Vingegaard top favorite - Two Swiss riders at the start

From a Swiss perspective, the focus at the Vuelta will be on Fabio Christen from Aargau, who at the age of 23 is competing in his first three-week tour, and Stefan Küng. The 31-year-old from Thurgau celebrated his long-awaited first stage win in a Grand Tour last year in the final individual time trial in Madrid.

He had previously failed to achieve such a success in eight Tour de France and three Giro d'Italia participations. This year, there will also be a stage against the clock tailored to Küng's abilities - on the fourth-to-last day in Valladolid over 27 flat kilometers. One week after the end of the Vuelta, the Swiss rider will also compete in the time trial at the World Championships in Rwanda.

Pogacar and other stars are missing

The biggest rival is taking a break and the team could hardly be better staffed: When the Vuelta rolls off in Italy on Saturday, Jonas Vingegaard can hope for a happy ending to this cycling season. "I'm here for the overall victory - and with this team that's a realistic goal. I'm ready and would like to start right away," said the two-time Tour de France champion, who announced his decision not to take part in the World Championships before the start of the tour.

A good four weeks after the end of the Tour, where he once again had no chance against Tadej Pogacar in second place, Vingegaard has the opportunity to win a major stage race this year under the Spanish sun. His rival Pogacar is taking a break from racing after the many exertions and before the World Championships and the Tour of Lombardy.

The path to overall victory seems to be clear for Vingegaard, all the more so as, in addition to high-flyer Pogacar, last year's Vuelta winner Primoz Roglic, double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel (2022 Vuelta winner) and Tour bronze medallist Florian Lipowitz will also not start the Tour of Spain.

UAE team with double lead

Vingegaard, for his part, has prepared conscientiously and completed an individual training camp. As in France in July, he can count on his most important helpers Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss from the USA. Kuss won the Vuelta 2023 himself. Back then, Vingegaard had shown himself to be generous, putting aside his own claims to victory in the final week and ultimately settling for second place. That is not to be expected this time.

The biggest threat to the Dane is likely to come from the UAE team anyway, which in the absence of Pogacar is fielding a dangerous double lead with Juan Ayuso and João Almeida. The Portuguese rider won both the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse this year.

More than half a dozen mountain finishes, including the notorious Angliru with a gradient of up to 23.5 percent, have to be tackled before the final day in Madrid on September 14. There is not much left for the sprinters.

Classics specialist and former world champion Mads Pedersen is likely to have the best chance of winning the day. The Dane has already won four stages at the Giro.