This year’s Vuelta a España was characterised by starkly contrasting fortunes between the teams that excelled, and those that floundered.
Fifteen of the 21 stage wins on offer were shared between just five teams, all of whom claimed three each. No single rider dominated the race in the manner that Tadej Pogačar did at the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France earlier this year, but between them these teams hoarded much of the success.
That left the other teams picking up scraps, and in total 12 were left winless. Some excelled in other ways, through riding for GC or other targets, but many will struggle to find things to celebrate at the post-race debrief.
Rouleur takes a look at each team individually, and how happy they will be with how their race went.
Alpecin-Deceuninck 9/10
The sprint specialists once again dominated the bunch finishes, with Kaden Groves coming out on top in his duel with Wout van Aert to claim three stages — and, after the Belgian crashed out in the final week, a defence of his points classification title.
Arkéa–B&B Hotels 2/10
Arkéa–B&B Hotels changed their kit from the usual red to yellow during the Vuelta, but such was their anonymity that you’d be forgiven for not noticing. Cristián Rodríguez rode cautiously to finish 13th overall, and their riders failed to animate many breakaways.
Astana Qazaqstan 2/10
Without star rider Mark Cavendish, Astana were a little rudderless and lacking in purpose. The one notable performer was Harold Tejada, who picked up so many sprint points during his many breakaway errands to at one point find himself as high as second in the points classification.
Bahrain-Victorious 1/10
Any hope of a high GC finish for Bahrain-Victorious faded after Damiano Caruso lost a packet of time in the opening days, Antonio Tiberi quit the race with heatstroke, and Jack Haig faded after a strong start. They were unable to redeem their race in the breakaways.
Cofidis 2/10
Midway into the second week, Cofidis were already down to half of their roster, with star sprinter Bryan Coquard among those to have abandoned having shown promising form with a fourth-place finish on stage five’s bunch sprint. Of those who remained, Guillaume Martin was uncharacteristically quiet for his unremarkable 15th overall finish, but a lively Ion Izagirre led the fightback with three top seven finishes from breakaways.
Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale 9/10
While Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale had hoped to be competitive in the GC race, they couldn't have anticipated the race playing out as it did. They controlled the race for two whole weeks after Ben O’Connor’s enormous ride to win at Yunquera, and finished it with the Australian second overall — the team’s first Grand Tour podium in seven years.
Team DSM-Firmenich-PostNL 6/10
Once again it was youth that propelled Team DSM-Firmenich-PostNL to success, in the form of two 21-year-olds — the unfortunate yet resilient Max Poole, who made the podium four times from breakaways (and even finished third in the points classification) without quite managing to win a stage; and Pavel Bittner, who delivered the team’s sole stage win in the stage five sprint.
EF Education-EasyPost 6/10
At long last, towards the end of his second season at the team, Richard Carapaz delivered on what EF Education-EasyPost signed him for by competing for the top spots on GC. Though he ultimately fell short of the podium, fourth-place is still the team’s highest at a Grand Tour since 2020.
Equipo Kern Pharma 10/10
For second-tier wildcard invitees, the Vuelta which Equipo Kern Pharma enjoyed was the stuff of fairytales, and arguably unsurpassed in recent Grand Tours by a team of their level. Pablo Castrillo’s astonishing two stage wins made him the revelation of the race, while Urko Berrade remarkably added a third stage win to their haul, all achieved in honour of their former team president Manolo Azcona, who died during the race.
Euskaltel-Euskadi 4/10
Though the team suffered from the early abandonment of star rider Jon Aberasturi in the first week following an impressive third-place on stage three, the orange colours of Basque outfit Euskaltel-Euskadi were a familiar sight in the breakaways.
Groupama-FDJ 7/10
It was a satisfying Vuelta for Groupama-FDJ on every front — a resurgent David Gaudu improved as the race went on to climb to a sixth-place finish on GC, while Stefan Küng (having shown form mixing it up in the first week sprints) took a long-awaited first stage win at Grand Tour level in resounding fashion in the final time trial in Madrid.
Israel-Premier Tech 6/10
Michael Woods gave the team the stage win they needed to make it a success, but there were also eye-catching rides by youngsters Matthew Riccitello and Marco Frigo in the mountains, and Corbin Strong consistently made the top six in the sprints.
Ineos Grenadiers 3/10
In what has been a testing year for Ineos Grenadiers, this was the worst Grand Tour of the three. A tired-looking Carlos Rodríguez faded to 10th overall and Thymen Arensman pulled out in the second week, while nobody even came close to winning a stage.
Intermarché–Wanty 2/10
After the high of the Biniam Girmay-led Tour de France, this was something of a crash back down to earth for Intermarché–Wanty. Only Vito Braet and Arne Marit competed for stage wins with a single third and fourth place finish respectively in the sprints, and only half the team managed to make it to Madrid.
Jayco-Alula 8/10
Rather than concentrate on GC, Jayco-AlUla chased stages, and reaped great rewards for doing so. Eddie Dunbar was of course the star, winning the queen stage atop Picón Blanco as well as stage 11 in Galicia, but credit also to Mauro Schmid for his couple of runner-up finishes, plus Filippo Zana for being defeated only by Marc Soler on Lagos de Covadonga.
Lidl-Trek 6/10
The team’s decision to rally behind Mattias Skjelmose for the GC was justified as the Dane improved to finish fifth overall, while Mathias Vacek impressed in both the sprints and time trials with a couple of runner-up finishes.
Lotto-Dstny 4/10
Lennert Van Eetvelt promised much by placing second on the first summit finish of the race at Pico Villuercas (and would have had a stage win had he not celebrated too early), only to fade and eventually abandon, after which the team lost its impetus.
Movistar 7/10
There were times that Enric Mas looked like the strongest rider in the race, and accordingly Movistar did sometimes ride like a team targeting not just a high GC, but overall victory. Ultimately they settled for third place, but the home favourites can still say they performed the role of Grand Tour protagonists for the first time in a couple of years.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe 10/10
Questions had been raised about whether Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe had both the strength and unity required to give Primož Roglič what he needs to win GC at a Grand Tour, but they answered all of them over the course of the Vuelta. Not only was this a resounding overall victory for the Slovenian (who took three stages along the way), it was also very tightly controlled race by the team, who calculated correctly giving the red jersey away, and managed to nullify any attempted attacks by their GC rivals through strong performances from the likes of Dani Martínez, Aleksandr Vlasov and Florian Lipowitz.
T-Rex-Soudal 4/10
Riding under a new name seemingly inviting ridicule, T-Rex-Soudal managed to retain the team’s respect as Mikel Landa challenged for a podium finish, and possibly even more. That was until one bad day in the Basque Country on stage 18 saw him slide out of contention, leaving him with just an eighth place finish on GC to show for his efforts, and no stage placing higher than the third place Matteo Cattaneo managed on the final day time trial.
Visma-Lease a Bike 6/10
From the heady heights of this time last year, when they made history by occupying all three top spots on the GC podium, even winning three stages feels underwhelming for Visma-Lease a Bike given the lack of any red jersey title defence from Sepp Kuss. Things would have been better had the man responsible for all three of those wins, Wout van Aert, not crashed out in the final week, while remarkably leading both the points and mountains classification.
UAE Team Emirates 7/10
Without Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates continue to be dysfunctional, entertaining, and at least partially successful. What they lacked in GC prospects after João Almeida abandoned with Covid they made up for elsewhere, with Brandon McNulty, Adam Yates and Marc Soler both claiming stages, and Jay Vine the King of the Mountains classification, the latter in an internal battle with Soler that epitomised how chaotic this team can be even when in success.
