Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have confirmed that Primož Roglič will ride the Vuelta a España but are hesitant about his chances of a fourth victory after the Slovenian’s crash at the Tour de France and five weeks without racing.
Also in the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team for the Vuelta a España are Roger Adrià, Giovanni Aleotti, Nico Denz, Patrick Gamper, Florian Lipowitz, Dani Martínez and Aleksandr Vlasov, with these last two also given protected leadership roles.
Roglič fractured a vertebrae in his lower back in a nasty crash on stage 12 in the Tour de France, ending his dreams of challenging in the sport’s biggest race.
Roglič was not part of the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team for the Clásica San Sebastián but has been training at altitude for the Vuelta.
His biggest rivals for overall success include defending champion Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) and Australia's Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale). UAE TEam Emirates opted not to select Juan Ayuso but Adam Yates and João Almeida will lead a very strong team as they try to complete a Grand Tour hat trick after Tadej Pogačar's victories at the Giro and Tour.
34-year-old Roglič has won the general classification of the Vuelta three times, plus a dozen stages.
"We are going into the third Grand Tour of the year with great ambitions. We have nominated eight riders with whom we won't be hiding but want to compete aggressively for the GC,” Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe sports manager Rolf Aldag said.
“However, we will have to wait and see to what extent we can do this. After all, the crash injuries and five-week break from racing for both Primož and Aleks were not the ideal preparation for a Grand Tour."
Aleotti won the Tour of Slovenia, while Lipowitz recently won the Sibiu Cycling Tour. After his debut at the Giro d'Italia came to an early end, the German rider will now continue his Grand Tour experience at the Vuelta.
Adrià, Denz and Gamper complete the strong line-up, providing vital support to the team leaders.
Gamper and Denz have already raced the Giro and Tour this year, while Adrià makes his Grand Tour debut at 26. He is the only Spaniard on the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team but impressed at the recent Vuelta a Burgos.
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