As in the former year’s, a TTT will kick off the last Grand Tour of the season and as experienced last year, we are in for an unpredictable race. The organizer of the Vuelta, Unipublic, has created a tough race, with no less than 11 uphill finishes. This will undoubtedly force an exciting race for the spectators, meanwhile the riders are in for quite a suffering the upcoming weeks.

The biggest star and favourite of this year’s Vuelta, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), foresees not only a tough, but also an unpredictable race.

“The Vuelta is a hard race to say ‘this will happen’ or ‘this will happen’, because we’ve all ridden hard this season already. I’ve done the Giro, and (top Spanish favourites) Alejandro (Valverde) and Joaquim (Rodriguez) have done the Tour, and your second peak of form in a season is always a bit shorter than the first.” cyclingnews

The riders are facing the last part of the season, and with the toughness of the route in mind, everything can happen. Though Nibali is crowned as the big favourite for the overall victory of the Vuelta, he is facing a serious lineup of rivals, ready to thwart his opportunity to take home the second Grand Tour title this year.

Besides the main challengers like Valverde (Movistar Team), who had an excessively unlucky TDF this year and Rodriguez (Team Katusha) who finished 3rd this TDF, the peloton also entails Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), the two sky riders Sergio Henao and Rigoberto Urán, Ivan Basso (Cannondale) and lastly Carlos Alberto Betancur (AG2R).

Nibali himself has good anticipations, though he might not be at 100 percent of his game at the moment.

“I didn’t do so well in the Tour of Poland, but taking third in the Vuelta a Burgos was a good sign. I eased back a little after that, but I’ve come here feeling good and with a strong team. I’ll be taking it on the day by day, on the hunt for stage wins or the overall depending on how things go.”

The World’s are waiting around the corner and this too can have an impact on the way we will see things develop in the upcoming weeks. Last year the WC route was rather flat, why the GC riders of the Vuelta did not have to spare themselves in that manner, but with the mountainous route this year, favoring the toughest climbers, the case different.

The Vuelta can come into the last week of the race before we definitely see whether Nibali will go for the overall or not. “How I race here is important, too, for after the Vuelta, because people will be watching me for my form for the World’s.” Nibali says.