In 1992, for the Barcelona Games, the United States basketball team summoned the stars of the NBA for the first time. Jordan, Magic Johnson, Bird, Barkley, Pippen, among others, performed at the Badalona Olympic. It was the one and only Dream Team. The gold had an owner before the referee threw the first ball into the air. Thirty-one years later, Barcelona has once again seduced all the stars. This time, from cycling.
There are 30 days left for the team time trial that will open the Vuelta a España dance and Jonas Vingegaard, brand new double Tour champion, has been the last to sign up for the party, which has a luxurious guest list. Just before arriving in Paris in yellow, the Dane from Jumbo announced that he would be fighting for the red jersey starting on August 26. Javier Guillén, the general director of the Vuelta, was pleasantly surprised on Sunday before lunch. He didn't know anything.
At the age of 26, Vingegaard does not want to dedicate himself solely to the Tour, and has decided to bet on the Vuelta, in search of a double that the British Chris Froome already achieved in 2017.
But Vingegaard will not be alone by any means. To begin with, in the Jumbo, his team will share leadership with Primoz Roglic, winner of this year's Giro d'Italia and triple winner of the Vuelta (2019, 2020 and 2021). The Jumbo can conquer the three big ones in the same year.
Pogacar will be missing, but Remco Evenepoel will make the Jumbo couple sweat a lot. The Belgian from Soudal dominated and was the pink jersey when the covid made him abandon the Giro in May. The world champion (who will no longer wear the jersey because the World Cup takes place on August 12 in Glasgow) will defend his 2022 Tour crown as a great argument to debut in 2024 in the Tour de France.
That Pogacar no longer wants a rematch does not mean that the UAE does not have a wonder boy prepared to fight. Juan Ayuso appeared in society last year with his third place in the Vuelta at the age of 19. The Valencian, in a season marked by an injury that prevented him from starting, has not dropped from the honorary positions since he returned, winning two time trials. Who knows if after the good Tour of Spanish cycling he may be the next to win a three-week race. The last one was Alberto Contador, who won the 2014 Vuelta. As if that were not enough, Ayuso will have the help of João Almeida, third in the Giro.
Vingegaard won't be the only Tour winner to be present at the Spanish round either. Geraint Thomas, who won the Champs-Élysées five years ago, will be the boss of Ineos. The 37-year-old Welshman is looking for the only podium he lacks, that of Madrid.
Enric Mas, already second three times, and the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, who scored three stages last year, fell on the first day of the Tour, on the way to Bilbao, abandoned and will be terribly eager to shine.
In the absence of all the line-ups of the 22 teams being known, Vlasov, Ciccone, Dunbar or the young Frenchman Lenny Martinez also have the Vuelta on their calendar. There is always time for a last minute surprise, even though right now it seems that there is no room for more roosters in the pen.
