The Tour de Pologne was the first step in the preparation for the Vuelta a Espana and this week the build-up for the final grand tour of the season continues with the traditional warm-up event, the Vuelta a Burgos. The race may not have attracted its usual formidable line-up of Vuelta favourites but riders like Vincenzo Nibali, Ivan Basso and Samuel Sanchez still plan to put the final touches to their Vuelta form in the mountainous and windy event in the Northern part of Spain while a certain Nairo Quintana targets another big result in a race that suits him down to the ground.

It's part of the anatomy of the cycling calendar that every grand tour is preceded by a short warm-up stage race in a mountainous part of the country that hosts the three-week race. The Giro contenders use the extremely mountainous Giro del Trentino to prepare for the biggest Italian race while the Tour favourites head to the Alps and the Dauphiné to finish off their build-up for the world's biggest bike race. The Vuelta counterpart to those two races is the Vuelta a Burgos which starts on Wednesday and offers the riders for the Spanish grand tour a perfect opportunity to test themselves out in high mountains, on short, explosive finishing climbs and in fierce crosswinds - three challenges that often play a crucial role in determining the overall winner of the three-week Spanish race.

The Dauphiné is a WorldTour event and so is a highly prestigious event in its own right with all ProTeams lined up at the start line. The Trentino and Burgos races are only 2.HC races on the European Tour calendar and so their natures are more one of mere preparation for later targets. As it is the case for the Trentino race, more and more foreign teams have, however, started to recognize the value of Vuelta a Burgos whose calendar date and course turn it into the perfect build-up for the Vuelta, and so the race has obtained a more international flavour and gained more prestige in its own right. At the same time, the race is one of the biggest on Spanish soil and for some of the smaller teams, it is one of the highlights of the entire season which guarantees a very aggressive and attractive race.

In years gone by, the grand tour favourites were never at their best and not in the running for the win in their preparation races but that trend appears to have changed in recent seasons. Using the Trentino and Dauphiné races as a gauge, the Vuelta a Burgos may be even more indicative of what will happen in the Vuelta than it has been in years past. Vincenzo Nibali won the Giro del Trentino on his way to his Giro triumph while Chris Froome stood atop the Dauphiné podium just a few weeks prior to the Grand Depart in Corsica. The late-season scheduling of the Vuelta may force the Vuelta favourites to ride a little bit more conservatively in Burgos than Nibali and Froome did in their build-up events but we should still be much wiser when the race comes to its conclusion on Sunday.

Taking place in the Northern province of Burgos, the race was first held in 1946 but after its second running in 1947, it was shut down. Many years passed before the gauntlet was finally picked up again and the third edition of the race was held in 1981. Since then, the race has been an annual fixture on the UCI calendar and big riders like Marino Lejarreta, Pedro Delgado, Alex Zülle, Laurent Dufaux, Tony Rominger, Laurent Jalabert, Abraham Olano, Francisco Mancebo, Alejandro Valverde, Iban Mayo, Samuel Sanchez and Joaquim Rodriguez have all been crowned winners of the event. The race has been held in August since 1984 and since the Vuelta was only rescheduled from spring to autumn in 1995, it hasn't always had status as a preparation event. Since 1995, two riders have gone on from a Burgos win to triumph in the Vuelta: Abraham Olano in 1998 and Alejandro Valverde in 2009.

The course varies from year to year but one stage finish is always part of the build-up of the race: the feared summit finish on the Lagunas De Neila climb. With its status as decisive queen stage, the race to the beautiful nature park and its many lakes has often been held early in the race but since 2009 the race has come to a dramatic conclusion on the top of its most famous ascent. Traditionally, there has also been some kind of timed event - either an individual or a team time trial - but for the second year running, the organizers have decided to make up a race entirely of road stages. That plays the cards into the hands of the climbers who excel on the Lagunas De Neila and the many short, steep finishing climbs that characterize both the Vuelta a Burgos and the Vuelta a Espana.

It's not all about the climbs though. Taking place on the high, exposed plains in Burgos, the race is often heavily influenced by the strong winds that usually blow the race to pieces at least once every year. To come out triumphant, the climbers need to surround themselves by strong teams who can keep them protected when the crosswind attacks are launched. That part is also perfect preparation for the Vuelta which is also likely to see some crosswind action at some point during the race.

