Simon Yates will lead Bike Exchange Jayco to his second overall win at the Vuelta a España, while Kayden Groves gives the Australian WorldTour team options in the sprint stages.

Yates won the Vuelta in 2018, but has since concentrated on the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, finishing third overall in the 2021 Giro.

He missed the finish of this year's Giro due to an early crash and knee pain. However, he has recently regained his form and won the Vuelta a Castilla y León stage race and the Ordiziaco Classica one-day race.

He recently extended his contract with BikeExchange-Jayco through 2024, after team owner Jerry Ryan chose to support the team for another three years.

Yates will be supported by Australian climber Lucas Hamilton, American national time trial champion Lawson Craddock, Callum Scottson, and Vuelta debutants Michael Hepburn and Luke Durbridge.

Groves is making his Grand Tour debut, but showed his sprinting potential with a stage win at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. Track specialist Kelland O'Brien will support Groves in the sprint.

BikeExchange-Jayco will be fighting to avoid relegation from the World Tour. A podium finish and a stage win for Yates would go a long way toward qualifying for the 2023 WorldTour.

"We are going out there to win. The team has had a great season so far, so morale is high and we are motivated to finish the season well in this last Grand Tour," Yates said.

"I'm looking forward to this year's Vuelta. Of course, it's always special to come back because I have great memories from the race after winning it in 2018.

"It's going to be a really hard edition starting with the TTT, but we have a really strong team and I think we can start the Tour in good shape, especially with this stage and the strength of the team lineup.

"After the Giro we had time to recover and rebuild, and it was good to be back racing in Castilla y León and San Sebastián. It's going to be a really hard and challenging course in general, especially in northern Spain with a lot of climbing."

The 2022 Vuelta a España begins with a 23.3-km team time trial in Utrecht, Netherlands, before moving to northern Spain for two flat but highly exposed road stages. Three more undulating mountain summit finishes on stages 6, 8, and 9 are preceded by an important and testing individual time trial after the first rest day and a long move to southern Spain. There are four more summit finishes, and sprint stages are scattered along the route before the traditional final road race stage in central Madrid.

"He has had a successful season, winning stages at the Giro and Tour de France.

"It's a fairly young team with some riders making their Grand Tour debut in the Vuelta. We have great options for stage wins on the climbs and on the flats, we have a lot of diversity and I believe we have put together a really strong team that can achieve a lot in this Spanish Tour."

BikeExchange-Jayco at the Vuelta a España: [30