Fantasy league Vuelta a España 2025 | "We're going to throw a bunch of spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks"

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- Preview La Vuelta a España 2025
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We start our list with the name Leo Bisiaux. That name may sound familiar, because in early 2023, he became world champion in cyclo-cross in the junior category in Hoogerheide. Born in 2005, the rider has just as much talent on the road, which has translated directly from the junior and U23 categories to the pros.

In the U19s, he won prestigious races such as the Giro della Lungiana, Internationale Juniorendriedaagse, and Grand Prix Rüebliland in 2023, before finishing sixth in the Giro Next Gen and fourth in the Tour de l'Avenir in his only U23 year in 2024. At Decathlon AG2R, Bisiaux was presented alongside Paul Seixas as the future of the team at the team presentation at the end of December last year.

So far, that bold statement has not disappointed. Not just Seixas, but certainly Bisiaux too. He recently won a stage among the big names and finished third in Burgos, which marked his definitive breakthrough among the pros. Don't be surprised if he continues his upward trend in a Grand Tour.

The Christens from Switzerland are also gradually proving themselves to be a strong cycling family. Grandfather Hans and father Josef were professional cyclists in their day, but the talent seems to lie mainly with the current generation. Jan - on behalf of UAE Emirates-XRG - still has to wait for his Grand Tour debut, with the 2025 Vuelta awaiting 23-year-old Fabio.

We tipped him as a possible revelation this spring, but apart from the Brabantse Pijl, he has not yet really made his mark in the big races. Since then, he has added victories (Slovenia) and good results (Switzerland, Burgos, Franco-Belge, and Hamburg) to his palmarès, extended his contract with the Swiss Q36.5 team, and now has his sights set on the Vuelta.

Christen has known all season that he would be competing here and spent a long time at altitude in preparation. Like his brother Jan, he is oozing ambition, which his team can use, because they are still fighting for automatic entry into all WorldTour races in 2026. Alongside team leader Tom Pidcock, Christen can contribute to this by picking up places of honor and, who knows, maybe even a stage victory.

The Vuelta a España is undoubtedly the grand tour that suits attackers best. Riders like Marc Soler have been capitalizing on the competitive nature of the Vuelta for years, which is why we have included a similar type of rider, Marco Frigo, representing Israel-Premier Tech, in this list.

Last year, the Italian finished second in a stage and fifth in the mountains classification thanks to several long breakaways, but this year he seems to have added another layer to his game. In the run-up to the race, Frigo, who is also a good time trialist, finished fifth in the Baloise Belgium Tour and recently seventh in the highly competitive Tour of Poland.

He will be given a free role in his team, which Frigo intends to embrace willingly. “Grand tours are the races I like best,” he said. “When I saw the start in Italy and felt the passion of the fans in my country, I knew immediately that I wanted to be there. My family and friends are coming to the first stages, so that makes it even more special for me.”

Next up is Ivo Oliveira, riding for UAE Emirates-XRG. The Portuguese national champion will have to do without his twin brother Rui in the Vuelta, as places on the Emirati team are understandably hard to come by. Ivo will also have to play second fiddle to Joao Almeida and Juan Ayuso, but he may still be able to seize his chance here and there. Just like his brother Rui did in the 2024 Vuelta.

Oliveira has shown his speed on several occasions this season, already winning four races. Two stages in the Giro dell'Abruzzo, a stage in the Tour of Slovenia, and the Portuguese championship have been added to his list of achievements.

In addition, with his background in track, he is crucial for the UAE Emirates-XRG team time trial. Last year, the fast rider accidentally lost his teammates in the final phase of a similar time trial in the Tour of Denmark, and this year he was already there in the team time trials of the Tour of Valencia and Paris-Nice. Track cyclists have always had an advantage in this discipline, as we saw in the past with the Aussies of today's Jayco AlUla, because they have the nerve to ride close to the wheel of the rider in front of them.

At Alpecin-Deceuninck, the focus for the upcoming Tour of Spain is mainly on Jasper Philipsen, but the team also has a strong tradition of taking one or more riders who can enjoy themselves in the early breakaways in the many more challenging stages. Jay Vine showed his potential in the Tour of Spain in 2021 and 2022.

Like Vine, Italian Luca Vergalitto comes from the team's Zwift Academy, so there is no doubt about this climber's potential. This spring, for example, he finished seventh on the Alto de Foia in the Tour of Algarve, among the big names, and he also performed well in Paris-Nice and the Basque Country.

