In this pre-Vuelta cycling news roundup, we profile *nearly* every team headed to Spain (via Italy, France, and Andorra), from the GC hopefuls to the stage-hunters to the pack-chasers. Plus we bring you up to speed on the non-Vuelta news, including the kickoff of the star-studded Deutschland Tour, a rapidly rising Q36.5 — and what Juan Ayuso’s Twitter profile might tell us about his Vuelta ambitions.
TOP STORY:
- Every Team’s Vuelta Squad & Strategy — From the GC Contenders to the TV Time Scrappers
Race News:
Wærenskjold Takes Deutschland Lead in Extremely Short Prologue
Rider and Team News:
- Q36.5 Beefs Up around Pidcock with Key Signings
- Grimpeur Covi Moves to Jayco AlUla
- A New Chapter for Lewis Askey at Israel-Premier Tech
- Carapaz Training, Aiming for World Championships
- What can we learn from Juan Ayuso’s Twitter feed?
Every* Team’s Vuelta Squad & Strategy — From the GC Contenders to the TV Time Scrappers
We bike racing fans know that teams’ Grand Tour aspirations vary as widely as their budgets. We’ve captured who’s sending whom to the Vuelta, what they’re aiming for — and a bit of commentary and conjecture as to what they can actually expect. After sorting through this team-by-team analysis, be sure to check out PEZ’ Stage by Stage Route Guide and Rider Picks. ¡Vamos!
*Well, most teams…We’re working with the bigger-name teams that have announced their startlists as of press time — and a couple of longshot squads as well.
THE GC FAVORITES
Visma-Lease A Bike: 2023 Vuelta winner Sepp Kuss as the third podium option? Now that’s a superteam. Yes, Kuss has ridden like a skinny shadow of his former self, but he rode steadily stronger over the course of the Tour, and this year he’ll have one job — which he’ll share with fellow guardians Matteo Jorgenson and Victor Campenaerts: Protect Jonas. Vingegaard is at least as strong a favorite for this Vuelta as Pogaçar was for the Tour; in fact, we strongly considered only including VLAB among the GC “Favorites”.
UAE-Team Emirates-XRG: The team’s Vuelta press release announces, João Almeida to lead Emirati squad in Spain with Juan Ayuso co-leader, as Tadej Pogačar targets Canada after Tour de France glory. SO complicated! Who’s actually the leader? What’s up with a Portuguese rider receiving first billing over the Spanish rider — and what does Pogaçar have to do with anything? We’ve seen this before: without Pogi on the road, this team gets messy. Talent abounds, and there’s surely a podium-placer here somewhere, but…Let’s hope they can at least stay out of each other’s way.
THE GC HOPEFULS
Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale: All for Gall. At least, unless Bruno Armirail and Léo Bisiaux continue to show improvement, in which case…Let the road decide. But this is a team prepared for the high peaks, and possibly peaking for peak performance in the Pyrenees. A podium finish isn’t crazy, especially as they’ve been prepping for the TTT.
Ineos Grenadiers (jersey-partnering with TotalEnergies): This young team has the feel of throw-everything-against-the-wall-and-hope-something-sticks — but what’s not likely to stick is anything like Ineos’ one-time GC dominance. Carlos Rodriguez is the only rider with GC palmares, so the British squad will hope for mountain results from Thymen Arensmen, TT strength from Josh Tarling, maybe a stolen stage from Jhonatan Narváez — again, whatever might stick.
JaycoAlUla: Three Grand Tour stage winners — Australians Ben O’Connor and Chris Harper, and Q36.5-bound, Irish rider Eddie Dunbar — will seek triumph on the Vuelta’s eleven summit finishes — not to mention a possible podium finish. The mercurial O’Connor is always worth following — he could as easily steal a win as finish with the grupetto — and Harper and Dunbar continue to impress. Jayco AlUla could surprise some cycling fans.
Lidl-Trek: Two of late summer’s strongest riders, Giulio Ciccone and Mads Pedersen, will look to build on their results. Ciccone, a perennial outside podium candidate, is…an outside podium candidate. And Pedersen will hope to spread his strength across the Vuelta route’s few true sprint stages (while besting the field’s few true sprinters), and to avenge his being left off of the Tour roster by winning the Points Competition. Maybe this is the Grand Tour when Lidl-Trek enters the “superteam” conversation?
Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe: Team leader Jai Hindley isn’t headed to put socks on centipedes, as described his successful intent to take 2022 Giro title. Backed by a seasoned squad of diverse talents, the Australian hopes to return to his podium-stepping ways. Giulio Pellizzari and Finn Fisher Black will support Hindley in the mountains.
