Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl to the Vuelta a España

Julian Alaphilippe and Remco Evenepoel will spearhead the Wolfpack at the final Grand Tour race of the year.

Remco Evenepoel returns to Spain, the country where he took his first World Tour win, and some of his most unforgettable victories, but not before doing a short detour through Netherlands, from where the 77th edition of La Vuelta starts this Friday.

Having scored eleven victories so far this season, including a resounding triumph at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Evenepoel will make just his second Grand Tour appearance at the race which will feature a 23.2km TTT on the opening day, a 31.3km individual time trial at the beginning of the second week and a total of nine summit finishes, before the grand finale in Madrid.

A stage winner here in 2017, Julian Alaphilippe will be back for the first time since that spectacular Vuelta debut, and will be keen on showcasing his panache and rainbow jersey on what will be his last race before the World Championships in Australia. Also making the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team for the Spanish Grand Tour are Rémi Cavagna – a stage victor at the 2019 edition – Dries Devenyns, Fausto Masnada, Pieter Serry, Ilan Van Wilder and Louis Vervaeke.

“Remco and Julian will be the leaders of the squad for this last Grand Tour of the season, one comprising many hard stages, from the Basque Country ones to those in the high mountains. For Remco, this will be a whole new adventure. He doesn’t start as a favourite for the general classification, and we will just take it day by day and see how things to”, said sports director Klaas Lodewyck. “Julian comes at the start after a tough season, but he has been working hard and will target some of the stages. The two of them have a strong supporting cast, the entire team is ready and motivated, and we look forward to the next couple of weeks.”

Photo credit: ©Wout Beel