Friday 2 September 2016 10:37, UK
Preview the third and final Grand Tour of the season as we go in search of our first title, led by three-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome.
The Vuelta a Espana (20 August - 11 September) looks set up to be the most dramatic Grand Tour of the 2016 campaign, with a star studded lineup heading to Spain.
And this year's edition of the notoriously mountainous race is as tough as it comes, with ten summit finishes and a whole host of famously brutal climbs in store across 21 stages, all to be raced under the blazing Spanish sun.
Team Sky are on the hunt for their first Vuelta title at the seventh time of asking and head to Spain with a strong team packed full of climbing talent, ready for the three weeks ahead.
Following a third Tour de France title and a bronze medal in the Olympic time trial, Chris Froome returns to a race where he has unfinished business.
The Brit has twice finished runner up in Spain and came fourth in 2012, but this year he is determined to go one better. He said: "It's already been a great summer for both myself and the team, but the Vuelta is another big challenge for us.
"It's a race I really enjoy and where I guess you could say I have unfinished business, so I'm looking forward to getting started."
Froome will be backed up by Michal Kwiatkowski, who makes his Grand Tour debut for Team Sky, and Peter Kennaugh, in what will be the Manxman's third Vuelta, who arrives in good form following a solid sixth place at the Vuelta a Burgos.
Leopold König is back at the Vuelta for the first time since 2013, when he won a stage on his way to finishing ninth overall, and Christian Knees, Ian Boswell and Salvatore Puccio are all racing the Spanish Grand Tour for the second year running. Spaniard David Lopez was a late replacement for Mikel Landa, who was forced out of the Vuelta due to illness, and Michal Golas rounds out the team following a strong first season in Team Sky colours.
With 10 mountain top finishes the 2016 Vuelta a Espana looks like it will be as tough as ever. Opening with a testing 29.4km team time trial, the race will wind its way along the coast from the north west of Spain to the Pyrenees and then down the Mediterranean coast, before a short hop to Madrid for the final stage around the Spanish capital - one of only a select few opportunities for the sprinters to do battle.
There are bonus seconds on offer at the end of each stage, increasing the motivation to take stage wins, with the individual time trial on stage 19 certain to shake up the general classification.
Stage 11 concludes with a summit finish atop Pena Cabarga - a scene of two famous Team Sky victories. First Chris Froome burst to a fine win in the 2011 Vuelta, moving into the race lead in the process, before Vasil Kiryienka escaped to a famous win atop the first categorie climb in 2013. Will we see another Team Sky winner this time around?
A typically gruelling Vuelta test, this 197km stage is arguably the toughest of the entire race. With 4,825 metres of elevation gain, finished off atop the hors categorie Col d' Aubisque, there are sure to be fireworks following two relatively flat days.
The stage 19 individual time trial is sure to be crucial in deciding the destination of the title. Although not especially hilly, at 36.8km it has the potential to split the GC contenders and shake up the standings with just one decisive day to go in Spain.
Chris Froome has twice finished runner up at the Vuelta, in 2011 and 2014. His excellent ride in 2011, during which he briefly led the race, was seen as his breakthrough Grand Tour performance, and in 2014 he was pipped to the title by Alberto Contador at the end of a tough campaign when he had crashed out of the Tour de France.
Sir Bradley Wiggins finished third in 2011, just behind Froome, and then Froome just missed out on the podium in 2012, finishing fourth. The three-time Tour de France winner crashed out of the Vuelta in 2015, fracturing his foot, but Mikel Nieve took over leadership duties to finish a valiant eighth.
Vasil Kiryienka took a famous victory in 2013, winning stage 18 in serious style on the Pena Cabarga, the same climb on which Froome won a stage in 2011, and Nicolas Roche - who sadly misses this year's Vuelta due to illness - won stage 18 in 2015, prevailing from a 25-man breakaway.
After two Grand Tours and the Olympics the world's cycling stars are descending on the Vuelta in varying states of form and condition, adding an intriguing element to the pre-race build up.
Three-time winner Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) looks to be favourite, having left the Tour de France early after two crashes, and the Spaniard has subsequently impressed by bouncing back to form and winning the Vuelta a Burgos at the start of August.
Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange) is back in Grand Tour action after finishing an impressive second at the Giro d'Italia in May, and the likeable Colombian will be confident of improving upon his fifth place at the Vuelta last year. Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) are both sure to be in contention, with the latter always a force in his homeland, and he could become the first man in history to claim a top-10 finish in all three Grand Tours in one season.
Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin), Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac), and Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) will all go in as team leaders and have the potential to challenge for the title.
Every stage of the Vuelta will be shown live on Eurosport. ITV4 will host a highlights show every evening at 7pm.