Some of the Vuelta favourites have raced the Tour and have to limit their racing to avoid getting too exhausted for the Spanish grand tour. Hence, there won't be a Joaquin Rodriguez or an Alejandro Valverde on the start line in Burgos this year but that doesn't mean that we will lack the opportunity to gauge the form of some of the Vuelta contenders. Vincenzo Nibali and Ivan Basso both arrive directly from Poland to continue their preparation in Spain while Samuel Sanchez is ready to launch the second part of his season. Finally, Nairo Quintana wants to make good use of his post-Tour condition to notch up another big stage race win before starting his preparation for the world championships.

Last year we witnessed a dominant performance from Daniel Moreno who used a rare chance to race for himself to win back-to-back victories in two short, steep uphill finishes on the first two days of the race. Being assisted by usual team leader and defending champion Joaquim Rodriguez, Moreno dug deep on Lagunas De Neila to limit his losses to the Colombian duo of Johan Esteban Chaves and Sergio Henao to just 22 seconds which was enough for the Katusha rider to take the overall win ahead of those two South Americans. Having raced the Tour, Moreno will join 2011 winner Rodriguez on the list of absentees for this year's race while Henao and Chaves will also skip the event, the former following a different path to the Vuelta than last year and the latter still recovering from his bad crash in the spring season.

The course

As already said, the organizers have decided to design a route with no timed event for the second consecutive year but apart from that small change, the race follows a very traditional format. Once again, the key stage will be the final one which finishes atop the Lagunas De Neila but there will be plenty of opportunities to gain time during the first four stages as well.

The race kicks off on Wednesday with  short 139km stage from Burgos to Mirador del Castillo which has the first of those characteristic short, sharp uphill finishes. The stage starts in the centre of the eponymous capital of the Burgos province and sends the riders on a small loop around the city. The race is mostly flat but contains a number of shorter climbs along the way of which only one, Alto de los Buitres, is categorized in the third category. As usual, the real danger is the risk of crosswinds more than the terrain itself and the route should offer some opportunities to blow the race apart. The race finishes in the Northern outskirts of Burgos where the riders will climb the category 3 Alto del Castillo. That ascent has a length of just 1km and an average gradient of 5% but offers a 200m cobbled section with a 10,6% gradient at its bottom. The finish line is located on the top and after the first passage, the riders will do a short 8km circuit to climb the ascent for the second and final time. We should see an interesting uphill sprint kick off the race and there is a possibility that we could see some small time gaps open up already on the first day of racing.

The race continues on Thursday with a 157km stage from Roa de Duero to Clunia. From the start, the riders will head out on a small 17km circuit around Roa de Duero before taking on the journey towards Clunia. The riders won't take the direct route but despite the small digressions, the roads will be mostly flat. A couple of smaller climbs will challenge the riders a bit but none of them have been categorized and the only dangerous aspect of the early part of the race is the wind. However, the finish in Clunia is a little tricky. The penultimate kilometre has an average gradient of 2% while the road kicks up with a 3% gradient when the riders pass the flamme rouge. From then on, it gets steeper and the final 500m have a gradient of 6%. Clunia has hosted a finish in both 2011 and 2012. In 2011, race leader Rodriguez decided to give Moreno a chance to take a stage win and the Spaniard didn't disappoint, putting 1 second into a small group that was led across the line by Samuel Sanchez. Last year Paul Martens produced a really powerful attack on the final climb to hold off Moreno by 2 seconds while Simon Clarke, Nacer Bouhanni, Stefano Garzelli and Matti Breschel  led a small group across the line 3 seconds later. On that occasion, the wind had already blown the race to pieces and we could see a similar scenario this year. Those names are all indicative of the riders that excel in Clunia: it's a day for the powerful puncheurs.

