Juan Ayuso will not compete in the Vuelta a España, while Adam Yates and Joao Almeida will depart Lisbon on Saturday as leaders of the powerful UAE Team Emirates.

Talented Mexican rider Isaac Del Toro will make his Grand Tour debut, while Jay Byrne and Brandon McNulty will also make up a strong eight-rider field.

As already announced, Tadej Pogachar will not compete in the Vuelta. Pogachar, winner of the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, will return in September for the Grand Prix de Québec in preparation for the World Championships in Zurich.

Ayuso, who finished third in his debut race two years ago, had hoped to compete in the Vuelta after abandoning the Tour in COVID-19, but UAE Team Emirates manager Mauro Gianetti has always suggested that the Spaniard would not be in the lineup for the final Grand Tour of the season The Spanish rider was always treated by the team as a reserve rider.

Vuelta director Javier Guillén called on the UAE to include Ayuso in the team, all to no avail; after competing in the road race at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Ayuso is currently enjoying a rest and his next appearance will likely be in Canada next month.

“After the Tour, my first thought was naturally the Vuelta. Of course, the Vuelta is a race that is very close to my heart and I have special memories of it,” Ayuso told AS.

“To be honest, in the weeks after the Tour I could not get back to my level. To be honest, in the weeks after the Tour, I wasn't able to get back to my level. After seeing how I felt during training and talking with the team, we decided it was better to focus on our original plan of competing in the Olympics and racing in Canada in September. It was mutually beneficial and best for both of us, not only for this year but for the future.”

Ayuso's abandonment of the Tour and apparent tension with Almeida at the Col du Galibier stage led to reports that the 21-year-old Ayuso might leave the UAE before his contract expires in 2028.

However, UAE Team Emirates sports manager Maxine Joxen Fernandez insisted that Ayuso was firmly in the team's plans going forward.

“Juan is an asset for us and we did not want to push him when he was not at 100%. We also want to preserve him for the future,” Matesin told AS.

Ayuso has been the UAE's best rider in the last two Vuelta's, reaching the podium in his teens in 2022 and finishing fourth overall last year.

Almeida and Yates, who finished fourth and sixth overall in this year's Tour, will lead the UAE in the Vuelta. The two have already hit it off at the Tour de Suisse in June, with Yates taking the overall win ahead of his teammate on two stages each.

“Me and Joanne had a good partnership in Switzerland and I think if we are both fit or one of us is in contention, we will be ready to give our best,” Yates said.

“The team here is high quality and I think we can fight for big results in the next few weeks and I hope we will.”

Almeida will be the star of the show this weekend when the Vuelta starts in his native Portugal for the first time since 1997.

“It will be special to have the support of the crowd in my home country, my family and friends, maybe a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Almeida said.

Del Toro, McNulty, Vine, Filippo Baroncini, Marc Soler, and Pavel Sivakov make up the lineup.

Del Toro has been one of the most impressive neo-professionals of the season, and the Mexican had strong runs in Iturria Basque Country and the Tour de Suisse.

McNulty will be riding his first Grand Tour of the season, having set his sights on the 2024 Paris Olympics earlier in the summer.

The Australian, who broke his spine in a group crash in Iturria-Basque, returned to competition last week at the Vuelta a Burgos, winning the individual time trial.

“Overall it's an exciting team and we are going to achieve big things,” Mateixin said of a team that could do something like the 2023 Vima-Lease-a-Bike by achieving a clean sweep in the Grand Tour.

The Vuelta starts Saturday in Lisbon with a 12km individual time trial and closes in Madrid on September 8.

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