Dane Jonas Vingegaard is the man to beat at cycling's final Grand Tour of the season when the Vuelta a España rolls out of Turin on Saturday for a 21-day run packed with mountains.
The Spanish race starts with three days in the Piedmont region of Italy before sweeping into France. It also spends two days in Andorra as the home action gets underway, culminating in Madrid on September 14.
There are a massive 10 summit finishes as the general trend away from bunch sprint stages is pushed to an extreme, with only two sprints seemingly guaranteed and a potential two more, depending on how the peloton approach them.
Another Dane, the 2019 world champion and winner of the 2025 Giro d'Italia points competition, Mads Pedersen, is the favourite for the sprint expected on day one.
On day two, the climbing begins. There are 10 stages with at least 3 000m of vertical gain, making for relentless pressure rather than one single make-or-break blockbuster climbing day.
No Dane has won the Vuelta, which is the junior Grand Tour. It was first raced in 1935. The Tour de France was first run in 1903 and the Giro in 1909. The Vuelta is embarking on its 80th edition, which will also be 300th Grand Tour raced in cycling history.
Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard is red hot favourite.
Three big contenders. One final Grand Tour.
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'OVERALL VICTORY'
His team Visma won the Giro d'Italia with Simon Yates in May. Vingegaard came second at the Tour de France. Success in Madrid would complete a good season.
"I'm here for the overall win, and with this team supporting me, that seems like a realistic goal," said Vingegaard, starting his third Vuelta.
Visma Head of Racing Grischa Niermann was in bullish mood in Turin.
"Jonas is our leader and our biggest chance for the overall victory. But with Sepp Kuss, we have a former winner at the start," he said.
Visma are sending a deep and powerful team that appears the strongest on paper at least.
"We have a team that can support Jonas in every situation," Niermann said.
The race should be spared much of the traditional heat and the boredom of dual carriageways as it sticks to the cooler northern regions of Galicia, the Basque Country and Asturias. It goes no further south than Madrid.
There are plenty of rivals for the overall leader's red jersey, but neither the superstar Tadej Pogacar nor the 2024 champion Primoz Roglic will line up.
In the absence of Pogacar, who will defend the world title in Rwanda in September, Team UAE have two hopes in Joao Almeida and Juan Ayuso.
Colombia's Egan Bernal plays the dark horse and can complete the treble of all Grand Tours after his 2019 Tour de France and 2021 Giro d'Italia wins. But American rider Kuss is the only former Vuelta champion in the pack.