Team Giant-Shimano has announced its thirteen rider long-list for the 69th Vuelta a España.
The final selection of nine riders will be selected from the 13 man list and announced the week prior to the start of the race.
Like last season, La Vuelta gets underway with a team time trial on 23 August, this year in Jerez de la Frontera with a flat 12.6km effort.
The first mountain stage comes after just six days with a summit finish in Granada. The rest of the race presents a plethora of different opportunities and the Team Giant-Shimano line-up will reflect this.
One rider who has had a focus on this race for a while is double stage winner from 2013, Warren Barguil (FRA) who got the latter half of his season off to a strong start at the Tour of Poland in preparation for the Vuelta.
Team Giant-Shimano coach Christian Guiberteau (FRA) said of the preselection ahead 0f the race: "We head into the Vuelta with two real objectives, firstly to help support Warren towards a good overall result in the race.
"In this we will also help both Warren develop as a leader and also some of the other younger riders in the team to progress in working every day for an overall goal.
"As well as this we want to target a sprint win but the opportunities for this outcome are few and far between. The team will be built around aiming for these objectives while at the same time focusing on the development that you get from riding a Grand Tour."
La Vuelta long-list:
Riders
Nikias Arndt (GER)
Warren Barguil (FRA)
Lawson Craddock (USA)
Thomas Damuseau (FRA)
John Degenkolb (GER)
Johannes Fröhlinger (GER)
Chad Haga (USA)
Thierry Hupond (FRA)
Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (RSA)
Koen De Kort (NED)
Tobias Ludvigsson (SWE)
Ramon Sinkeldam (NED)
Tom Stamsnijder (NED)
Coaches
Christian Guiberteau (FRA)
Lionel Marie (FRA)
Source: DSG