On Friday, the riders take on the longest stage of the race. At 175km, the route takes the riders from Villadiego to Ojo Guareña and it should be another day where the explosive climbers could gain a few seconds on their rivals. From the start in Villadiego, the riders head north towards the finish and will take in more undulating terrain than they have done during the first two days. Already after 12km, the peloton crests the summit of the category 3 Alto de Coculina while the category 3 Alto de la Mota, Portello del Castillo and Alto de Bocos will all do their part to tire out the riders' legs later in the race. At the same time, there is the preeminent danger of crosswinds that can always blow the race apart. With 23km to go, the riders pass the finish line for the first time and that means that they will get the chance to check out the final category 3 climb. The next time they get there, the stage win will be decided on the top of that ascent which has a length of 1km and average gradient of 5%. Last year Moreno held off Henao, Breschel, Allan Davis and Bouhanni in an uphill sprint on the first day to take the first leader's jersey of the race and we are likely to see the third consecutive uphill sprint on the third day of racing.

The Vuelta a Burgos usually has a stage for the pure sprinters and this year will be no different. Saturday's 162km stage from Dona Santos to Santo Domingo De Silos has a tough start as the top of the category 3 Alto del Cerro is located just 13km from the start. From then on the roads level out but the riders face a steady climb up to a plateau and a short, sharp descent to the finish in Santo Domingo De Silos. After the first passage of the line, the riders will tackle a 39km circuit that sends them back up to the plateau where they will stay for some time before the fast descent towards the finish. As usual, the wind can come into play but this day should end in some kind of sprint where the fast finishers can really reach high speeds in the downhill finish.

The race comes to its usual dramatic conclusion with its queen stage to the of of the HC climb Lagunas De Neila. This year the riders will travel 170km from Comunero de Revenga to the feared summit and those kilometres won't be easy at all. The race starts out with a big mostly flat circuit that only contains the category 2 Alto del Cargadero at the 52km mark. That circuit will be tackled twice but on the second lap, there will be a slight modification at the beginning which means that the riders will get the chance to climb the category 3 Collado de Vilviestre before another passage of the Alto del Cargadero. From there, the riders head onto the final, crucial circuit that sends the riders up the category 2 Alto del Collado after which a short descent leads to the bottom of the finishing climb. The first time, the riders won't go all the way up to Lagunas De Neila and so the climb will only be of the first category. Instead, they will head down a descent to once again tackle the Alto del Collado before reaching the bottom of the final climb once again. This time, they will go all the way to the top of the 14,8km climb which has an average gradient of, 5,28%. The first 10km are rather easy with a gradient that hovers between 2% and 6% but the final 4,8km are extremely difficult. The 11th km has a gradient of 11,3% and the 12th is a little bit steeper at 11,6%. From there it gets a bit easier with a 8,8% gradient for the next kilometre but the 15th kilometre is the most difficult of them all at 11,9%.The road levels out for the final 800m which have a gradient of 4,0% but at that point the race will have exploded to pieces. Last year Chaves beat Henao in the sprint to take the stage honours while young Mikel Landa conquered the climb one year earlier. Iban Mayo, Mauricio Soler, Juan Jose Cobo, Ezequiel Mosquera and Samuel Sanchez won the stage in the years from 2006 to 2010 and as usual, the Vuelta a Burgos is set to come down to a fascinating end on one of Spain's most iconic climbs.

The weather

The Vuelta a Burgos is usually a hot, sunny and windy affair and the riders should get the opportunity to enjoy those well-known conditions later in the race. However, the start of the event is expected to be slightly unusual as Wednesday is predicted to be a rainy day with moderate winds blowing from changing directions and 20-degree temperatures. While the wet conditions could make the race a bit more treacherous, the wind is unlikely to come too much into play on the opening day of racing.

The weather should improve for Thursday's second stage. The temperatures won't be any higher and it should still be a cloudy day but there won't be any rain. There will be a moderate wind from a northern direction which means that the riders should have the opportunity to exploit the crosswind sections along the way even though the wind will not be nearly as strong as it has been in previous years.

The final three days will offer the riders almost identical conditions with sunny weather, 25-degree temperatures and that same moderate northwestern wind. The temperatures will see an upwards trend as it will get slightly hotter from day to day. On the third day, the riders will mostly have a headwind but there should be opportunities to exploit the wind a bit more on stage 4. The wind usually doesn't play a big role on the final day where it always comes down to pure climbing strength on the steep slopes of the Lagunas De Neila.

The favourites

With no timed event, this year's race is set to mostly come down to the final climb up to Lagunas De Neila and so it is a race for those climbers that have a strong team to support them in the possible windy opening part. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) has all the necessary characteristics to shine in a race like this one and stands out as the major favourite.

