CyclistLads on (Grand) Tour: The 6 British riders at the Vuelta a Espaa 2024The final Grand Tour of the season is here. The 2024 Vuelta a Espaa begins in Portugal on 17th August and finishes in Madrid on 8th September, bookended by individual time-trials.Six British riders will be on the start line in Lisbon, including debutants to Grand Tour winners.Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost)A.S.O./Billy CeustersOwain Doull spent five years with Ineos Grenadiers before making the move to EF Education-EasyPost in 2022, describing it as a breath of fresh air. This will be his first Vuelta a Espaa for the American squad, though he was part of Ineos Grenadiers Vuelta squad in 2019, where he rode in support of Tao Geoghegan Hart and Wout Poels.He has plenty of experience in racing Grand Tours in 2024, having already ridden both the Giro dItalia (DNF) and Tour de France (90th overall) and Doull will be riding to help Richard Carapaz win the red jersey in his role as road captain, making key decisions in important moments. Related Posts The Vuelta a Espaa leaders red jersey: Everything you need to know Who are the favourites for the 2024 Vuelta a Espaa? Vuelta a Espaa 2024: Route, start list, how to watch and all you need to know James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost)A.S.O./Charly LopezLike Doull, James Shaw also joined the EF outfit in 2022 and will also be tasked with helping Richard Carapaz to potential glory. As for the notion of trying his luck in the breakaway on a few stages, he said it would be nice to roll the dice and see where we end up, but Im here to ride for Richie.One of Shaws personal best career results to date came in his one previous Vuelta appearance in 2022, where he placed ninth on the summit finish on Peas Blancas a stage that was won, interestingly enough, by future teammate Carapaz, who was riding for Ineos Grenadiers at the time.Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers)A.S.O./Billy CeustersOne of the most exciting British riders on the scene right now, Josh Tarling is only 20 years of age but already has a palmars to dream of. After winning the National ITT Championship last year, he won bronze in the mens elite time-trial at the UCI Cycling World Championships and then became the joint youngest winner at WorldTour level with his victory at the Renewi Tour aged 19 years and 190 days at the time, he tied the mark set by Remco Evenepoel four years earlier. He later beat Evenepoel to the win at Chrono des Nations too.Tarling will be looking to make an immediate impression on his Vuelta at the race-opening individual time-trial, a 11.8km flat race against the clock. Hell hoping to still be around for the races other time-trial on Stage 21, a longer 24.5km ride to the finish line in Madrid.Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek)Pete GodingTao Geoghegan Hart hasnt had the easiest year. He was forced to miss the Tour de France after breaking his rib in a crash at the Critrium du Dauphin and then contracting Covid prior to the start in Florence, Italy.Geoghegan Hart has thus far focussed only on stage races this year, riding in the Volta ao Algarve, Tirreno-Adriatico, Itzulia Basque Country, Tour de Romandie and Dauphin. The 2022 Giro dItalia winners most recent race was the Vuelta a Burgos earlier this month, where he crashed out on Stage 2, citing dizziness after hitting his head on impact.Geoghegan Hart and Mattias Skjelmose will share leadership duties for Lidl-Trek in the race.Max Poole (DSM-firmenich PostNL)A.S.O./Billy CeustersThe 21-year-old Max Poole was part of the DSM-firmenich PostNL squad that won the opening stage team time-trial at the Vuelta a Espaa last year, crossing the line second on his Vuelta debut, just behind teammate Lorenzo Mileso, and rode to an impressive fourth place on a mountainous Stage 18 that culminated in a summit finish on La Cruz de Linares. He arrives at the Vuelta having recently impressed at the five-stage Vuelta a Burgos. With a strong fourth place finish on Stage 3 behind the days winner Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) and eighth in the Stage 4 individual time-trial, he rose to second on the general classification, a position he would hold onto on the final day to finish runner-up behind Kuss, topping the young rider standings in the process.The DSM-firmenich PostNL team says they will support him as he tests himself for the first time in the GC at a Grand Tour, whilst Poole will also be aiming for stage wins.Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates)A.S.O./Charly LopezDespite some calls for him to go for the Grand Tour triple-crown in 2024, Tadej Pogaar will not take to the start line of the Vuelta a Espaa. UAE Team Emirates will nonetheless take an incredibly strong squad to the race, with team leaders Adam Yates and Joao Almeida able to lean on the support of Isaac del Toro, Pavel Sivakov, Marc Soler and Jay Vine. Yates and Almeida were an entertaining pair to watch as they ran riot at the Tour de Suisse in June. Yates won overall with Almeida in second and they finished 1-2 on the final four stages, splitting the stage honours two apiece. Both have Grand Tour experience in bucketloads. Yates finished fourth overall at the Vuelta a Espaa in 2021 and third at the Tour de France in 2023 while 26-year-old Almeida took third at the 2023 Giro dItalia and fourth at the 2024 Tour de France. Will too many co-leadership cooks spoil the broth?The post Lads on (Grand) Tour: The 6 British riders at the Vuelta a Espaa 2024 appeared first on Cyclist.