Joaquim Rodriguez and Daniel Moreno won the Vuelta a Burgos in 2011 and 2012 respectively but this year the Katusha duo has decided to forgo the event as they prepare for the Vuelta a Espana. Instead, it will be left to Giampaolo Caruso to try to make it three in a row in the Spanish event.

The Vuelta a Burgos has been dominated by Katusha in the last two season as Joaquim Rodriguez won in 2011 while his loyal lieutenant had a rare chance to race for himself last year when he took two stage wins on his way to the overall win. Having raced the Tour de France this year, the Katusha duo has, howeverm decided to skip this year's event as they prepare for their next main target, the Vuelta a Espana.

The duo has usually raced the Giro and the Vuelta and so the Vuelta a Burgos has fit perfectly into their race schedule. With the Tour already in their legs, the Katusha riders hope not to start the Spanish grand tour too exhausted and so have decided not to race at all in between the two three-week races.

Instead, it will be left to Giampaolo Caruso to lead the Russian team in the mountainous event. He led the race for a couple of stages in 2010 before ultimately finishing 7th and showed solid condition in the recent Tour de Wallonie where he worked for teammate Alexandr Kolobnev.

He will be supported by the young in-form Russian Sergei Chernetskiy who did a very good Tour of Poland, getting close to a stage win in the hard penultimate stage and finishing in the top 10 in the time trial. Russian climber Petr Ignatenko will also be a useful support ride as will Spanish veterans Angel Vicioso and Xavier Florencio.

Luca Paolini lines up in the race that has several finishes perfectly suited to his characteristics. The team is completed by Russian domestique Dmitriy Kozontchuk.

At the same time, another contingent of Katusha riders will race the inaugural Arctic Tour of Norway which starts on Thursday. The stages are rather flat and should suit the sprinters. Hence, it could be a good opportunity for Norwegian Alexander Kristoff to take an overall stage race win on home soil and he will lead the team in his first race after his maiden Tour de France.

In the sprints, he will be supported by Marco Haller and Rüdiger Selig while Mikhail Ignatiev, Maxim Belkov and Timofey Kritskiy who recently finished second in the Tour of Denmark time trial, will provide the team with some firepower to control the race.

Starting tomorrow at 15.30 you can follow the Vuelta a Burgos on CyclingQuotes.com/live. A thorough race preview will be online later today.

Katusha for the Vuelta a Burgos

Giampaolo Caruso, Luca Paolini, Sergei Chernetskiy, Petr Ignatenko, Angel Vicioso, Xavier Florencio and Dmitriy Kozontchuk

Katusha for the Arctic Tour of Norway

Marco Haller, Alexander Kristoff, Rüdiger Selig, Maxim Belkov, Mikhail Ignatiev and Timofey Kritskiy