Three days before the start of the Vuelta, Jelle Vanendert revealed his personal goals: "I aim for a stage win and will also play a domestique role for Bart De Clerq, Jurgen Van den Broeck and Maxime Monfort."

After missing the Tour, the Lotto-Soudal rider formed the rest of his year around the Tour of Spain. "The course suits my characteristics,” he told Sporza.

"It's not like in the Tour where you have three mountain stages, followed by a number of transitional rides. The Vuelta has 21 hard days with the occasional sprint opportunity."

"I aim for the first place on a stage, but I have selected any particular stages yet. I look at it from day to day. I will also play a domestique for Bart, Jurgen and Maxime."

He says that despite rumours Van den Broeck wont target the overall, he says he knows his compatriot well and that not chasing a good result on GC is not in his nature.

"What's ambitions Van den Broeck has? I've not heard from him, but Jurgen knowing he'll try to go for a good ranking. I’ve never heard him say " I'm not going to try" and that will not be different this time either. "