In the absence of Jurgen Van Den Broeck and Andre Greipel, Jelle Vanendert is set to lead the Lotto-Belisol team at the Vuelta. The Belgian missed the Tour de France due to a virus infection but has now overcome those difficulties and will target either the GC or stage wins in the Spanish race.

Stomach problems forced Jelle Vanendert to miss the Tour in which he was expected to be a key lieutenant for Jurgen Van Den Broeck but the Belgian has now overcome his troubles and has set his sights on the Vuelta. He returned to competitive action in the Tour de Wallonie, raced the Tour de Pologne some weeks ago and now headlines the Lotto-Belisol selection for the Vuelta.

Vanendert rose to prominence in the 2011 Tour de France when he won a big mountain stage to Plateau de Beille and wore the polka-dot jersey for numerous days but had a disappointing performance in last year's Tour. He has specialized in the Ardennes classics but is now set to lead his team in a grand tour. He still hasn't decided whether he will focus on the GC or go for stage wins in select stages.

He can expect to get support in the mountains from Francis De Greef and Bart De Clercq who have both been included in the pre-selection. Both have finished in the top 20 in previous grand tours and will race the Vuelta on the back of previous grand tour showing this season. De Greef was the team's GC captain in the Giro in which he finished 21st while De Clercq rode a very strong Tour de France and finished 11th on the Mont Ventoux.

The roster also contains a number of fast riders that could give the team some options in the sprints. Usual lead-out man Greg Henderson could get a rare chance to chase personal success while Vicente Reynes, Dennis Vanendert and Tosh Van Der Sande also know how to mix it up in a bunch sprint.

As expected, Adam Hansen has been included on the roster. The Australian completed all three grand tours last year and hopes to do the same again this season. He won a stage in the Giro and hopes to repeat that performance in Spain.

The roster is completed by tireless domestique Jurgen Van De Walle while Dirk Bellemakers, Gaetan Bille, Brian Bulgac and Maarten Neyens were all included in the pre-selection but missed out when the final cout was made.

The team's three remaining captains Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Andre Greipel and Jurgen Roelandts will not race the Vuelta. The former crashed out of the Tour and won't make his comeback until next season. Greipel usually finishes his season with the many sprint-friendly one-day races and hasn't been attracted by the mountainous route of the Vuelta while Roelandts has also decided to focus on his specialty: the one-day races.

The Vuelta starts on August 24 with a team time trial in Galicia.

Lotto-Belisol pre-selection for the Vuelta a Espana

Jelle Vanendert, Bart De Clercq, Francis De Greef, Dennis Vanendert, Greg Henderson, Tosh Van Der Sande, Vicente Reynes, Adam Hansen and Jurgen Van De Walle