Ah, the Vuelta. Often seen as the poor cousin of the Giro and the Tour, this race has in recent years established itself if not a new then a more multi-faceted identity than it had before. Though its place in the racing calendar means that the stars of the Tour usually give it a miss, it has enough going on to more than make up for that, which you can read more about here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This year could be remarkable. If Primoz Roglic turns up in the same form he has for the past three years, then he may well capture a fourth consecutive Vuelta crown, which will be unprecedented. Which, in truth, will be kind of boring. What I’m looking forward to is to see whether Australian Jai Hindley can win his second Grand Tour in a year and establish himself as a credible threat to Vingegaard and Pogacar, and what Evenepoel can pull out of his locker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Surely next year Hindley will take on the the Dane and Pogi at the Tour. His career to date has been handled very well and it could be fascinating to see if the boy next door (he looked like a shy 12 year old when he held the Giro trophy in front of the press at end of May this year) can beat Roglic on turf he’s made his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I feel that Roglic’s star is on the way down, yet that is in part due to the frankly surprising emergence of his teammate Vingegaard. Even still, I can’t see Roglic beating a fully fit Pogacar or Vingegaard again in a Grand Tour. I feel he could beat an in-form Hindley in terms of experience, as the Aussie doesn’t seem battle hardened enough – which is a remarkable (and possibly stupid) thing to say about someone who’s won the Giro. He just seems so nice though!<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2d382-screenshot-2022-08-19-at-12.01.58.png?resize=644%2C392&ssl=1\")