The steep slopes near the top of the Lagunas De Neila climb suit the tiny Colombian perfectly and if he has maintained some of his Tour de France condition, he should be able to ride away from everyone on Sunday. The race may boast a strong line-up of climbers but no one should be able to match Quintana who underlined his potential in the recent Tour de France.

Despite his diminutive figure, Quintana is also a rather explosive rider who should be able to handle the short, steep finishing climbs well. Furthermore, Movistar is known as a very strong team for the crosswinds - just recall how the team had placed all of its 8 riders in the first group when Alejandro Valverde had his untimely mechanical in stage 13 of the Tour de France - and riders like Ruben Plaza and Ivan Gutierrez will make sure that Quintana gets to the Lagunas De Neila without having suffered any unnecessary time losses.

What may prevent a Quintana win is of course his fitness level. Unlike most of rivals, he doesn't intend to ride the Vuelta and has set his sights on the hilly world championships. He has only raced once since he stepped onto the podium on the Champs-Elysees - in the Clasica San Sebastian where he blew the race apart while working in support of Valverde - and with a hard grand tour already in his legs, it is legitimate to question whether he still has the form to contend for the win. His showing in San Sebastian did, however, not indicate that he was slowing much down and as he can allow himself to go all out for the win - he doesn't have to save anything for the Vuelta - we would be surprised not to see him mix it up with the very best in the race.

Quintana's biggest challenger could very well be a rider who finds himself at the other end of the age spectrum. Ivan Basso has had a horrible couple of seasons when crashes derailed his preparations for the 2011 Tour de France and the 2012 Vuelta a Espana, and he most recently saw his Giro ambitions come to nothing when a cyst forced him to forfeit his participation in his home grand tour. After a long break, he had a quiet return in the Tour of Austria before heading to the mountains for some high-altitude training.

That stay in San Pellegrino has had a very good effect on his fitness level and he was a very positive surprise in the Tour de Pologne where he broke his recent trend of not performing in his build-up races. In an unusually hard edition of the Polish race, he finished a comfortable 8th overall and ended up in the group of favourites in all the road stages. He even survived the explosive nature of the hilly stages in Poland which were completely unsuited to his diesel engine.

The Lagunas De Neila climb suits him well and with no time trial, he has every opportunity to bag a good result while he continues his preparation for the Vuelta. Evidently, he has been frustrated by the many pundits who have written him off as a grand tour contender and has done nothing to hide that he would love to get a win before the Vuelta. That victory could come in Burgos where he only has to limit his losses on the many short, steep finishing climbs that could see him lose a couple of seconds. He will need to take back that time on the Lagunas De Neila but with his current condition that is certainly not impossible.

Astana may line up Vincenzo Nibali in the race but the Italian is steadily preparing for the Vuelta and it would be a surprise to see him mix it up for the overall win. Instead, Astana could put faith in young Fabio Aru who has all the characteristics to shine on this course. The Italian has had a fantastic first full season as a professional with his overall 4th place in the Giro del Trentino being his most notable performance. That race and the Vuelta a Burgos are not too dissimilar and the Lagunas De Neila climb should suit him well.

His autumn schedule hasn't been made public and so it is still not known whether he will line up at the Vuelta as a support rider for Nibali. It would, however, be a daunting task to take on two grand tours in his debut season - he raced the Giro earlier this year - and we would be surprised to see him head to Spain later this month. Instead, he is likely to target results in shorter stage races and one-day events throughout the autumn season.

His first opportunity could come in Burgos. After the Giro - where he bounced back from sickness with a formidable performance in the final mountain stage - he raced the Tour of Austria where he finished 3rd in the queen stage before fading a bit later in the event while working for teammate Kevin Seeldraeyers who was the leader for a long time. He had a poor showing in the Clasica San Sebastian but his initial performances prove that his form is not too bad. The short, sheep finishing climbs in the early part of the race are not perfectly suited to his characteristics but if he can limit his losses, he should be in with a chance on the queen stage.

Euskaltel are unlikely to support Samuel Sanchez in this race which is his first since the Criterium du Dauphiné. The Spaniard is usually a shadow of his best in his warm-up races and when he last prepared the Vuelta in Burgos in 2009, he finished an anonymous 27th. Instead, the team is likely to look to young Mikel Landa as their GC rider this week.

