor Campanaerts all missing. Fan favourite Tomas De Gendt will be present though as he competes in his first Grand Tour of the season, as will puncheur Andreas Kron and sprinter Milan Menten.

Enric Mas will again lead Movistar’s challenge at the Vuelta a España, as the Spanish team looks to make an impact in their home Grand Tour. Mas will be eager to perform having had to pull out of the Tour de France on the opening day following a crash, but his form is unknown having not raced since then. Among those Joining him will be climbers Carlos Verona, Einer Rubio and Ruben Guerreiro, plus Spanish champion Oier Lazkano, fresh from his stage win at the Vuelta a Burgos.

Star name Tadej Pogačar might have ruled himself out, stating that he needs a break having raced competitively since February, but UAE Team Emirates nevertheless have a very strong squad for the Vuelta that looks more than capable of challenging for overall victory. Last year’s podium finisher Juan Aysuso will again be joined by João Almeida, who was fifth last year and achieved his first ever Grand Tour podium earlier this year with third at the Giro d’Italia. Jay Vine provides an option either as a third wildcard option in the GC or a climbing super-domestique, while Juan Sebastián Molano will hope to get some opportunities in the sprint having recently taken a stage win at the Vuelta a Burgos.

Stephen Puddicombe is a freelance writer based in Bristol. He has written for Cyclingnews since 2020, and has covered cycling professionally as a freelancer since 2013, writing for outlets such as Rouleur, Cycling Weekly and Cycle Sport, among other publications. He is the author of The World of the Tour de France, published by Sona Books. Outside of cycling he is a passionate cinephile, and a long-suffering Spurs fan.