Vuelta director eagerly hoping for return of Kuss, Vingegaard and Roglic: "There's a good chance they will be there"

After Tadej Pogacar's victory in the Giro, there were some suggesting that the Slovenian could win the Tour and then take on the Vuelta as well, but his team, UAE-Team Emirates, opted not to pursue this path. It is likely that Adam Yates and Joao Almeida will lead the team in the Vuelta, as Pogacar also plans to compete in the Olympic Games and the World Championships.

In the AS interview, Guillen stated that he hopes to once again welcome the entire final podium from last year. "I think we're going to have a great starting field. Sepp Kuss has already confirmed that he will come to defend his title, which is very important for us. Hopefully, the two men who stood with him on the podium will join him. There's a good chance of that," he said, referring to Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic.

The trio reappearing would certainly look different from last season, when the three men all wore the Jumbo-Visma jersey on the podium in Madrid. The story is well-known, but after the Vuelta a España, Roglic moved to BORA-hansgrohe to take on sole leadership. He will first do this in the Tour de France, where he will encounter Kuss and likely Vingegaard as well.

This year's Vuelta a España will start on August 17 in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, with an individual time trial of around twelve kilometers heading towards Oeiras.