Lagunas De Neila was the scene of Landa's breakthrough performance when he took a surprising win on the steep slopes in his maiden professional season in 2011. Since then the talented youngster has been unable to reproduce a similar performance but recently, his legs have finally started to come around. He finished second in the one-day race Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid and 2nd overall in the Vuelta Asturias in May before taking a long break from competition. However, he has reached his peak form just in time for the Vuelta as he showed in the Clasica San Sebastian when he made the crucial selection and finished 6th. He is another rider to excel on the steep slopes of the Lagunas De Neila and who will benefit of the absence of a time trial. Once again, the Vuelta a Burgos could be the scene of a big performance from Landa.

Daniel Navarro was disappointed by his performance in the early part of the Tour de France but made a big coup in stage 19 to Le-Grand-Bornand to make it into the top 10 on GC. Having reached his major target of the season, he can now allow himself to race with less pressure in the second half of the season and will skip the Vuelta a Espana.

That makes him a possible winner candidate in the Vuelta a Burgos where he can go all out for the win. He hasn't raced since the Tour and so his fitness level is a big question. If he has maintained some of his form, he should, however, feature at the pointy end of the race. In general, he has made a good impression in week-long stage races in his first season as a team captain with the 5th place in the Dauphiné being his stand-out performance. The course suits him well and he would love to finally give his team some success in what has generally been a disappointing season.

Caja Rural prepares for their big objective of the season, the Vuelta a Espana, where they plan to line up a host of strong climbers. Those mountain specialists all use the Vuelta a Burgos as a stepping stone and would love to justify their inclusion in the grand tour with a win in one of the biggest races on Spanish soil. They have recently finished a training camp in the Sierra Nevada and at least two of their climbers appear to have already reached a solid condition.

David Arroyo is a grand tour veteran who has already finished 2nd in the Giro and made it into the top 10 on a couple of other occasions. Having left Movistar, he has no choice but to focus on his home grand tour where he hopes to make it into the top 10.

His performances in the early part of the season have not been on par with his past showings as he has struggled with injury but recent races indicate that he has managed to time his condition for the Vuelta perfectly. He finished 3rd in the Prueba Villafranca before going on to take an acceptable 26th in the Clasica San Sebastian. With no time trial, the Vuelta a Burgos should suit him well. He has a strong team to support him and this week's race could be the one that finally allows him to shine in his new colours.

His teammate Marcos Garcia is another splendid climber who could do well in this race. The 26-year old has performed well in the Spanish stage races for a number of seasons but appear to have upped his level a bit this year. He overcame a poor team time trial to finish 11th in Trentino and went on to finish 6th in the Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid and 10th in the Vuelta Asturias. He performed solidly in the recent Prueba Villafranca where he made the key selection and was 9th but had a bad day in the Clasica San Sebastian. He may lack the consistency to ever feature at the top end of the grand tour GCs but a short 5-day race like Burgos with only one crucial mountain stage should suit him well. Being joined by Arroyo, Andre Cardoso, Amets Txurruka and Ivan Velasco in a splendid line-up, he has all chances to make his presence felt during the next five days.

Finally, we will mention Vincenzo Nibali. This race is mere preparation for the Italian who arrives on the back of a modest showing in the Tour de Pologne which was more or less on par with what we had expected. We would be surprised if he already has the level to compete for the win but we expect to see some improvements compared to last week. The stage to Lagunas De Neila could be a good opportunity for him to do a final big test ahead of the Vuelta and he is such a classy rider that a Nibali victory cannot be completely ruled out even though it seems unlikely.

Live coverage

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***** Nairo Quintana

**** Ivan Basso, Fabio Aru

*** Mikel Landa, Daniel Navarro, David Arroyo, Marcos Garcia, Vincenzo Nibali

** Rinaldo Nocentini, Dario Cataldo, Ian Boswell, Joe Dombrowski, Giampaolo Caruso, Benat Intxausti, Paolo Tiralongo, Gorka Verdugo

* Daniel Teklehaimanot, Sergei Chernetskiy, Samuel Sanchez, Andre Cardoso, Jose Pimenta, David Belda, Amets Txurruka, Jose Herrada, Mikael Cherel