Christopher Froome

Team INEOS announced on Wednesday that four-time Tour de France winner Froome and 2018 champion Geraint Thomas had not been included in their squad for the first Grand Tour of the year, which will begin on August 29.

Froome, who will move to Israel Start-Up Nation next year, will instead target the Vuelta as Thomas leads INEOS' charge at the Giro d'Italia.

Reigning Tour champion Egan Bernal will spearhead the team's hunt for an eighth title in nine years and will be supported by debutant Richard Carapaz, who won the Giro last year.

The decision ends speculation over how INEOS would approach the Tour with a star-studded list of options.

Froome, 35, only returned to competitive racing in February after a horrific crash at the 2019 Criterium du Dauphine left him with multiple serious injuries.

While he will now have to wait until 2021 for his next chance to win a record-equalling fifth Tour, the Briton accepted his ongoing recovery meant the Vuelta option made sense.

"It's definitely a readjustment for me, moving the goalposts from the Tour de France to the Vuelta," said Froome.

"But I think, given where I've come from through the last year, I've had an incredible recovery from the big crash I had last year.

"I'm in a very fortunate position to be back racing now, but I'm not confident that I can really fulfil the necessary job that would be needed for me at this year's Tour de France.

"I think it's a lot more realistic targeting the Vuelta and gives me the chance to really get stuck into something that is deliverable.

"At the end of the day, people have to remember that I'm coming back from a horrendous crash last year where I fractured a lot of bones in my body. I'm still coming back to that full level of fitness at the moment."

All three Grand Tours will take place in quick succession after the coronavirus pandemic caused scheduling changes to the professional cycling calendar.

The Tour is scheduled to end on September 20, with the Giro taking place from October 3-25 and a shortened Vuelta scheduled for October 20-November 8.

Thomas will now look to join an elite group who have won different grand tours.

"It's nice to finally have a firm plan in place and to know exactly what I'm doing and try and get some kind of positive out of this year," he said.

"I've always enjoyed racing there - I love Italy, the fans and the food, obviously. It's a race I've always enjoyed anyway, so I'm certainly looking forward to going back and that is the plan now."

Tadej Pogacar beat Roglic by 59 seconds to win the Tour last month as the Slovenian duo recorded a remarkable one-two for their country.

Roglic, who has reached the podium at all three Grand Tours, goes into the Vuelta as the man to beat, having won by two minutes and 33 seconds over Alejandro Valverde in 2019.

Froome, Valverde, Tom Dumoulin, Richard Carapaz, Thibaut Pinot and Enric Mas will all be hoping to challenge.

Ahead of the event, which starts with a stage from Irun to Arrate on Tuesday and runs until November 8 with the finish in Madrid, we take a look at the biggest talking points with the help of Opta data.

A DIFFERENT YEAR

As well as clashing with the conclusion of the Giro d'Italia, which runs until October 25, due to coronavirus-related rescheduling, this year's Vuelta has some other key differences.

For the first time since 1985 there will be fewer than 21 stages, with just 18 in the 2020 race across a 2,882-kilometre route.

Irun will host the start of the race for the time, while it was 1961 when La Vuelta last began in the Basque Country.

SPANISH DOMINANCE WANING

Historically, home riders have thrived at the Vuelta, with Spanish participants winning on 32 of the 74 occasionsthe race has been run. France and Belgium are the next best nations on nine and seven respectively.

However, a Spaniard has not taken the red jersey since Alberto Contador triumphed in 2014, the country's longest drought since 1992-1997 (six races).

The dry spell came after Spanish riders had won eight of the first 10 Vueltasin this century. Now, Contador's 2012 and 2014 wins are their only triumphs in the last 10.

On the plus side, a Spanish rider has won a stage at every Vueltaapart from in 1996.

THE CHALLENGE FACING ROGLIC

Roglic is looking to defend his crown, but no rider as achieved that at this race since Roberto Heras' triumphs between 2003 and 2005. The Team Jumbo-Visma star also faces some stiff competition. 

INEOS Grenadiers rider Froome is the last rider to have won multiple editions of La Vuelta, doing it so in 2011 and 2017 – the longest span between two wins among all riders with multiple titles. 

He will now look to join Heras (four wins), Tony Rominger (three) and Contador (three) among the Vuelta greats.

Valverde has finished on the Vuelta podium a remarkable seven times in 13 appearances (2003, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2019), the most of all time.

He has 10 top-five finishes, although 2009 was his only win. This will be the veteran's 14th participation, more than any other active rider.

