Vuelta a España 2022 – Comprehensive team-by-team guide

2021 Vuelta a España winner Primož Roglič and his team Jumbo-Visma (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

It will be a Vuelta a España with 23 teams on the start line, and the list of objectives across the 184 riders runs even longer than the three-week race from August 19 to September 11.

Jumbo-Visma lead the 18 WorldTour squads, claiming race number one as they line up with three-time winner Primož Roglič, while Alpecin-Fenix and Arkéa-Samsic – as the top two UCI ProTeams – join the start list. There are also three wildcard entries, rather than the two seen at the Tour de France, with Spanish teams Euskaltel-Euskadi, Kern Pharma and Burgos-BH joining the fray.

Alpecin-Deceuninck are towards the top of the UCI World Ranking but are still a second-division outfit, and this Vuelta marks the first time they're riding all three Grand Tours in the same season. They'll be a fully-fledged WorldTour outfit in 2023 but they're rounding out this chapter of what has been a remarkable growth story by targeting stage wins – most prominently sprint wins – over the next three weeks.

Tim Merlier is their main man, having missed out on the Tour de France at the expense of Jasper Philipsen. The Belgian champion, who's off to QuickStep-AlphaVinyl next year, can claim to be just as fast, if not faster, and is the man to beat in the bunch finishes at this Vuelta. He was runner-up behind Fabio Jakobsen at the recent European Championships and said he got 'the wrong medal', indicating his form and hunger ahead of the race.

That infamous episode triggered his dismissal from Movistar and return to Astana, but his second stint was undermined by a knee injury that took him out of the Giro in the first week. He wasn't fit in time for the Tour de France but will now lead the line at the Vuelta, although he was mired in more controversy recently as his name appeared in a Spanish anti-doping investigation and he was temporarily suspended by his team.

Yates looked on course for Giro contention this year after winning the stage 2 time trial but was then set back by a knee injury. Even if he recovered to win a stage, he had to rest up and miss the Tour de France, but the benefit for the Vuelta was the fact he could re-set and take square aim at the Spanish Grand Tour. His pre-race results – victory at Ordiziako Klasika and the Vuelta a Castilla y León, plus 6th at the Clásica San Sebastián – certainly suggest he's ready to hunt the red jersey he won in 2018.

The rest of the squad is largely built around supporting Yates, although there's a lack of real high mountain support, Lucas Hamilton being the only one who'd really be expected to survive the big climbs. Still, the likes of Luke Durbridge, Lawson Craddock, and Michael Hepburn will be useful in the opening team time trial. There's also a Grand Tour debut for Kaden Groves, a sprinter who can get through the medium mountains. He's off to Alpecin-Deceuninck next season but should find the parcours to his liking.

Hindley returns to the fold in a squad that, despite containing a sprinter and two lead-out men, features multiple potential GC cards. Sergio Higuita is untested at three-week level but has enjoyed an outstanding debut season for the German team, with five wins, including the Volta a Catalunya. Meanwhile, Wilco Kelderman, third at the 2020 Giro and fifth at the 2021 Tour de France, adds a third genuine contender. Emanuel Buchmann was due to add a fourth card but illness means he's been replaced by Italian climber Matteo Fabbro, still a strong mountain domestique.

With one pure domestique in Jonas Koch, the rest of the squad revolves around Bennett. His inclusion itself, which was in doubt, is something of a punt given the Irishman's form, but he has also been afforded the backing of two lead-out men in Danny van Poppel and Ryan Mullen. Bennett's win at Eschborn Frankfurt in May is his only victory since returning to the team at the start of the year and he desperately needs to rediscover any hint of form.

The British climber had a disappointing and frustratingly erratic Giro d'Italia but still finished in the top 10. At the top of his game, he can thrive on long and epic mountain stages while also backing up with a solid time trial for someone so skinny. The high point of his career so far arguably came at the 2020 Vuelta when he won on the famous Angliru summit finish and made it onto the final podium.

