The third and final Grand Tour of the 2023 cycling season gets underway on Saturday in Barcelona and the two favourites are teammates who have both already stood tall and picked up a win in a three-week stage race this campaign. Can anyone stop Jonas Vingegaard or Primoz Roglic…?
Vuelta a Espana 2023 Odds (Selected Prices)
Team Jumbo-Visma are becoming what Team Sky were back in the middle of the last decade, built to win the big races and just stacked with talent. Everyone railed on the so-called ‘Sky Train’ and, whilst the Dutch outfit might be a little more flexible in their approach to winning races, they are certainly just as dominant.
The victory of Vingegaard at the Tour de France was seemingly from another planet. To win a race of that magnitude by seven minutes and 29 seconds is something in itself but when he was up against a man such as Tadej Pogacar, who himself rode a quite brilliant race, indicates just how strong the young Dane is at the moment.
Doing the Tour/Vuelta double in the same year has only ever been accomplished three times with Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Chris Froome being the men who have successfully completed this tough assignment. All three riders are undoubtedly amongst the all-time greats and the way Vingegaard is going, it would not be any shock if history looks upon him in similar fashion.
Winning two Grand Tours in the same calendar year is nearly as rare a feat with it happening only twice this century. The aforementioned Chris Froome back in 2017 with Alberto Contador also achieving it by taking home both the Giro and Vuelta in 2008. So history is very much against both riders but the betting markets really aren’t. Vingegaard is priced up at 5/4 heading into the race with Roglic a 5/2 shot. Both are considered pretty heavy favourites and have been given co-leader status by their team.
Defending champion Remco Evenepoel will be on the start line looking for back-to-back wins in Spain. It is the one and only time that the 23-year-old has managed to finish a Grand Tour having failed to do so at the Giro in both 2021 and 2023. This indicates that he struggles with three-week races but if he makes it all the way, he’s certainly going to be competitive. We have him as the top choice below the two Jumbo-Visma men at 4/1.
Spanish prenom Juan Ayuso is fourth in the market at 8/1. The 20-year-old looks like the next great young talent in the peloton and on his Grand Tour debut last year he finished this race in a more than respectable third place. Clearly the coming man who will have a team built very much around him and he’ll have a passionate home support to call upon when he needs that extra bit of encouragement.
Team INEOS will be led by Geraint Thomas. The Welshman came oh-so-close to finally winning the Giro in the spring but he faltered in the final ITT. It was however a very notable return to form for the extremely likeable former Tour de France winner. It will take quite the effort to beat out his primary rivals but his ability to dig deep and be competitive is second to none. 20/1 if you want to back the 37-year-old.
Once you go beyond G, it’s starting to look like real longshots – although Enric Mas at the same price of 20/1 and Joao Almeida at 33/1 will likely see some money.
The truth though is if the red jersey isn’t won by one of the two big favourites, it will be one of the biggest surprises in recent Grand Tour memory.
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