There's no Nibali who wouldn't have raced it anyway even if he hadn't crashed in Rio. There is not even Aru who won it last year. But - even without the two Italians - the Vuelta which starts today with the team time trial in Ourense presents a startlist of great occasions with Chris Froome, Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana leading the list of favourites. The hope is that there will finally be on the roads of Spain that stellar clash that the Tour has been promising for some years but which has never actually been seen. Either for Froome's too clear superiority or for the jinx that put Contador out of the running prematurely or again for Quintana's unexpected reluctance in attacking. The fact remains that instead of sparks boredom often airs, even with all due respect to one of the most tiring and least paid sports. The route of the Vuelta, passed the first week without major difficulties, offers everything and more for the show: with many uphill finishes, a stage in the Pyrenees and a time trial of 31 km in the third to last stage which should give the definitive ruling on the leadership of the race.
Contador sees the Vuelta as his last chance to make up for a season so far lean and unfortunate. Uncertain about his future – whether to continue or stop in conjunction with Tinkoff's farewell to racing – the Pistolero has the possibility of hitting a historic poker of victories by equalizing the successes of his compatriot Roberto Heras. From him Contador certainly has pride. We'll have to see if he still has legs. The man to beat for the Pinto champion, more than Quintana, is Chris Froome even if the British at the Vuelta was never that Martian he reveals himself when he races the Tour. So much so that the white-Kenyan in Spain has not never won: two second places, a fourth before retiring last year. Fresh from an Olympics with a small bronze in the time trial that exalted Fabian Cancellara, Froome could be tempted by the desire to be the first rider to achieve the Tour-Vuelta double since the Spanish race was moved to the international calendar from April to August .
The Quintana enigma remains, third of the big names. Dalla has his age (26 years old in February) and a reputation as a grimpeur, but his latest performances have raised many perplexities. Too passive to really be a leader, the Colombian seems to be content with collecting podiums after winning a Giro in which the only opponent – Joaquim Rodriguez out of the picture – was Rigoberto Uran, good but certainly not unbeatable. Alejandro Valverde will always be there to help him improve his palmarés, which at the Vuelta is limited to fourth place last year, the old champion who at 36 years of age faces this year his third major three-week stage race: third in the Giro, sixth in the Tour, the Spaniard from Movistar – already victorious in the 2009 Vuelta – aims to be the first rider to enter the Giro top ten. Tour and Vuelta in the same year. And the organizers of the Vuelta, also taking advantage of the absence of Aru to whom it belonged by right, have decided to assign race number 1 to Valverde as a tribute to his indomitable desire to run and fight on every course. Said of the big names, among the possible surprises that the Vuelta could reserve on the road, a poker of names above all: Esteban Chaves (second in the Giro behind Nibali), Steven Kruijswijck (the Dutchman for a long time in the pink jersey before a fall put him out also from the podium), Miguel Angel Lopez (the Colombian from Astana who won the last Tour of Switzerland) and the South African Louis Meintjes (eighth in this year's Tour). For the Italians, without Nibali and Aru, there are few or even zero chances for the classification even if Michele Scarponi and Luca Brambilla (two days in the pink jersey at the Giro) are by no means the latest arrivals.