However, Il Banditto, as Vergallito calls himself, had to withdraw from the Giro d'Italia with physical complaints and only returned to racing in the summer. After altitude training, the Italian, who also has a master's degree in movement sciences, now hopes to be ready for the Vuelta a España, where he could well surprise on the climbs. The unipuerto stages in the Vuelta are ideal for this type of rider.

The French are very talented these days. Groupama-FDJ has its share, including Thibaud Gruel. This wiry rider joined Marc Madiot's professional team on March 1, 2024, and showed his potential right from the start. He immediately finished twice in the top ten in the Tour de Romandie and finished eighth in the Bretagne Classic: a tough 260-kilometer WorldTour race, not bad for a 20-year-old.

This season, Gruel has continued that form with ease. Still fast after a tough race, the Frenchman claimed his first two professional victories and also picked up a lot of points in the French Pro circuit, where it is never easy. In the run-up to the Vuelta, he added a good Tour of Poland, with two top-five finishes in the sprints.

The Frenchman was even able to afford to be dissatisfied with that result in the difficult stage won by Matthew Brennan. According to his team, Groupama-FDJ, however, there is still a lot more to come from the strong Gruel, which we are likely to see glimpses of in the coming weeks.

Perhaps the best-known name on this list is that of Ben Tulett, riding for Visma | Lease a Bike. The 23-year-old British rider is already in his sixth (!) professional season, but is only competing in his second Grand Tour. A sign that the talent that has always been there may not have fully emerged yet.

After a strong debut with Alpecin-Fenix, INEOS was eager to snap him up, while Merijn Zeeman, on behalf of Visma | Lease a Bike, was delighted that Tulett's physical abilities would be joining the Dutch team in 2024. Last year, however, he had his share of bad luck, including a heavy crash in Burgos that cost him the Vuelta.

Tulett is back this season, which is no surprise given his performances. He finished third in Faun Drome, second in Milan-Turin, won the Coppi and Bartali Cycling Week, finished twelfth in the Dauphiné after all his work for Jonas Vingegaard, and recently added a third place in the Tour de l'Ain. In the Vuelta, Tulett, who excels in the short, steep climbs that are so prevalent in the Vuelta, could easily claim a spot alongside Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson.

With Jenthe Biermans, we also have a Belgian on this list. The 29-year-old rider has known for some time that he would be assigned the role of sprint leader for Arkéa - B&B Hotels in this Vuelta. With the sprint field we are seeing in Spain, he could well spring a surprise.

Biermans, who broke his hand in May, is one of those riders who has been earning places of honor in numerous tough classics for years, so his team expects him to be able to compete in the more challenging stages of the upcoming Tour of Spain.

“If opportunities arise from big breakaways or smaller bunch sprints, he can also play his cards right,” Arkéa said when announcing its selection.

EF Education-EasyPost will have to do without Richard Carapaz in the upcoming Vuelta, which is a blow. However, CEO Jonathan Vaughters also sees it as an opportunity. “We're going to throw a lot of spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. What I want for the rest of the year is to experiment with new team combinations and younger riders to see what works and what doesn't for 2026.”

“I want to see new faces. I want to see new, different tactics. I want to see us do something incredibly well that we didn't expect,” said Vaughers, who will be targeting 23-year-old Brit Lukas Nerurkar, among others. He arrived in early 2024 as a great talent. He immediately proved himself with a string of podium places in major races such as Eschborn-Frankfurt, the Critérium du Dauphiné, and the Tour of Poland, where you need serious power.

However, in early 2025, Nerurkar suffered a nasty crash in the Trofeo Laigueglia, breaking his jaw and forcing him to live on soup and smoothies for four weeks. After a lengthy rehabilitation, he is now facing his first major tour, for which he seems ready after some good performances in Spain and Andorra. Can the puncher and climber continue on the path he set out on in 2024?

Although not a typical cycling country, Uruguay will have two riders at the start of the Vuelta: Eric Antonio Fagundez with Burgos-BH and Guillermo Silva with Caja Rural. The latter in particular has quite a few credentials, having scored several podium places over the past two seasons.

And not just in the smallest races. Silva finished eighth in the Brabantse Pijl, fourth in the GP Indurain, and fourth in Morbihan. All races with a punchy character, although he also likes to mix it up in a bunch sprint here and there.

His team believes in the chances of the man from Uruguay, as they have stated openly that they think he is one of the riders in the team who can really compete for a stage victory in the upcoming Vuelta.