Or will the team rally behind Jonas Vingegaard<\/a> right from the start and deliver red without controversy?<\/p>\n Vingegaard arrives at Saturday\u2019s start of the Vuelta as the undisputed five-star favorite.<\/p>\n With none of the Big 4 rivals on the Torino start line \u2014 no Poga\u010dar, no Evenepoel, no Rogli\u010d \u2014 the Dane stands alone as the rider to beat.<\/p>\n UAE perhaps packs the stiffest competition, but Juan Ayuso and Jo\u00e3o Almeida are still unproven over three weeks. Neither has yet demonstrated the horsepower to unseat a double Tour de France<\/a> winner.<\/p>\n This is his Vuelta to lose.<\/p>\n Yet will Vingegaard\u2019s most dangerous enemies come from within?<\/p>\n Could the Vuelta unravel into the intra-squad squabbles that saw teammates attacking each other up the Angliru all over again?<\/p>\n Not that the 2023 outcome was bad by any stretch. Visma capped its magical season with an unprecedented grand tour sweep with a podium stomp in Madrid.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the kind of finale sports managers and team owners dream about.<\/p>\n But the way it unraveled \u2014 from the muddled GC hierarchy and the sight of Rogli\u010d and Vingegaard launching attacks against their teammate Sepp Kuss in red \u2014 turned what should have been a victory parade into one of cycling\u2019s biggest soap operas.<\/p>\n As Visma lines up again this weekend with the deepest and strongest team in the race, the echoes of 2023 are inevitable.<\/p>\n Yet a replay of the 2023 circus is almost certainly not going to happen. Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n Setting GC hierarchy early If Visma learned something from 2023, it\u2019s to set the GC hierarchy early, or risk chaos.<\/p>\n Two years ago, the team rolled into the Vuelta overflowing with confidence after sweeping the Giro and Tour. The mood was almost like a cycling training camp: let\u2019s race, let\u2019s have fun, let\u2019s see who\u2019s strongest!<\/p>\n The result was a tactical face-palm that nearly imploded the team.<\/p>\n One can imagine that Visma will bring a carved-in-stone strategy right from the beginning of this Vuelta. The last thing it wants is a repeat of 2023, when Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d and Vingegaard were battling for supremacy as soon as the flag dropped.<\/p>\n The fact that Kuss won America\u2019s first elite men\u2019s grand tour win in a decade was as big of a surprise to everyone inside the bus as it was to fans watching from the roadside and on TV, but that scenario was of their own doing.<\/p>\n Kuss was cut loose early at the end of the first week to chase a stage win and to put pressure on GC rivals. That was fine, until the Colorado climber hung on longer than anyone expected.<\/p>\n #LaVuelta25<\/a><\/p>\n Ciao Vuelta \u2764\ufe0f<\/p>\n Back in Torino again. Meet our squad and read the preview: https:\/\/t.co\/Ut2LBpy5Ny<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/OPQnBAhTfy<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) August 18, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n That\u2019s when the fireworks started. And by the time things came to an embarrassing intrasquad shootout on the Angliru, the race had slipped into a full-blown family feud.<\/p>\n Not that anyone didn\u2019t love seeing Kuss bring home the flowers, but Visma brass won\u2019t want to replay that drama again.<\/p>\n Rather than race with a loosey-goosey, let\u2019s have fun and blow up the race attitude; the team is expected to race with a more disciplined and strategic approach.<\/p>\n Expect 2025 to see the team marching in lock step behind Vingegaard firmly installed as the leader of the band right from stage 1.<\/p>\n Pressure to set tone early There will be pressure for the Killer Bees to get this one right, and that means winning the Vuelta with Vingegaard.<\/p>\n That wasn\u2019t the case in 2023, when the team seemed untouchable and was at the height of its powers. That Vuelta, even with the Kuss-induced drama, almost felt like a victory lap. The team was so deep that they were playing hot potato with the red leader\u2019s jersey.<\/p>\n But 2025 is different. The Killer Bees need to win this Vuelta.<\/p>\n Since that magical 2023 season, Visma and Vingegaard have struggled to keep pace with Tadej Poga\u010dar at the Tour de France.<\/p>\n UAE Emirates-XRG is now doing the thrashing, and things are getting crowded at the top, especially with ascendant Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe feeling bullish with the arrival of Remco Evenepoel alongside Rogli\u010d and breakout star Florian Lipowitz for 2026.<\/p>\n Visma will be racing this month to remind all the armchair sport directors that they\u2019re still at the top of the peloton\u2019s power charts.<\/p>\n UAE vs Visma at La Vuelta<\/p>\n How UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Team Visma | Lease a Bike \u2013 who finished 1st and 2nd on GC at both the Giro d\u2019Italia and Tour de France \u2013 compare for the Vuelta a Esp\u00e3na, which starts on Saturday.