After a brillant summer with his 3rd victory in the Tour de France and a 3rd place in the men's time trial at the Olympics, Chris Froome will start the Vuelta with a lot of confidence even if he knows his physical condition is not at the top.

"It's no secret my condition is not the same as it was in the Tour de France", he told Cyclingnews. "My condition is not the same as it was in the Tour de France, but if I have the view of trying to get that good condition back by the second half of the Vuelta then let's see how it goes."

Froome still hopes to improve on his two second places.

"My focus for the season was the Tour de France, then I went on to the Olympics and I'm here on the back of that so I haven't trained specifically for the Vuelta. But I'm here, I'm motivated, I'm happy to be here, I've got a great team around me. (...) I've twice finished second, and I still haven't won it, and in that sense I've definitely got unfinished business here."