THE STAGE-CHASERS
Bahrain Victorious: Italian climber Antonio Tiberi will seek to make up for last year’s Vuelta abandon (heatstroke), leading the team in the mountains. Tiberi is aiming for the podium, and would seem to have an outside shot, considering the race’s extremely mountainous profile, as well as the solid backing he’ll receive from Santiago Buitrago, Damiano Caruso and Jack Haig. Still, we just couldn’t include BV even among the podium “hopefuls.”
EF-Education First: The team’s release describes its Vuelta eight as an “eager young squad” — a description we found to be very accurate. We here at PEZ recognize the names Esteban Chaves and James Shaw, plus younger Sean Quinn — but no one else. Still, EF’s perennial sponsorship stress motivates exciting racing; expect team pink to be in every break they can find.
Israel Premier Tech: On the heels of 2024 stage victor Mike Woods’ announcement that he is leaving cycling due to crash concerns, IPT will hunt stage wins with an eclectic collection of riders. Among the largely Anglophone squad members, American Matthew Riccitello would seem to have the best shot at a headline-earning result.
Lotto Cycling Team: A versatile and very young squad will seek results in sprints, the high mountains, and even the Vuelta’s sole time trial. Leadout master Jasper De Buyst will tow Elia Viviani into the final meters of the event’s few flat stages, while Eduardo Sepúlveda and Jonas Gregaard will aim to animate the climbs.
Picnic PostNL: Opportunism is the watchword for this team, which recently announced that Max Poole would not start, having been diagnosed with Epstein-Barr virus. As with many other teams, the Dutch team has assembled a mountains-focused squad, led by Chris Hamilton and Kevin Vermaerke, who has earned some attention-getting results recently. Watch for surprise sprint results from Casper van Uden as well.
Q36.5: Tom Pidcock has sought to diminish expectations rather emphatically, stating that Grand Tours are particularly challenging for him, and that he’d be entirely pleased with a top ten finish. With an exceedingly inexperienced squad around him — and with eleven summit finishes limiting his renowned descending advantage — he’ll likely be wishing he had his incoming teammates Dunbar and Wright (below) on board for this Vuelta. 
THE SPONSOR-CHASERS
Arkea-B&B Hotels: While explicitly aiming for stage wins, the French team is sneakily going to support Cristián Rodríguez for the overall as well, with a top ten GC result in mind. Apart from that…the Vuelta pickings may be quite slim for Arkea-B&B.
Caja Rural-Seguros RGA: The Spanish team’s press release [revealed] their 2025 Vuelta a Espana Lineup with eyes on stage success.” You don’t say! No GC ambitions? But: we PEZ’ers are here for the Spanish continental teams at the Vuelta. No, we don’t recognize a single rider from this team, or from their counterparts at Burgos Burpellet BH — but we’re huge fans of the cycling tradition of home-country teams squaring off against the big-budget squads. We’re wishing them hours of sponsor-soothing TV time — and who knows: Maybe a career-changing stage win.
Cofidis: If there were a Gray Jersey available in this Vuelta, the French team would be contenders, featuring four riders over 30. But they’ve won in Spain before: Jesús Herrada is back this year, having taken stages in 2019, 2022 and 2023. Bryan Coquard will meanwhile be looking to finish his first-ever Vuelta — while hoping for a result that clouds our memory of his controversial move that took down Jasper Philipsen in the Tour.
Intermarché-Wanty: South African climber Louis Meintjes will start his tenth Vuelta, and will lead the team over this version’s extremely mountain-heavy route. Two other riders join Meintjes in taking on a Giro-Vuelta double this year. As the team faces a Girmay-less future and shifting sponsorship, they’ll be hoping for any result possible.
Movistar Team: The Spanish team put its eggs into the French basket this year, but when Enric Mas crashed out and subsequently called it a season, Movistar Team was left without even an outside GC threat. Their press release states they’re starting a “solid and well-balanced roster, aiming to play a key role throughout the race” featuring Iván Cortina and Jorge Arcas. Modest expectations indeed.
RACE NEWS
Wærenskjold Takes Deutschland Lead in Extremely Short Prologue
Søren Wærenskjold claimed the opening victory at the Deutschland Tour, winning the ultra-short 3.1 km prologue in Essen. The Norwegian rider from Uno-X clocked the fastest time late in the day, edging Britain’s Samuel Watson by just half a second, while pre-race favorite Wout van Aert settled for fifth place, two seconds back.