<\/p>\n Sprint Cycling | Team Visma | Lease a Bike pic.twitter.com\/S0X9c9Kfjr<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Velon CC (@VelonCC) August 18, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n The \u201cyellow jackets\u201d got it right with the audacious Finestre ambush in May\u2019s Giro d\u2019Italia thanks to Simon Yates. It\u2019s that style of racing the team will need to bring to the Vuelta.<\/p>\n But the team is under pressure to bring home this Vuelta with Vingegaard, their top GC man and franchise player. This Vuelta is about intent and execution.<\/p>\n The Dane probably should have and could have won in 2023, but he played the loyal teammate to pay back fan-favorite Kuss in the later stages as the race was slipping into chaos.<\/p>\n It was Rogli\u010d who felt left to play the villain.<\/p>\n But Rogli\u010d was only playing by the rules the team set at the start of letting the best rider win, so he kept pressing for his own shot at glory. When the team finally forced him to accept Kuss as the winner, that ultimately set the stage for him to join Red Bull.<\/p>\n Visma management will be playing all of its strategic cards to avoid a repeat of the Angliru dumpster fire of 2023 that turned into a PR nightmare and social media fiasco.<\/p>\n None of those circumstances should exist coming into this year\u2019s Vuelta, unless they create them again.<\/p>\n The pressure to win, however, is even bigger.<\/p>\n Kuss and Jorgenson hold the keys Sepp Kuss is back as Visma\u2019s ever-reliable mountain lieutenant, but there\u2019s a new wrinkle with the emergence of rising star Matteo Jorgenson.<\/p>\n Kuss looks close to being back at his best, though perhaps not quite at the level he showed in 2022 and 2023, when he was a constant stage-hunting threat and undisputedly the finest climbing domestique in the peloton.<\/p>\n Still, the Durango Kid is a master of riding back-to-back grand tours and will arrive with the experience and resilience to be the last man for Vingegaard in the high mountains.<\/p>\n Kuss doesn\u2019t like the limelight or pressure that comes with leadership, so he\u2019s just fine riding for the Dane.<\/p>\n Jorgenson could be this Vuelta\u2019s wild card.<\/p>\n Illness derailed his Tour de France, but the 26-year-old is eager for redemption in Spain.<\/p>\n This Vuelta, less punishing than recent editions and without Poga\u010dar or other GC favorites, could provide an ideal proving ground for him to test his GC credentials.<\/p>\n The American has made no secret that he believes he can develop into a grand tour contender, and a podium tilt here would be the clearest confirmation yet.<\/p>\n #LaVuelta23<\/a><\/p>\n Almost 1.800 km in .<\/p>\n In the \u2764\ufe0f for a lifetime. pic.twitter.com\/6lR1dAMcuW<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) September 17, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n The balancing act for Visma will be in how they can best use their firepower.<\/p>\n Give Jorgenson too much leash too early, as the team did with Kuss in 2023, and they risk setting their own trap again.<\/p>\n Of course, Jorgenson would never openly attack Vingegaard. It\u2019s the sport directors who ultimately call the tactical shots.<\/p>\n Handled right, the duo of Kuss and Jorgo should provide Vingegaard with the red-carpet leadout he needs to dominate and win this Vuelta.<\/p>\n Handled wrong, and cycling ghosts from 2023 could come creeping back.<\/p>\n Vingegaard needs to take charge Of course, Vingegaard has to deliver his end of the bargain.<\/p>\n The way the 2025 course is stacked up, it\u2019s very likely that an in-form Vingegaard could be in red by the end of the first week. That would impose order both in the peloton and inside the Visma bus.<\/p>\n With the GC nailed down, lieutenants like Kuss, Jorgenson, or even a workhorse opportunist such as Victor Campenaerts can be let off the leash to chase stage wins. No stress.<\/p>\n More than anything, Visma wants to win this Vuelta without drama.<\/p>\n The Grand Tour results of the big #LaVuelta25<\/a> favourites<\/p>\n Jonas Vingegaard
\n![\"2023](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1687168589-720x480.jpg\")
Vingegaard wants to be on the top step this time with Visma. (Photo: Alexander Hassenstein\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\n![\"Vingegaard\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2226633877-720x405.jpg\")
Vingegaard is the only rider from the 2025 Tour podium starting this Vuelta. (Photo: LOIC VENANCE\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\n![\"Kuss](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2224266464-720x480.jpg\")
Kuss and Jorgenson are back from the Tour to race the Vuelta with Visma super team. (Photo: LOIC VENANCE\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\n![\"Vingegaard\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2226953926-720x480.jpg\")
Vingegaard has targeted the Vuelta since the beginning of the season with Visma. (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Joao Almeida
Juan Ayuso pic.twitter.com\/YbFJ6jKeI7<\/a><\/p>\n