Already troubled by the case of Samuel Sanchez, the Olympic champion from Beijing who tested positive in an anti-doping test and was therefore disqualified from the team by the BMC, the eve of the Vuelta was marred by the attack in Barcelona. But the show must go on and the one that starts this Saturday from Nimes in France is a Vuelta that promises a show, both for the track, very tough which has practically rarefied the presence of sprinters, with nine high altitude finishes, passing from the Pyrenees to the Sierra Nevada , to the mountains of Asturias up to the final icing of Angliru dalle bestiali, both for the performers ready to do battle. Only Nairo Quintana is missing, the last winner of the 2016 edition, but a Condor that has lost its wings this season, after a disappointing Giro and a disastrous Tour, is not really missed.
At the start there is the best of the world pedal starting with Chris Froome, who after three seconds, tries to hit the Vuelta Tour coupled only by two past champions such as Jacques Anquetil in 1963 and Bernard Hinault twenty years later. It is true that the master of the Tour has never been on the Spanish roads that Martian who showed himself on the French ones, but it is Froome himself who knows that time passes for him too and that the chances of a one-two will become increasingly difficult in the future. The registry factor is also beginning to make itself felt for the British: having risen late to the Olympus of cycling after seasons of apprenticeship and enlisted in the service of the baronet Wiggins, Froome is only two years younger than Alberto Contador, who at 34 years old after vainly chasing a third success in the Tour, he announced his retirement after this Vuelta. The Pistolero promises three weeks of dreams.
Maybe it won't be him but Froome's main rival, but he will certainly be a protagonist thanks to the boundless pride with which he has always fought to resurrect even in the dark moments of his career when a two-year retroactive disqualification for doping deprived him of a Tour and a big Giro win on the road. Two Tours, two Giros, three Vueltas in its palmarès: however this Vuelta goes, with the departure of Contador, cycling loses its greatest interpreter of the last ten years.
Ready to renew the challenge in Froome are the two standard bearers of Italian cycling: Vincenzo Nibali and Fabio Aru, two who have already won the Vuelta, the Squalo in 2010, the Knight of the Four Moors in 2015 after an exciting duel with Tom Dumoulin . It is also the first time that the two Italians have met racing for different teams after having played together for years in Astana. The one-two chased by Froome, Contador's last adventure before his farewell, the all-Italian challenge of Nibali and Aru on the Spanish roads: three more than enough themes to make the Spanish stage race electrifying which in recent years, also thanks to a route that favors the mountains has always won its battle against boredom. Even the French, although much less numerous than in other editions, are strong in Romain Bardet, now mature to look for his first big victory in a stage race after having collected podiums in the Tour.
To follow also Esteban Chaves, after a troubled season compromised by health problems, the Russian Ilnur Zakarin, the British Simon Yates and the Polish Rafa Maika, who came close to winning the Tour of Poland. Among the Spaniards, Mikal Landa is missing, who would have been a great favorite in the race but after the Giro and Tour, Team Sky preferred to leave him at home also to avoid friction with Froome, already evident in the Tour. It starts with a team time trial-prologue of almost 14km. while already in the third stage there will be great mountains with the arrival in Andorra la Vella. The terrible Angliru awaits the runners for the final judgment on the eve of the catwalk in Madrid.
