The mere presence of local hero Luis Leon Sanchez in the Astana team will guarantee that the Vuelta a Murcia, scheduled for February 14, will be a success.

Sanchez did not live up to expectations in the Tour Down Under where he finished 13th, more than 2 minutes behind winner Rohan Dennis, mostly because the Spaniard is usually very strong in the early part of the year as underlined by his overall win in the 2005 edition of the Australian race and his many glorious performances in Paris-Nice.

On February 14, he is expected to be one of the leaders at the start in Mazarron and he is expected to feature at the finish at the top of the climb to the Lorca Castle where he finished 34th last year. Sanchez started the final climb with the best but was unable to match the accelerations and finished far off the mark.

Sanchez is familiar with the course. The real test for him will be the Collado Bermejo climb. To win the race, one needs to survive that challenge before making a final attack on the last climb.

But it is not the only contender at Astana who have more than one ace up their sleeve. Italian Michele Scarponi will be another option in the explosive finale.

Another candidate is Estonian Rein Taaramae who has joined the team from Cofidis. His extraordinary versatility puts him on the list of favorites. It would be no surprise to see the Estonian make an attempt from afar like his then-teammate Jerome Coppel did in the Spanish race one year ago.