Fifteen sports groups, seven of World Tour category and eight Pro Tour, will participate in the 70th edition of the Vuelta Ciclista a Andalucía-Ruta del Sol, which will be held between February 14 and 18, starting in Almuñécar-La Herradura (Granada ) and final in La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz), and which will have a peloton of 105 runners, 7 per formation.
The number one in the international classification, the UAE Team Emirates, heads the list of participants as the great favorite to retain last year’s title both in the season and on the Ruta del Sol itself, in which they ended up winning the overall with the Slovenian Tadej Pogaçar, who will not compete in this edition and the Spanish Juan Ayuso will be the leader of the ranks, the organization explained.
Up to six more teams from the first division of world cycling will accompany him at the start line of Almuñécar-La Herradura on February 14, among which the presence of the only Spaniard on that list, Team Movistar, stands out. Bahrain Victorius, sixth in the world championship and also knows what it means to win in Andalusia, will also be at the event.
The Belgian team Alpecin Deceuninck, eighth at the end of the season in the world rankings; the Australian team Team Jayco AlUla, 13th in the world; The French team Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team (18) and the Kazakh Astana (20) complete the list of UCI World Tour teams in the Vuelta a Andalucía.
Among the ProTour teams, the presence of the leader of that classification last season stands out, the Belgian Lotto Dstny, which finished as the ninth best team of the season, in addition to all the Spanish regulars at the Andalusian cycling event: Caja Rural Seguros RGA (28 ), Euskaltel Euskadi (34), Kern Pharma (32) and Burgos BH (33).
The Polti Kometa team (27) from the Contador Foundation, based in Italy, will also be in the game. Some regulars in the race, the Belgians from Flanders baloise (42), will repeat one more year alongside the Swiss from Q36.5.