With no GC leader and no sprinter, it's all about the breakaways, earning airtime and exposure and putting themselves in the hunt for what would be a dream stage victory. All of them will be up the road at one point or another but it's worth keeping an eye on Luis Angel Maté, a relative veteran starting his 12th Grand Tour. For every kilometre he spends in the breakaway, he'll plant a tree, and that's something worth getting behind.

Groupama-FDJ have Thibaut Pinot in their ranks, which will always create excitement among the fans, even if he's not going for the overall title here. The Frenchman has had a rough time with injuries in the past couple of years and heads to the Vuelta on the back of a Tour de France where he was below his best to start with and was further held back by a prior COVID-19 infection. He heads to the Vuelta not in shape to re-launch his GC career but hopefully to hunt stages in the mountains.

On the other side sits Jake Stewart and a duo of sprint lieutenants. After a breakthrough 2021, Stewart's season has been derailed by a stomach illness but he's back and claimed an emotional first pro victory at the recent Tour de l'Ain. A solid sprinter who can survive climbs, a stage win would be a dream scenario for rider and team, and he'll be able to count on the support for Miles Scotson and Fabian Lienhard to get him in position.

This Vuelta line-up is something of a past and present for Ineos Grenadiers, who have in Richard Carapaz a major contender for the overall title, plus luxury domestiques or even back-ups in Tao Geoghegan Hart and Pavel Sivakov. However, Grand Tour domination has waned in recent years and they've looked to rejuvenate their squad and freshen up their racing identity, and here they give a chance to four debutants.

Carapaz has finished on the podium of all three Grand Tours in his three seasons with Ineos and is one of the most consistent three-week contenders in the world. He finished runner-up at the Giro earlier in the season after a rare moment of weakness on the final mountain but will be expected to mount a serious challenge for the red jersey in what will be his final Grand Tour for Ineos. Geoghegan Hart is another former Giro winner who gets his first Grand Tour start after a rough season, while Sivakov has been used a domestique in the past couple of years but remains a big talent and is very much in form, winning the recent Vuelta a Burgos.

Paris-Roubaix champion Dylan van Baarle adds road captain experience in a squad with a quartet of Grand Tour newcomers: Ethan Hayter, Luke Plapp, Carlos Rodríguez, and Ben Turner. Plapp, an all-rounder and future GC prospect, and Turner, a cyclo-cross rider who had a breakthrough in the Classics this spring, are first-year pros and will likely be finding their feet. Hayter, meanwhile, appears ready to win on the biggest stage after taking his tally to 15 victories from the past two seasons, with the hillier sprint stages of particular interest to the 23-year-old Briton.

The GC wing will be led by Domenico Pozzovivo and Louis Meintjes. The former is nearly 40 but remains a consistent climber and finished eighth at this year's Giro. He has had time to build back up towards the Vuelta so perhaps starts as the likelier leader over Meintjes, who hasn't raced since himself placing eighth at the Tour de France. The South African has got his career back on track this summer and, even if two GC bids in quick succession is likely beyond him, he could continue his upward curve in Spain.

That's maybe why Michael Woods has been given a GC brief. He has expressed his preference for stage hunting in the past but in the UCI points system that doesn't carry as much weight as a top-10 result overall. In fairness, this Vuelta route suits Wood's punchy style, with no fewer than nine summit finishes but a route that's relatively light on very long or very high-altitude mountain stages. The Canadian former runner has enjoyed the bulk of his Grand Tour success at the Vuelta, placing seventh overall in 2017 before winning stages in 2018 and 2020. A return to the GC consistency of five years ago is what his team will be after.

In Primož Roglič, Jumbo-Visma have the winner of the past three editions of the Vuelta. Victory would tie him with Roberto Heras on a record four titles and make him the first person to win a Grand Tour four times in a row since Miguel Indurain. While other Grand Tours have treated him harshly, Roglič loves the Vuelta and has thrived on its punchy terrain. His presence on the start list automatically makes him the pre-race favourite.

Mike Teunissen gives the team a vague sprint option but it's Rohan Dennis who really catches the eye with his first Grand Tour for Jumbo-Visma and first since he turned the Giro on its head for Geoghegan Hart and Ineos in 2020. The Australian missed out on Tour de France selection but will play a vital role across the terrains and especially on the opening team time trial, where he – plus Edoardo Affini – could propel Roglič to some early gains.

