La Vuelta 19’s headquarters have opened in Torrevieja and riders are settling on the Costa Blanca. Bennett, Gaviria, Degenkolb and Jakobsen come to light up the sprints while young riders will have the opportunity to wear a white distinctive jersey for the first time in the race history.
La Vuelta 19 is already buzzing in Torrevieja
The riders will give the first official pedal strokes of the 74th edition of La Vuelta on Saturday but cycling is already taking over the spectacular Costa Blanca in the South-East of Spain. The race headquarters are set in the auditorium of Torrevieja, where the hundreds of journalists covering La Vuelta 19 and the thousands of people working on the race are gathering for the accreditation and pre-race operations while teams settle in their hotels and enjoy sunny training rides. The public will enjoy the first opportunities to exchange with the riders on Thursday. At 4:15 PM, in Teulada, the participants of the first stage of La Vuelta Junior Cofidis will ask their own questions to professional riders, before the accredited media meet with the race’s top contenders in the same place (5 PM). Then, everyone will move to the neighbouring Moraira Castle for the team presentation open to the public and broadcasted live on TV from 7:15 PM.
Bennett, Gaviria, Degenkolb: sprinting stars to light up La Vuelta
The sprinters’ line-up for La Vuelta 19 is a totally different one form 2018, and it promises fierce battles with elite riders taking on the Spanish Grand Tour. Sam Bennett is participating for the first time after a successful season: he already won 11 times in 2019 and claimed three stages just last week at the BinckBank Tour. The Irish national champion comes to La Vuelta in top condition to ride his first Grand Tour of the year, after Bora-Hansgrohe rode with Pascal Ackermann at the Giro and Peter Sagan at the Tour de France (both won the points classification).
At 30 years old, John Degenkolb has already built a much stronger relationship with La Vuelta: it was his first Grand Tour, in 2011, and he’s claimed ten stage wins (5 in 2012, 4 in 2014 and 1 in 2015). Among the riders participating in La Vuelta 19, only Alejandro Valverde has won more stages (11).
The Colombian star Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) is another newcomer ready to shine for his first participation in La Vuelta. He rode the Tour of Poland and finished second behind Marc Sarreau (Groupama-FDJ) on the points classification with his two places of 2nd, including one behind Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott). The French and Polish sprinters are also participating in La Vuelta.
But the sprinting sensation could come from the Dutch national champion Fabio Jakobsen, Deceuninck-Quick Step’s rising star, already keen to putting on a show. He will celebrate his 23rd birthfay in Igualaga on August 31st, on a stage where the sprinters will have to dominate a 2nd category climb. On paper, six stages look open to a bunch gallop (stage 3 in Alicante, 4 in El Poig, 8 in Igualada, 14 in Oviedo, 17 in Guadalajara and 21 in Madrid). The 19th stage in Toledo could finish with an uphill sprint while three more lumpy stages could see small bunches battle it out (stage 2 in Calpe, 11 in Urdax-Dantxarinea and 12 in Bilbao).
A distinctive jersey for the Best Young rider
La Vuelta 19 will see the introduction of a distinctive jersey for the best young rider of the race. It will be the first time the leader of this classification wears a distinctive jersey, after being identified with a red bib in 2017 and 2018. The Spanish Grand Tour had a similar although not exactly identical classification a few decades ago, dedicated to the neo-professionals (riders who would participate in La Vuelta during their first year as a professional rider). This classification was held on 10 occasions, in 1970 and from 1984 until 1992.
Miguel Angel Lopez was the first winner of the Best Young Rider classification, at the end of La Vuelta 17. And he almost repeated success in 2018, only to be edged by Enric Mas on the penultimate day. Astana’s Colombian climber will be a favorite again for this edition. All riders born in 1994 and later are eligible. That includes EF Education First’s rising stars Hugh Carthy, Daniel Martinez and Sergio Higuita; last year’s winner atop the Alto de La Camperona, Oscar Rodriguez (Euskadi-Murias); Britain’s new talent Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos)… And Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) might be the youngest participant at La Vuelta 19, but he’s proved all along the season he’s ready to battle with the strongest climbers in the World.
Cofidis celebrates its 10th La Vuelta as a partner of the organisation
Not only do Cofidis bring action on the road with an aggressive team that has been accumulating successes at La Vuelta for more than twenty years, they’ve also been a key partner of the Spanish Grand Tour since 2010. The company specialising in consumer credit has helped developing initiatives to push cycling for all. In 2019, La Vuelta Junior Cofidis will run for the 9th consecutive year, allowing kids from 8 to 12 years old to ride the last kilometres of La Vuelta stages in ten cities: Torrevieja (August 24th), Calpe (25th), Alicante (26th), El Puig (27th), Igualada (31st) Bilbao (September 5th), Oviedo (7th), Guadalajara (11th), Toledo (13th) and Madrid (15th). La Vuelta Junior Cofidis will hit a total of 90 stages since its creation, going through 40 provinces and connecting with 225,000 kids who have received more than 12,000 hours of education to the benefits of cycling.
