It’s nearly time for the third and last Grand Tour of the season. On August 20, the 71st edition of the Vuelta a España begins with a team time trial. Sports directors Mario Aerts and Marc Wauters will lead Lotto Soudal all the way to Madrid, where the race ends on September 11.

Sander Armée, Bart De Clercq, Thomas De Gendt, Gert Dockx, Adam Hansen, Maxime Monfort, Tosh Van der Sande, Louis Vervaeke and Jelle Wallays will make up the Belgian team for the race.

For 27-year-old Jelle Wallays this will be his Grand Tour début. For Louis Vervaeke (22), last year’s Giro was his first Grand Tour ever, this season he will race the Vuelta for the first time. For Gert Dockx (28) it will be his second Vuelta. It’s the fifth Grand Tour of his career. Tosh Van der Sande (25) rode his second Vuelta in 2015. He claimed five individual top ten places. Sander Armée (30) is about to start his fourth Grand Tour and already rode the Vuelta in 2014.

The four other riders have more experience with the Spanish race. After an excellent Tour, Thomas De Gendt (29) will now take part in his fourth ever Vuelta. Bart De Clercq, who turns 30 in the first week, will race the Vuelta for the fifth time. He was seventeenth overall in 2012 and fourteenth last year. Adam Hansen (35) will start his sixteenth consecutive Grand Tour since the Vuelta 2011. Maxime Monfort (33) has also ridden a lot of Grand Tours in his career. During his five previous Vuelta participations, he has finished in top twenty of GC four times.

Monfort, De Clercq and maybe Vervaeke are likely to go for the GC while De Gendt, Armee, Wallays and Hansen will go for stage wins from breakaways. Van der Sande will be the team's sprinter and Dockx can be expected to be a loyal domestique.