The Vuelta a San Juan has unveiled the list of teams that will be taking part in its 39th edition next year, with a record nine WorldTour teams set to line up for the early-season Argentinean stage race.
The race, which wasn't held this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, held a gala presentation on Thursday, with Peter Sagan as a special guest, and confirmed the line-up of teams to start the 2022 editions, which will be held from January 30 to February 6. With the Tour Down Under and the Tour Colombia cancelled, teams are willing to travel to South America to kick-off the 2022 season.
QuickStep-AlphaVinyl headline the list two years on from Remco Evenepoel's overall victory, while Trek-Segafredo, Bora-Hansgrohe, Cofidis, Lotto Soudal, Movistar and Israel Start-Up Nation will also be racing having taken part in previous editions.
Ineos Grenadiers and Astana Qazaqstan round up the list of WorldTour entrants for 2022. They will be joined by ProTeams Eolo-Kometa, Team TotalEnergies, Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli, and Bardiani-CSF.
Peter Sagan will make his TotalEnergies debut at the race, while 2020 winner Evenepoel will be returning. World time trial champion Filippo Ganna and his new ineos Grenadiers teammate Elia Viviani will also be taking part, according to reports from La Gazzetta dello Sport.
As ever, there will be a large local presence on the start list with seven Argentinean Continental teams lining up – Munipalidad de Pocito, Munidipalidad de Rawson, Agrupación Virgen de Fátima, SEP San Juan, Chimbas Te Quiero, Gremios por el Deporte, and Equipo Continental San Luis.
Colombia's Team Medellin and Ecuador's Best PC Ecuador join the national teams of Italy and Argentina in rounding up the list of confirmed squads at 24, though a national selection from Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Panama or Peru will also be invited depending on results of the Giro del Sol in January.
The race will kick off in San Juan on January 30 and take in eight stages around the western province of Argentina – including the traditional mountain-top finish at the Alto Colorado – before finishing in the city on February 6.