Mas finished second in his last outing in 2018, when he also finished as best young rider.

The Movistar rider comes into the race with some form – he was fifth at the Tourand came second in the young riders classification behind only the yellow jersey winner Pogacar.

Pinot has been in the top 10 in each of the two Vueltas he has managed to finish, though he has abandoned in a Grand Tour seven times, which is more often than he has reached the end (six).

Dumoulin has been in the top 10 in each of the last five grand tours he finished, while Carapraz has two major top-five results to his name, though is yet to finish higher than 18th in Spain. 

POINTS JERSEY UP FOR GRABS

Roglic and Froome won the points jersey as well as the overall classification in their 2019 and 2017 triumphs – prior to those doubles, that feat had not been achieved since 2000.

Along with the challengers for overall glory, sprinters Sam Bennett and Pascal Ackermann are among the top contenders for that honour at this event.

Irishman Bennett has seven stage wins at Grand Tours, while German Ackermann won the points classification in the only previous Grand Tour he took part in, the 2019 Giro.

The 77th edition of the Grand Tour starts in Utrecht, with the opening three stages taking place across the Netherlands before the caravan transfers to Spain.

It is only the fourth time that the Vuelta has started outside of Spain, after doing so in Portugal in 1997, the Netherlands in 2009 and France in 2017.

Spanish riders have won 32 of the previous 76 editions, but not since 2014 has a Spaniard triumphed, when Alberto Contador tasted glory.

It is the longest wait for a Spaniard champion in the race's history, and in the last three years, it is Roglic who has dominated.

Meanwhile, Alejandro Valverde, the 2009 champion, will bid goodbye to his home Grand Tour.

Roglic's shot at history

Roglic won his first Vuelta title in 2019 and successfully defended in 2020, despite his heartbreaking defeat to Tadej Pogacar at that year's Tour de France.

He crashed out of Le Tour in 2021 but bounced back in style, winning Olympic gold in Tokyo before clinching a third-straight Vuelta triumph to match the feats of Tony Rominger (1992 to 1994) and Roberto Heras (2003 to 2005).

Now, Roglic has history in his sights. Only Heras has won the Vuelta on four occasions, but no rider has ever won it over four successive years.

The 32-year-old Roglic's Tour de France again ended early this year, as he watched team-mate Jonas Vingegaard storm to success and set up a rivalry with Roglic's compatriot Pogacar that should enthral for years to come; but at the Vuelta, Roglic is Jumbo-Visma's main man.

Roglic has won the Vuelta in all of his three appearances, reaching nine stage wins in this period, more than any other rider (Fabio Jakobsen is the next best, with five to his name). He also claimed the points ranking in both 2019 and 2020, and could equal Erik Zabel (three) as joint-second on the all-time list for that classification, behind Sean Kelly, Valverde and Laurent Jalabert (four each).

"Of course the record gives me more motivation, it's special," said Roglic in a press conference on Thursday. "We're going to fight for that."

There are some concerns over his fitness after the injury he suffered at Le Tour, however.

Roglic said: "At certain moments I still feel some pain, but it is already much better than before. We'll see. If I get to the start here, it means I'm ready too. But I'll have to wait and see in the coming days and weeks to find out how it really goes."

Roglic could also feasibly set a record for the most stages wearing the red leader's jersey. He is currently level with Herras on 36, 12 behind Alex Zulle's haul of 48.

A last dance for Vuelta veterans?

Valverde, of Movistar, will be making his 16th Vuelta appearance. The 42-year-old has achieved more podium finishes in the general classification than any other rider, having done so on seven occasions, including his 2009 success.

If he completes the race, Valverde, who has won 12 individual stages at La Vuelta, will equal Federico Etxabe, Chente Garcia Acosta and Inigo Cuesta as riders who have finished the most times (14).

"To win a stage would be incredible," Valverde said on Thursday. "I don't believe I will be at the same level as the best during 21 days, but we do have a team-mate who can be among the top three or perhaps even win. What I see for myself is that I will try to win a stage."

Chris Froome, meanwhile, is a two-time Vuelta champion who is out to prove himself once more.

The seven-time Grand Tour winner has been struggling with COVID-19 in the build-up this time but is set to make his eighth appearance in the race, having finished on the podium four times, taking the 2011 and 2017 titles.

The first of those victories was only awarded to Froome in 2019 after original race winner Juan Jose Cobo was disqualified for a doping offence.

In a stellar career, Froome has become the first British rider to win all three of the biggest races in cycling.