Cyclist
The 6 North American riders at the 2024 Vuelta a España
Last year, the US claimed their first Grand Tour victory in 10 years courtesy of Sepp Kuss. With this Vuelta win, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider celebrated a new American era in road cycling.
In recent years, the Vuelta has been the most successful Grand Tour for Americans. The country has taken two overall wins here in the past 10 years as well as a handful of stage wins courtesy of Ben King and Sepp Kuss. It’s not all about the Americans, either – Canada has taken three stage wins at the Vuelta over the past 10 years.
There are only six riders from the USA, Canada and Mexico at the 2024 Vuelta a España. Four Americans will take part in the Vuelta, the same as last year. There is just one Canadian set to ride the Vuelta. On top of this, a Mexican will compete at the Vuelta for the first time in decades.
Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike)
The reigning Vuelta champion will return to the Grand Tour he claimed 12 months ago. The way in which Kuss took the maillot rojo last year was unique and hard to replicate.
In 2024, Kuss has struggled to live up to the heights of his Grand Tour victory. Some underwhelming stage race results early in the year demonstrated that Kuss wasn’t quite ready to lead the team at a Grand Tour again. A Covid contraction in June ruled his name out of the Tour de France but he has since shown some signs of genuine improvement.
With a stage win at the Vuelta a Burgos, Kuss moved into the leader’s jersey. A few days later, he claimed the overall title and moved his name back into the ring as a GC contender for the Vuelta.
Kuss will lead Visma-Lease a Bike alongside young Belgian Cian Uijtdebroeks. They will be backed up by Wout van Aert who makes his Vuelta debut in Lisbon this weekend. Kuss won’t have the support of Primož Roglič and Jonas Vinegegaard this year, but he’ll still bask in the pleasure of being the reigning champion of his adopted home race.
Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates)
Born in Phoenix, Arizona, the 26-year-old Brandon McNulty will ride the Vuelta for the second time in his career. A strong climber, the UAE Team Emirates rider has ridden in support of teammate Tadej Pogačar in the Tour before. However, McNulty sealed a breakaway stage win at the 2023 Giro d’Italia.
McNulty had an immensely strong start to the year. The Arizonan won the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in February before a yellow jersey stint at the UAE Tour and Paris-Nice. McNulty would climb onto the podium of the latter in third place. This strong form continued with a national time-trial title and a top five at the Olympic Games. Without a Grand Tour in his legs this year, McNulty is ready to hit the three-weekers at the Vuelta a España.
McNulty will be an important part of UAE Team Emirates’ podium ambitions. Despite his climbing prowess, McNulty is likely to be part of the mountain support for Almeida and Yates during the 2024 Vuelta.
Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech)
22-year-old Matthew Riccitello made a breakthrough at the Giro d’Italia in 2023. He surpassed expectations on the tough mountain time-trial to Monte Lussari with an 11th place on the day. Later in 2023, Riccitello fought the youngsters’ Tour de l’Avenir from the front. There, he wore the leader’s jersey for a number of days before being overtaken by Isaac del Toro on the final day of racing.
So far in 2024, Riccitello has been riding consistently. A top 10 on a mountain stage at the UAE Tour and a top 20 overall at the Giro d’Abruzzo prefaced an impressive top 10 at the Tour de Suisse.
At the Vuelta, the Arizonan Riccitello will start his second Grand Tour with the Israel-Premier Tech squad. He will be one of the team’s stronger climbers alongside George Bennett and Dylan Teuns.
Riley Sheehan (Israel-Premier Tech)
From Boulder, Colorado, Riley Sheehan has shot onto the UCI WorldTour at the age of 24. After a dominant year in the domestic scene with the Denver Disruptors, Sheehan came onto the Israel-Premier Tech team last summer.
Sheehan is a strong one-day rider. He burst onto the scene with a neo-pro victory at Paris-Tour last year. He followed this up with a top five at Tro Bro Léon, a podium at Eschborn-Frankfurt in 2024. At the Vuelta, we can expect Sheehan to try and hang on for the hillier sprint finishes.
The Vuelta will be Sheehan’s first UCI World Tour stage race. Mysteriously, Israel-Premier Tech decided to test the American out at the Vuelta.
Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech)
Heading up Israel-Premier Tech’s hopes will be two-time Vuelta stage winner Michael Woods. The Ontario-born rider is the only Canadian to take part in the 2024 Vuelta a España. A seasoned rider, Woods will be riding his fifth Vuelta this year. In fact, his best overall result came at this race back in 2017 with a seventh place in the GC.
Woods decided to miss the Tour de France this year – a surprising decision following a stage win in 2023. This year, Woods has been fairly incognito. The Canadian abandoned the Giro within the first week of racing after having also missed the Ardennes classics.
After a long break, Woods became the Canadian champion in June. He revealed his special jersey after the Tour de France. Look out for it in the peloton, it’s inspired by ice hockey star Wayne Gretzky’s jersey from the 1987 Canada Cup final against the USSR. The typeface used on the jersey harks back to Donavan Bailey’s 1996 gold medal in the 100m. What a way to honour Canadian sport – fair play.
Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates)
The most exciting name on this list comes courtesy of Mexico’s Isaac del Toro. The 20-year-old made cycling headlines last summer with a surprise win overall at the Tour de l’Avenir, becoming the first Mexican to do so.
Soon after, it was announced that Del Toro would move to UAE Team Emirates and the hype started to build. At the beginning of 2024, this was vindicated. Isaac del Toro won a stage in emphatic fashion at the first UCI WorldTour race of the year at the Tour Down Under. This race concluded with Del Toro on the podium. Tirenno-Adriatico saw another GC top 10 as did the Tour of the Basque Country in April.
The young rider from Baja California is one of the hottest properties in cycling, often being touted as ‘the next Pogačar’. His strengths are very similar to Pogačar’s. Del Toro is aggressive, strong on a one-day profile and has a similar riding style.
It is clear that UAE Team Emirates have full confidence in the Mexican. He has been given big race appearances and the chance to lead the team. I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes a big breakout rider of the 2024 Vuelta.
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