Who are the bookies's favourites for the Vuelta a España 2021?
Who do the bookies tip to take red in Santiago de Compostela
The third and final Grand Tour of the season, the Vuelta a España, is not far away with some of the world's best riders all down to ride - but who are the bookies tipping as their favourites?
The Vuelta sets off from Burgos on August 14 with a heated battle over the general classification expected to take place. Defending champion Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) will be keen to win a third Vuelta in a row but he will face a challenge from 2021 Giro d'Italia winner Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers).
However, this isn't as easy as picking two big names and moving on. There are multiple riders who could be in with a chance of taking the title.
Bernal's team-mates could easily be involved with Tour de France 2021 third place finisher Richard Carapaz, Adam Yates and Pavel Sivakov all down to ride.
But also Mikel Landa, Jack Haig, Damiano Caruso and Wout Poels (all Bahrain Victorious), Movistar's usual trident of Miguel Ángel López, Enric Mas and Alejandro Valverde, Hugh Carthy (EF-Nippo), Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech), Paris-Nice champion Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), to name a few.
Roglič is unsurprisingly the bookies main man as his odds sit at 11/10 with Bernal just behind on 11/2.
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Ineos Grenadiers have the next two spots with Carapaz and Yates with their odds at 9/1 and 16/1. Sivakov gets 33/1.
Landa comes into this looking like he's on top form after winning the Vuelta a Burgos, the Vuelta a España will only be his third race back since crashing out of the Giro, though, he is next in line at 18/1. His team-mate, Caruso is back from his amazing second overall at the Giro with odds sat at 50/1.
The usual Movistar trio of leaders has not worked often for the Spanish team, but they will be hoping they can have all three of their main men firing in the mountains, of which there are many in this race. López is the highest place of the three with Mas just behind on 20/1 and 22/1 respectively.
EF Education-Nippo look to throw the disappointment of the Tour out of the window with Hugh Carthy, 20/1, who comes into the Vuelta after winning the final stage of the Vuelta a Burgos.
Astana-Premier Tech look to be focused on the one man with Vlasov likely making his last appearance for the team from Kazakhstan before leaving to join the German team, Bora-Hansgrohe in 2022, the Russian is at 33/1.
Speaking of Bora-Hansgrohe, Max Schachmann has yet to show he has the ability to lead over three weeks but he will be keen to show he isn't just a new Mr Paris-Nice. He has been given huge odds of 325/1.
Other riders who are more on the outsider list are the likes of Lucas Hamilton (BikeExchange), 325/1, Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 1000/1, Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), 175/1 and Rafał Majka (UAE Team Emirates), 80/1.
VUELTA A ESPAÑA 2021 ODDS (WINNER - ODDSCHECKER)
Primož Roglič (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma, 11/10
Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, 11/2
Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, 9/1
Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, 16/1
Mikel Landa (Esp) Team Bahrain Victorious, 18/1
Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education-Nippo, 20/1
Miguel Ángel López (Col) Movistar Team, 22/1
Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, 28/1
Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech, 33/1
Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Ineos Grenadiers, 33/1
All odds correct at time of publication
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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