La Vuelta a España 2024: route, favorites and how to watch

After Tadej Pogacar's monologue in the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, it's now time for the third of the Grand Tours, La Vuelta a España 2024, which will take place from August 17 to September 8, practically a week earlier than its usual dates. This will be an opportunity for some cyclists who have not been able to show their full potential so far this season to redeem themselves.

Can Primoz Roglic win his 4th Vuelta a España?

Almost without realizing it, we are entering the final stages of an exciting 2024 season. The small races at the beginning of the season, the classics, and the spectacle provided by Tadej Pogacar in the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France are now distant memories.

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However, there are still many cyclists who come to the end of the year with unfinished business. Whether it's due to bad luck in the form of falls, illness, or injuries, or simply because they haven't been able to reach the required level to achieve their goals. For them, La Vuelta a España 2024 represents the last chance to justify themselves to their respective teams.

Favorites to win La Vuelta a España 2024

With a route featuring mostly medium mountain stages and only two short time trials, the field of contenders for victory opens up in La Vuelta a España 2024, which undoubtedly appears less exciting than the recent editions with notable absences such as the top three finishers of the Tour de France.

With all the line-ups yet to be defined, there are few names we can mention regarding participation, although there are some clear contenders who have had La Vuelta a España 2024 in their sights from the start.

This leaves the door open for Primoz Roglic to achieve a 4th victory in La Vuelta a España, a victory that has eluded him and would set a record for the race. However, doubts remain about how he has recovered from the tough crash that forced him to abandon the Tour de France, but surely the Slovenian is motivated to make up for it in the Vuelta.

Obviously, we cannot overlook the potential of a team like Visma-Lease a Bike, where the leadership will fall on the current winner of La Vuelta a España, the American Sepp Kuss. In any case, the Dutch team will surely bring a strong lineup with the confirmation of the presence of a stalwart like Wout van Aert, who will be looking to solidify his form for the Zurich World Championships in the Spanish tour.

It is also an excellent opportunity for the great idol of the fans. We are talking about Mikel Landa, who gave us a great performance in the Tour de France and will start La Vuelta a España 2024 as the leader, trying to take advantage of the few time trial kilometers, his weak point. Let's hope that the pressure does not affect him, as traditionally his performance has always been better when he was the second man rather than when he had to take on the responsibility.

There are doubts in UAE Team Emirates. Initially, it seemed that the ace had to be Juan Ayuso, who already knows what it's like to be on the podium in La Vuelta. However, there is clear discontent with the Alicante rider in the team, and he is initially left out of the lineup for this race, even though the director of La Vuelta, Javier Guillén, has urged the team to include him in their eight. Whether he is selected or not, we should not underestimate the presence of cyclists like Isaac del Toro, Adam Yates, or Joao Almeida who will most likely take part in the race.

The question remains of how Movistar Team will approach La Vuelta a España 2024, whether with yet another attempt by Enric Mas to conquer a general classification or directly adopting the philosophy of the Tour de France, where they showed themselves as a tremendously combative team in search of stage wins, which undoubtedly gave a lot of visibility to the team despite not achieving the desired victory.

Route of La Vuelta a España 2024

The medium mountain terrain will be the main protagonist of the 2024 edition of La Vuelta a España, which starts in Portuguese lands with a short time trial through the streets of Lisbon followed by a couple of days on hilly terrain, ideal for breakaways, also in Portuguese territory.

An appetizer before the first mountain finish in Extremadura with the ascent to Pico Villuercas serving as a prelude, except that the next stage is completely flat, heading to Seville, to new medium mountain stages with the Sierra de Ronda as the backdrop for stage 6, which will start at the Carrefour de Jerez, specifically from inside the supermarket to give maximum visibility to the race's main sponsor with one of those crazy starts that La Vuelta is known for, in a stage that will end in Yunquera with the ascent to Alto de las Abejas.

Arrival the next day in Cordoba in a stage usually decided in a sprint but with the 14% climb a few kilometers from the finish ready to break up the mass arrival, concluding the first week with a stage also deceptive through the Sierra de Cazorla and one of the queen stages of this edition with Sierra Nevada as the backdrop and the ascents to Purche and Hazallanas twice before finishing after a long descent in the streets of Granada.

The second week will also start intensively after the transfer to Galicia with two tough stages in the style of what is usually seen in these lands. Rolling terrain, not a single flat meter where an ambush can happen where least expected. An appetizer for another mountain finish, this time with a single climb design with the arrival at the Manzaneda station in stage 12, a prelude to the thirteenth, another of the queen stages of this edition where the colossal Ancares pass will be faced as the conclusion.

And the toughness of the second week does not stop there, as the next day the peloton will continue through mountainous terrain towards Villablino, facing the Leitariegos pass just over 20 kilometers from the finish, concluding the week with another truly mountainous stage in Asturian territory with the tough ascent to Cuitu Negro.

The cyclists will have to make good use of the second rest day because stage 16, still in Asturias, will take them to the most mythical finish of La Vuelta a España, the always decisive ascent to Lagos de Covadonga.

It won't be until stage 17 when the peloton can catch a break with the stage that will take them to Santander before facing the final stretch of La Vuelta a España. First with another rolling stage in the Basque Country featuring the climb to the Herrera pass, a stage presumably destined for a high-level breakaway. The next day, another mountain finish with Moncalvillo as the protagonist, a stage that should not offer much more as the favorites will likely save their bullets for the twentieth stage, where the organization has prepared a spectacular route with the best of Cantabria: Estacas de Trueba, Braguía, Caracol, Lunada, Portillo de la Sía, Los Tornos, and the final climb to Picón Blanco. A tremendous mountain stage that, hopefully, will still have things to decide in the general classification to fully enjoy one of the toughest terrains in Spain.

Only the finish in Madrid remains, which, unlike the usual insipid stage that typically ends the race, will be a time trial format this time, although its short 25 kilometers should not lead to significant differences.

How to watch La Vuelta a España 2024

As the official signal producer of the race, RTVE will set the tone for the broadcast of La Vuelta 2024, with the complete stages to be broadcast and the broadcast schedules on which the public channel will alternate between its thematic channel Teledeporte and TVE1 yet to be confirmed. In any case, if you want to avoid interruptions and channel changes, the broadcast through the online platform RTVE Play is the answer.

Eurosport will have similar schedules as well, as they also have broadcasting rights for the race and will surely provide top-notch coverage of one of the three Grand Tours on the calendar.