According to Sky officials, no decision has been made yet, but Tour de France winner Chris Froome confirmed via Twitter on Monday that he will take the start of the 2015 Vuelta a España.
Looking forward to taking on the @lavuelta Tough but always exciting for the viewers #bringiton pic.twitter.com/6DTtNVwV3e
— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) August 10, 2015
The Spanish daily AS reported Monday that Froome is among 14 Team Sky riders pre-registered to start the 70th Vuelta on August 22.
Last week, Froome indicated a Vuelta decision would be coming within 10 days. When contacted by VeloNews on Moday morning, a Team Sky official said there was no decision yet on Froome’s participation.
The inclusion of Froome’s name in the 14 riders that Sky has delivered to Vuelta organizers is one more hint that the two-time Tour winner may yet start the Spanish grand tour. Teams are required to submit a preliminary start list to race officials, from which nine will be selected within 48 hours of the race start, set for August 22 in Puerto Banus.
Sky principal Dave Brailsford confirmed to VeloNews during the Tour’s second rest day that Froome was considering racing the Vuelta.
The big question is whether or not racing the Vuelta would set up Froome nicely for the 2016 season. Froome indicated that the Tour and the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games next summer will be his season’s primary goals. That’s a decision that Brailsford, Froome, and Sky head trainer Tim Kerrison have been studying intensely over the past few weeks.
Froome has twice finished runner-up in the Vuelta; the first during his breakout 2011 season, and again last year to Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo). Only two riders — Jacques Anquetil (1963) and Bernard Hinault (1978) — have won the Vuelta and Tour in the same season, and no one has done the Tour-Vuelta double since the Spanish grand tour was moved out of the spring in 1995.
Froome’s participation has only raised expectations for the upcoming Vuelta. Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), second and third behind Froome at the Tour, are already confirmed. Others include Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing), Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Garmin), Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha), and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana). Defending champion Contador will not race, but Peter Sagan and Rafal Majka are both part of Tinkoff-Saxo’s preliminary Vuelta start list.
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