The Vuelta seems pretty Spanish to Tobias Bayer

With the Vuelta, the third and last major national tour of professional cyclists will take off on Saturday in Barcelona. The jumbo racing team won both the Italian Giro (Primoz Roglic) and the Tour de France (Jonas Vingegaard) this year, another victory in the Spanish classic would be a “hat trick” that no cycling team has ever managed.

Austria’s contribution to the Vuelta is Tobias Bayer. The 23-year-old from Straß im Attergau is in the saddle for the Alpecin team for the second time in the Tour of Spain. Last year he had to retire injured after a fall on the twelfth stage. This year he wants to be there in Madrid until the finish on September 17th. The anticipation is great, as is the respect. “I’ve been training well and a lot lately and I feel very good,” says Bayer, who got in shape for the Vuelta with a high-altitude training camp in France and a speed burst on the time trial bike on a Belgian racetrack, among other things. In the joy of being able to be part of this classic, there is also some skepticism about the stage plan. “Unfortunately, it’s typically Spanish,” says Bayer, referring to the many meters of altitude that the professional cyclists will have to climb over the next three weeks. “They added a mountain to practically every stage before the finish.” Two highlights are the arrivals at Tourmalet (stage 13) on one of two detours to France and at the fearsomely steep Angliru (stage 17). A total of 3000 kilometers are on the plan, only the final stage on September 17 to Madrid is really flat.

Jumbo goes for the hat trick

The Jumbo team wants to celebrate there again, sending both top stars Roglic and Vingegaard into the race in the fight for the Vuelta victory. The Belgian defending champion Remco Evenepoel, Ineos old star Geraint Thomas and the UAE tandem with Juan Ayuso and Joao Almeida want to thwart the jumbo flight. “We are ready for anything with this team. The big goal is to reach Madrid in the red jersey with Roglic or Vingegaard,” Jumbo sports director Marc Reef is confident that his racing team will also win the third classic of the year as a harvest can.

Tobias Bayer’s Alpecin team wants to continue this year’s streak of winning at least one stage in every Grand Tour. Sprint specialist Kaden Groves is the boss. Bayer wants to show up in a breakaway group. He feels fresh enough, although he has already cycled around 20,000 kilometers this year. “It’s normal for a professional.”