The short course gave several early starters, including Austria’s Marco Haller, a chance to hold the hot seat for much of the afternoon. But once the top riders rolled off the ramp, Wærenskjold’s effort proved unbeatable. With Watson, Van Aert, Jonathan Milan, and Florian Lipowitz unable to better his time, Wærenskjold pulled on the first leader’s jersey of the 2025 Deutschland Tour.
RIDER & TEAM NEWS
Q36.5 Beefs Up around Pidcock with Key Signings
Eddie Dunbar has become the second-most prominent cyclist to join the upstart Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, following Tom Pidcock’s headline-grabbing signing late last year. The Irishman brings a multitude of talents to the team: top ten in a Grand Tour, strong time trial skills, results in one-day and short stage races and an attacking style of racing that fans love and that earned him two Vuelta stage wins in 2024.
Further representing English-speaking countries on the Swiss team will be Aussie Chris Harper, coming over from Jayco AlUla, as well as Londoner Fred Wright, who transfers to Q36.5 from Bahrain Victorious.
Harper has steadily elevated his palmares profile over the course of his career, notably winning the GC-shaking Stage 20 of this year’s Giro. Wright adds potential in the cobbled classics, as well as a strong finish in hard one-day and stage races
Dunbar said of his signing, “Q36.5 is obviously a team on the up…They are really competitive in the races, take it on even if they don’t win and create a good racing atmosphere riding as one…In Tom [Pidcock] they have a clear leader which is always good for any team so it seems like a good moment now to join with my knowledge and experience.”
eTrashMike sez: But who will actually be the team leader — especially in Grand Tours? Pidcock’s role and ambitions are only becoming less clear. Maybe Dunbar or Harper made this move because they saw the need for someone else to step up — or perhaps someone at Q36.5 actually whispered that to them.
Grimpeur Covi Moves to Jayco AlUla
Team Jayco AlUla has announced the signing of Italian climber Alessandro Covi. The 26-year-old, who finished second in this year’s Italian national road race championships — thus the closest to shocker victor Filippo Conca — boasts a fast finish and won an uphill dash to the line at the Giro d’Abruzzo earlier this season, as well as a stage of the Vuelta a Asturias.
Covi also knows how to win at Grand Tour-level, winning a stage of the Giro d’Italia in 2022 on the iconic Marmolada following a daring 53km solo attack.
Said Covi, “I’m really excited to join Team Jayco AlUla…I’ve always admired it for its organization and the different results the team has achieved over the years.I thank UAE Team Emirates XRG for the long time we’ve spent together, but I felt that, after six years, it was the right time to take a new step in my career. I’m convinced that Team Jayco AlUla is the best environment for me to grow further.
A New Chapter for Lewis Askey at Israel-Premier Tech
British rider Lewis Askey has signed a three-year deal with Israel-Premier Tech. Askey, has had a standout year in 2025, with victories at the Boucles de l’Aulne – Châteaulin and stage 2 of the 4 Jours de Dunkerque.
“Lewis Askey is a rider we have had our eye on for a while,” explained IPT General Manager Kjell Carlström. “Having been promoted to the WorldTour at a young age, Lewis already has a wealth of experience and he’s still only 24 years old. His victories this year were confirmation of what we knew he was capable of.”
Carapaz Training, Aiming for World Championships
After missing the Tour de France due to a gastrointestinal infection, Ecuadorian rider has returned to training, hoping to make his mark on the vertically-heavy World Championship Road Race in Rwanda.
“After the illness I had, I had to stop several times as I couldn’t train for more than two or three days at a time,” said Richard. “Now in Ecuador, I’m trying to get back to normal with training and continue moving forward with what we had planned. I’m almost fully recovered now.”
Carapaz will also race the Italian classics, including Il Lombardia. Training at altitude in Ecuador, he stated, will prepare him for challenging racing in the mountains.
What can we learn from Juan Ayuso’s Twitter feed?
We figured we’d dedicate the latest edition of this recurring feature to the Spanish rider who’s not getting top billing from his team at his home race: Juan Ayuso, UAE’s co-leader. Does his Twitter feed reveal anything about his pre-Vuelta mood?
He hasn’t posted since the Giro — the last time we saw a Pogi-less UAE squad on a grand stage — but his pinned post does suggest that Ayuso longs for a three-week stage race podium, taking us way back to the 2022 Vuelta:
We haven’t been monitoring Ayuso’s social media carefully, so we can only assume that he’s had this post pinned for the last three years. We’ll be following closely to see whether he rides like a “co-leader,” or like someone who’s been hoping to return to the winner’s position since 2022.
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