Valverde will be competing in his third Grand Tour of the season having finished third at the Giro d’Italia and sixth at the Tour de France. The 36-year-old will be racing his fifth consecutive Grand Tour and will be looking to become the third man in history to claim three top-ten finishes in Grand Tours in single season. The previous two riders to achieve the feat where Raphaël Geminiani (1955) and Gastone Nencini (1957).
Quintana, who claimed fourth in the Vuelta in 2015, finished third in the Tour de France but will be looking to improve after being outfought and outclassed by Chris Froome at the Tour de France. Froome and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) are set to challenge Quintana for top honours. Quintana pulled out of the Olympic Games in order to focus on the Vuelta a Espana. His one Grand Tour win came at the 2014 Giro d'Italia.
Rory Sutherland, José Joaquín Rojas, José Herrada, Imanol Erviti, Rubén Fernández, Jonathan Castroviejo and Dani Moreno make up the rest of the nine-man team for the Spanish squad.
The Vuelta a Espana starts on August 20 with a 29.4 kilometre team time trial and ends on September 11.
Vuelta a Espana 2016 - 10 riders to watch
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