Malaga, Spain
Start of the inaugural time trial on Saturday at 5.26pm. Vincenzo Nibali will leave the starting ramp with racing bib number 1 at 8.21pm. Team Sky is on the hunt for its third Grand Tour of the year with Michal Kwiatkowski and David De La Cruz as leaders.
KWIATKOWSKI AND DE LA CRUZ TO LEAD TEAM SKY
The Sky team at La Vuelta has the youngest rider of the event: Franco-Russian Pavel Sivakov, who turned 21 last month. The race is starting without the outgoing winner, Chris Froome, who has chained four Grand Tours in one year, but the team remains ambitious with former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski, crowned in Spain in Ponferrada (2014) and recent winner of the Tour de Pologne. “I would say that I have a fairly open mind from La Vuelta,” says Kwiatkowski. I have never done two Grand Tours the same year but I’m ready for this new challenge. I did a great Tour of Poland after the Tour de France. Normally, I should be on vacation, sort of, but I’m starting this great race for the second time in my life. I think it’s the best preparation for the world championship this year. It’s also the best way for me to train. We have a very strong team with De La Cruz, Geoghegan Hart, Castroviejo, Henao, etc. We are here to compete in the overall standings but we have to be flexible and look for stage wins too. If I won La Vuelta, it would be something unexpected. I know how difficult it is, so I do not see myself as a suitor because there are so many others, but I’m ready and curious to see what La Vuelta can bring me.”
