Neo pros Barry Markus – whose season got off to a great start at the Tour of Qatar with three podium finishes – and Wesley Kreder have both been named on the 13-man squad.
With serious questions over the team's future beyond the end of the current season, Vacansoleil-DCM is aiming for a determined showing at the Spanish Grand Tour.
"The group of riders is very motivated and all riders have a strong motivation to start in this race," sports director Aart Vierhouten explained. "With for example De Gendt still wanting to show something in 2013, Poels looking forward to follow-up on his Tour de France and Flecha eager to race to his hometown. For the team it is great to have Tomasz Marczynski [13th at 2012 Vuelta] back after a lot of injury [and] I believe we are ready for a great race."
De Gendt has had a disappointing 2013 following the success of last year where at the Giro d'Italia where he claimed the Dutch team's first ever overall podium in a grand tour, finishing third. The Dutchman finished third in the first time trial of the Tour de France to Mont-Saint-Michael but the team struggled to make an impact on the GC.
The Vuelta a España starts on August 24.
Preselection: Johnny Hoogerland, Wesley Kreder, Barry Markus, Wout Poels, Lieuwe Westra, Thomas De Gendt, Willem Wauters, Frederik Veuchelen, Juan Antonio Flecha, Rafael Valls, Grega Bole, Tomasz Marczynski and Sergey Lagutin.
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