Primož Roglič and Sepp Kuss will headline the Jumbo-Visma team for the upcoming Vuelta a España with the Slovenian looking to take his third straight crown and join a very elite club that consists of Roberto Heras and Tony Rominger.
Roglič heads into the Spanish Grand Tour as the team’s GC leader after crashing out of the Tour de France and abandoning ahead of stage 9 due to his injuries.
He came back into form with an incredible ride to take gold in the time trial at the Olympic Games in Tokyo – finishing over a minute clear of his nearest competitor - and will head to Spain as one of the top favourites for the overall title in what many expect to be a tight battle with Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers).
The team looks to be all-in for Roglič with no sprinter selected for the race but a strong contingent of climbers.
Sepp Kuss, who won a Tour de France stage into Andorra this year will ride by Roglic’s side in the key mountain stages, while Steven Kruijswijk – who also abandoned the Tour de France – also returns to the race.
The veteran has finished ninth and fourth in the race before. Robert Gesink also makes the team, again having crashed out of the Tour de France, while Koen Bouwman and Sam Oomen will provide additional cover in the mountains.
Lennard Hofstede, and Nathan van Hooydonck will assist Roglic on the flatter stages as the team look to mount a GC challenge.
It’s understood that Roglič will also head to the Tour de France next year as he looks to end Tadej Pogacar’s two-year dominance at the race.
“Primož is the big leader of our team. We saw in the Olympics what he can do so I’m 100 per cent sure that his ambition is to win yellow and there’s no doubt that he will want to fight for that in the coming years,” directeur sportif Merijn Zeeman told Cyclingnews earlier this week.
All-rounder Wout Van Aert will not race the Vuelta but will lead the team at the Tour of Britain in September.
