The Vuelta a España is a special occasion for British fans as it marks Chris Froome’s long-awaited return to Grand Tour racing.
Froome hasn’t raced for three weeks since the 2018 Tour de France and hasn’t started the Vuelta since winning it in 2017.
But after his horrific crash last season, the four-time Tour winner is back to the Spanish Grand Tour and will be lining up as join leader for Ineos Grenadiers.
The Vuelta organisers have published the provisional start list for the 2020 race, which starts in the Basque Country on October 20.
Ineos will be taking a stacked squad to the Vuelta, having missed out on the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia titles this year.
Surprisingly Egan Bernal, winner of the 2019 Tour de France, will not be racing in Spain after he pulled out of this year’s Tour due to fatigue.
Instead leadership will fall to Froome and Richard Carapaz, the Ecuadorian winner of the 2019 Giro d’Italia who joined Ineos from Movistar at the start of the season.
Carapaz has already lined up in a Grand Tour this year, as he was called up to the 2020 Tour de France, but things didn’t go according to plan as Carapaz fell out of contention early.
The question will be how he has recovered since the final stage of the Tour in September.
Ineos will also be racing with another former Movistar signing, Andrey Amador who also came on board at the start of the season.
Amador also raced the Tour, but was not a feature at the sharp end of the race.
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Colombian duo Brandon Rivera and Ivan Sosa will also be racing in the Vuelta for Ineos and are likely to feature in the high mountains, along with Dylan van Baarle, while Cameron Wurf will be the workhorse for the team on the flats.
Ineos Grenadiers squad for the Vuelta a España 2020
Chris Froome (GBr)
Andrey Amador (CRC)
Richar Carapaz (Ecu)
Michal Golas (Pol)
Dylan van Baarle (Ned)
Brandon Rivera (Col)
Ivan Sosa (Col)
Cameron Wurf (Aus)
