While Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) has not been selected by his team for La Vuelta - as expected, unfortunately - Eddie Dunbar has been named as general classification leader for the race by his Team Jayco AlUla squad.
The Irishman was 7th overall at Giro d'Italia in May and was one of the very best climbers in the race on some of the hardest stages. And that showing in Italy earlier in the season has secured Dunbar an outright general classification leader's role in his team for the Spanish Grand Tour, starting in Barcelona on Saturday.
However, Dunbar won't carry all the pressure for the team as it has effectively also pushed forward two other riders who will target stage wins. That approach means five of the team's line-up will support the trio - including Irishman Dunbar - charged with chasing results.
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Italians Filippo Zana and Matteo Sobrero are those assigned to aim for stage wins, with Zana having ridden the Giro alongside Dunbar, and won a stage, and Sobrero having won a stage at Tour of Austria (2.1) last month.
The three pronged Irish-Italian leadership model - but with Dunbar as outright general classification leader - is backed by five strong riders; Hagos Welay Berhe, Felix Engelhardt, Michael Hepburn, Jan Maas and Callum Scotson.
The latter, Scotson, had been an especially good worker for Dunbar, at the both the recent Tour de Pologne and at the Giro, until the Australian rider was forced to abandon the Italian Grand Tour just before the halfway point.
Dunbar's early season was derailed by a hand injury; breaking a bone in a crash in his first race, Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (2.Pro), way back in February. When the healing process became protracted, and the Irishman needed surgery, he missed two months of racing, with concerns arising about his ability to compete at the Giro.
However, after getting a couple of stage races under his belt in the shape of Itzulia Basque Country (2.UWT) and Tour de Romandie (2.UWT) - where he was 9th on the queen stage and 9th overall - Dunbar then went into the Giro and rode the race of his life. It was just his second Grand Tour and he remained incident-free and climbed with the best.
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His two-month break from racing perhaps came back to bite him a little in the final couple of stages in the mountains, where he lost some time and slipped from 4th to 7th overall. However, most of that time loss came on the final day's hilly TT. Hopefully this time around - with a perfect build-up to La Vuelta - Dunbar can be even strong.
He took a long break from racing after the Giro, to rest and then begin to rebuild his form. He very sensibly bypassed the National Road Championships at home and the World Road Championships in Glasgow in favour of building uninterrupted towards this Vuelta.
That preparation has included an extended block of altitude training in Andorra - his first time to prepare like that - and an appearance in Tour de Pologne, where he was 7th overall. Going into this Vuelta he faces a field every bit as talented, perhaps even more so, than at the Giro, with Jumbo Visma in particular bringing a very strong selection.
Three-time Vuelta winner, Primož Roglič, is back to try and win for the race again and is joined by co-team leader, and Tour de France champion, Jonas Vingegaard. Last year's Vuelta winner, and world TT champion, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) also returns, and promises to be a real handful.
Giro 3rd place finisher, João Almeida, leads UAE Team Emirates into the race - alongside Juan Ayuso and Jay Vine. Enric Mas (Team Movistar) should also be in contention, as should Geraint Thomas of Ineos Grenadiers, which also has Thymen Arensman, who is a Grand Tour star in waiting, and Egan Bernal.
Romain Bardet should be in the mix in the GC battle for Team dsm-firmenich, which also has very talented young British riders Max Poole and Oscar Onley; the latter in particular may make a big impression in the overall if he got a proper chance.
Bahrain-Victorious may not have an outright favourite to win the race, but Mikel Landa and Damiano Caruso can both challenge for the top five, if in form. Bora-hansgrohe also has contender Aleksandr Vlasov, along with Sergio Higuita, Lennard Kämna and last year's Tour de l'Avenir winner, Cian Uijtdebroeks (20).
Groupama-FDJ has selected two of the most exciting riders to come out of France for a while - and two prolific winners at junior and U23 level - Romain Grégoire and Lenny Martinez. Meanwhile, Giulio Ciccone leads the GC challenge for Lidl-Trek and Hugh Carthy stars for EF Education-EasyPost.
