The third Grand Tour of the season is fast approaching and Team Giant-Alpecin will head to this year’s Vuelta a España following successful campaigns at the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, winning two stages each. The team returns to Spain after being close to the overall podium with Tom Dumoulin (NED) last year and after having won three stages. For this year Team Giant-Alpecin has once again the objective of stage success during three weeks of racing, which covers more than 3,000 km.

The Vuelta a España will take place from Saturday, August 20th, to Sunday, September 11th. Like last year, the race gets underway with a team time trial of 29.4km, in the province of Ourense. The first mountain stage comes on stage three with a summit finish in Mirador de Ézaro. The rest of the race presents a plethora of different opportunities.

"We head to the Vuelta with the aim of winning a stage and our long-list will offer us the opportunity to compose a team to attain this goal," said coach Luke Roberts. "In the Vuelta, there are usually some intermediate stages that are unsuitable for a sprint finish but not difficult enough for the GC riders, and we will target those stages aiming for a good result.

"In the build-up to the race, we will fine-tune our preparations and complete recons of the key stages. The last important races for the riders ahead of La Vuelta will be Vuelta a Burgos, Tour de l'Ain and Arctic Race of Norway."

Giant-Alpecin long-list for Vuelta a España:

Nikias Arndt (GER),  Warren Barguil (FRA), Bert De Backer (BEL), Koen de Kort (NED), Johannes Fröhlinger (GER), Chad Haga (USA), Cheng Ji (CHN), Fredrik Ludvigsson (SWE), Tobias Ludvigsson (SWE), Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (NOR), Tom Stamsnijder (NED) and Zico Waeytens (BEL).