The point-scoring potential comes from Steff Cras and Maxim Van Gils, who are all in the magic top-10 of the team's scorers this year – with only 10 eligible to count towards a team's overall total. The breakaway hope is Thomas De Gendt, a true master of the art. He might be getting older and might be past his best but he reminded himself and us that you can't just roll over as he escaped to a memorable solo victory at the Giro earlier in the year.

The young prospects are the Australian duo of Harry Sweeny and Jarrad Drizners. Sweeny is a 24-year-old all-rounder who produced a strong climbing display to finish second on the final stage of the recent Tour de l'Ain. Neo-pro Drizners, meanwhile, could have died earlier this year when he sliced his liver open in a UAE Tour crash, and is hot on the comeback trail. He was hired as a lead-out man but his mountains classification victory at the recent Tour de Pologne shows he's ready to throw himself in wherever.

Enric Mas will be key to their survival. In that respect, not a lot changes at this Vuelta. A podium finish would have been the aim anyway for Mas, and if he pulls it off it would hand Movistar a vital raft of points. The Spaniard is certainly capable. He was runner-up last year, fifth the year before, and both times he'd just finished top-six at the Tour de France. However, there are doubts. Mas had a miserable Tour this year, with crashes, fluctuating form, a loss of confidence, and a COVID-19 infection that took him out and stopped him scoring any points. Quite how he recovered from that ordeal – with his team manager also questioning his leadership ability – remains to be seen.

If Mas falters, Movistar can always look to their old talisman, Alejandro Valverde for inspiration. The Spaniard won this race in 2009 before his doping ban and has finished on the podium a further six times. At 41, he's finally retiring at the end of the season and any farewell atmosphere is tempered by the need to continue providing until the last. Valverde, 11th at this year's Giro, has had a strong final season so far – not the glittering success of old but still able to mix it with the world's best on occasion. A final flourish in Spain would be the send-off he and his team dream of.

Elsewhere, it's an uninspiring line-up for Movistar, with Nelson Oliveira there for the TTT and Carlos Verona – the only other rider in their top 10 points-scoring group – for the mountains. The absence of potential stage winners an Ivan Cortina and Alex Aranburu surely points to the relegation battle and the necessary evil of sending home hopes off to where they might find a bigger collection of points on offer.

In a team that's traditionally light on climbers, Evenepoel gets a support network that includes Fausto Masnada, Louis Vervaeke, Ilan Van Wilder, and Pieter Serry, plus Remi Cavagna for the flat and the team time trial. And then there's the world champion, Julian Alaphilippe. The Frenchman, joined by his trusty domestique Dries Devenyns, should have more of a free role to hunt stage wins as he looks to salvage something from a trying campaign.

In his absence, the UAE Team Emirates squad is hardly a damp squib. In fact, it's packed with promise. For starters, they have a bona fide title contender in João Almeida. The Portuguese rider was fourth and sixth in the 2020 and 2021 editions of the Giro d'Italia and might have done the same again this year had he not had to leave with COVID-19. At 24, he's not yet the finished article but can climb and time trial with the best, and it's surely only a matter of time before he makes a podium and seriously challenges for a title.

Elsewhere, Marc Soler, Ivo Oliveira and Jan Polanc offer support but it's Juan Ayuso who really catches the eye, and will be catching the imagination of his home fans. The Spaniard is just 19 years of age and only turned professional a year ago, but is considered one of the sport's new generation of 'super talents', and recently signed the longest contract in the WorldTour, through 2028. There has been talk of easing Ayuso into professional life but he was fifth at Catalunya and fourth at Romandie this year, and then grabbed his first pro win at the Circuit Getxo two weeks ago. Like Evenepoel and Pogačar a few years ago, the sense is his time has already come.

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Patrick is a freelance sports writer and editor. He’s an NCTJ-accredited journalist with a bachelor’s degree in modern languages (French and Spanish). Patrick worked full-time at Cyclingnews for eight years between 2015 and 2023, latterly as Deputy Editor.