The Vuelta will be starting within the next week! As usual all the action and highlights will be shown on ITV4. Aru, Nibali and Movistar's trio of Quintana, Valverde and (provided he recovers) Landa will all be there.

All comments, remarks and discussion welcome throughout the contest!

Great Britain's Tao Geoghegan Hart will make his Grand Tour debut when he rides for Team Sky at the Vuelta a Espana.

 

He is part of an eight-man squad for the event, which starts on 25 August.

All of the squads have been declared for the Vuelta A Espana:

 

https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/vuelta.../2018/startlist

And we're off! Rohan Dennis takes the first Red Jersey after winning the Time Trial.

So today's stage is the first to test the GC teams, and it's really shaken up the list of names! Here's the current GC:

 

1. Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky) (2-1-1-1-)

2. Emanuel Buchmann (Bora) (25-7-7-2-)

3. Simon Yates (Mitchelton) (30-12-12-3-)

4. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) (16-2-2-4-)

5. Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) (10-3-3-5-)

6. Jon Izaguirre (Bahrain-Merida) (9-5-5-6-)

7. Tony Gallopin (AG2R) (31-8-8-7-)

8. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) (34-9-9-8-)

9. Steven Kruijswijk (Lotto-Jumbo) (28-11-11-9-)

10. Enric Mas (QSF) (40-13-13-10-)

 

11 (14) Rafal Majka (Bora)

12 (16) Thibeaut Pinot (FDJ)

13 (17) George Bennett (Lotto-Jumbo)

14 (25) Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana)

15 (18) Fabio Aru (UAE)

16 (19) Rigoberto Uran (Drapac)

18 (71) Ben King (Dimension-Data)

19 (4) Laurens De Plus (QSF)

34 (36) Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha)

38 (103) Nikita Stanlov (Astana)

49 (10) Bauke Mollema (Trek)

64 (77) Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida)

67 (6) Fabio Felline (Trek)

169 (167) Richie Porte (BMC)

Rudy Molard taking the red from the breakaway :o Everyone else falls back a place.

Well what was supposed to be a routine sprint stage turned out to be anything but with that crash and split! Most of the main contenders were in the front pack of 40 but Kelderman and Pinot fall to 17th and 18th respectively. Mas re-enters the Top 10.

The first big stage has shaken up the GC nicely! Here's the current ranking:

 

1. Simon Yates (Mitchelton) (30-12-12-3-4-4-4-4-1-)

2. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) (16-2-2-4-5-5-2-2-2-)

3. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) (34-9-9-8-9-8-8-8-3-)

4. Emanuel Buchmann (Bora) (25-7-7-2-3-3-3-3-4-)

5. Jon Izaguirre (Bahrain-Merida) (9-5-5-6-7-6-7-7-5-)

6. Tony Gallopin (AG2R) (31-8-8-7-8-7-5-5-6-)

7. Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) (44-26-25-14-15-12-12-12-7-)

8. Rigobeto Uran (EF Drapac) (80-20-19-16-17-14-14-14-8-)

9. Steven Kruijswijk (Lotto-Jumbo) (28-11-11-9-10-9-9-9-9-)

10. George Bennett (Lotto-Jumbo) (71-18-17-13-14-11-11-11-10-)

 

11 (13) Fabio Aru (UAE Emirates)

12 (10) Enric Mas (QSF)

13 (15) David De La Cruz (Sky)

14 (17) Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb)

15 (6) Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky)

16 (18) Thibaut Pinot (FDJ)

17 (1) Rudy Molard (FDJ)

18 (26) Ben King (Dimension-Data)

Jesus Herrada got in a breakaway 11 minutes ahead of the main field! He's now in the lead by over 3 minutes, everyone else falls down a place.

A great win yesterday for Oscar Rodriguez for recently promoted wildcard team Euskadi-Murias! His first stage win in any race and Murias' first in a Grand Tour.

 

In the GC, Herrada keeps the red but with a much slimmer advantage, the top 10 is the same 10 riders but is re-shuffled a bit as Buchmann is now down to 10th.

The time trial has really shown how the riders are going - Yates keeps the red he took a couple of stages back and takes time over Valverde in second. Lopez and Quintana both fall back as Kruijswijk climbs to 3rd and Mas to 5th.

Mas up to third now, both he and Valverde gaining seconds on Yates. Kruijswijk and Quintana down to 5th and 6th respectively.

Well the final proper stage changes the podium once again! Mas climbs up to second from 4th and Lopez to 3rd from 5th, whilst Valverde falls from 2nd to 5th and Kruijswijk from 3rd to 4th. Yates has the red jersey secure now though :cheer:

 

The first time all three Grand Tours have been won by different British riders! :o