Archie Ryan, Markel Beloki, Lukas Nerurkar, and Jardi van der Lee will make their grand tour debuts this Saturday at the start of the Vuelta in Torino. Veterans Esteban Chaves and James Shaw will be their guides as they face up to the challenges of their first three-week race, alongside Madis Mihkels and Sean Quinn.

Our Vuelta a España squad has nothing to lose and 21 chances to win on the 3,180-km road to Madrid. From Piedmont, where the Spanish grand tour is holding its first ever start on Italian soil, to the capital, our guys will take on every stage like a one-day race and attack every chance that they get.

The Vuelta is usually the most explosive grand tour of the season and with mountains like the Angliru and Bola del Mundo on the course, our climbers are ready to soar.

Read our team’s thoughts ahead of the start and get ready for three weeks of red hot action at the race for La Roja.

When our sports directors called me with the news that I would be participating in the Vuelta, I got goosebumps all over my body. It is a dream come true. The Vuelta is my favorite grand tour to watch. I like the atmosphere and the time of the year. It’s near the end of the season and in Spain, which is one of my favorite countries. The weather is always pretty warm and that suits me well.

My preparation was pretty good. I did an altitude camp in July, and then I went to one one-day race in Spain and did well with some good gains from the altitude. Then, I went to Mallorca and did some good training efforts. I did a TT on the Randa and set some of my best numbers, and then planned to go for the Sa Colobra KOM on the Coll dels Reis. I did it on the right day, went full gas, and broke the record. From then on, I kept the intensity a bit lower because I knew there was a big block of races coming up in September. I took a little rest and then got the good news that I was selected for the Vuelta.

For me, it would be incredible if I could get up there in one of the stages that suits me and participate in the race for the stage win. I also need to be realistic. It is my first grand tour and it would also be great to play a role in a win from one of my more experienced teammates. Of course, I really want to make it to Madrid and finish my first ever grand tour too.

It is going to be a new experience and, like all new experiences, you don't know what to expect. I’ve heard lots of stories and am a little nervous, but I think a little bit of nerves are good for the body and the mind.

I'm pumped. I'm super, super excited. I think it is going to be a great three weeks. I haven't done a grand tour before, so I'm excited for the experience. We've got a super young squad. It’ll be pretty exciting and hopefully Poppy Chaves can guide us through it nicely.

I want to try and get in the break in some of the harder stages and fight for a stage win or two. That’s the goal. There are going to be loads of opportunities.

That is why I'm just really excited to go there. It is the grand tour that has the stages that suit me the best.

The training has been going pretty well. I had a good week in Burgos. It was nice to be racing in the heat that we'll probably see at the Vuelta as well. It has been a pretty steady run in. I can’t complain. I am in good form and ready to go.

I don't know how many grand tours I have done in my life already, but I still feel the same pressure, still have the same nerves. I guess, if I would stop feeling like this, this job would not be for me anymore.

This week right before is always the worst; you feel a bit tired, but you also want to keep going and you wonder, did I train too much or do too little? But it is always like this. We did everything we could and all of the work will be paid back over the next month. It is going to be fun with all of the young guys. I am super excited.

I remember when I did my first grand tour many, many years ago. I was always watching what the older guys were doing. That is going to be a challenge and a big responsibility as well. If I do a bad race or am moody or complain too much, they will take that on. And I don’t want that for them. I want to create a great memory for them in the future. My very first grand tour, I had a really nice time. It was tough, but I learned a lot, and had a great time.

Of course, we want to win. If I can win myself, that would be great. But also, as a team, we have really, really good talent for the Vuelta and if we manage the race well and play it to our strengths, there are many, many chances for victories for us.

It is going to be hard, but it should be fun too. It was nice to receive the call that I was going to get to go to a grand tour. The Vuelta is something special at home in Spain, so I'm super happy and really looking forward to it.

I did good work this year. I didn’t have the Vuelta as a clear objective, but it was something that I was working towards.

I've watched the Vuelta since I was a kid, trying to go see the stages in the Basque Country. I grew up watching this race, also the Tour and the Giro, but this one is more special.

My dad told me just to enjoy it and to suffer a lot. You can listen to a lot of advice, but I think that’s the most important thing, to enjoy it and to try to suffer as much as I can.

We did an altitude camp together with the team and the atmosphere was really nice. When you are young and everyone is a similar age it is easier to understand each other. It is going to be super nice to be teammates with these guys. We are all going to be learning all the time from the older guys too, guys like Chaves.

My ambition is to try to enjoy every minute and, of course, we will try to get good results. But for me, I will just try to enjoy it and to finish my first grand tour.

This is my third Vuelta now with the team. Every grand tour I have done, I have done with Juanma Garate for my sports director. He has been there for my best and worst experiences. I wouldn’t want it any other way to be honest. He fills me with confidence.

I was talking to him when I was packing my suitcase and he said, “I need you to be like the older brother of the team.” I didn't quite think I'd be ready for that role before I was 30, but I do think it is important that everyone has someone to look up to. There are plenty of people in the team for the young guys to look up to, not just myself. Esteban has been up there in a few grandies. He can push on the pedals pretty well!

It is exciting to have all the young guys though. They're going to bring so much enthusiasm. We don’t have anything to fear. Everyone here has been selected for their own ability. Nobody is here by chance.

For me, to win a stage in a grand tour would mean a lot. It’s no secret that my career to date hasn't been plain sailing. It has been a rollercoaster circus ride to get here. A grand tour stage win would prove that all that hacking round on British Conti teams and so on was worth it. It would mean that I could look back and say, it was worth the pain and suffering.

I am excited. It will be my first grandy, but I think I'm in a good place to give it a good go. I'm only a bit nervous about how long it is. I have done a lot of races at a high level, but three weeks is proper long. We have a nice group of us going, a few guys who are in the same position as me, and then a few guys with experience, like Esteban. That should get us round nicely.

My recovery from my crash at the Trofeo Laigueglia was as smooth as I could have wanted. I had a fair bit of time off the bike, recovering from a broken jaw, but then I got back into it and right now I feel everything's back to normal. It was nice being able to eat again! That was probably the best thing. I had four weeks on the full liquid diet. That was pretty tough. I just had to find as many soup and smoothie recipes as I could find. So I was relieved to be back chewing some normal food. After that came getting on the bike again and that all went really well.

As a team, we don't have anyone for GC, which for me for a first grand tour is quite nice. It will be a bit less stressful day to day and gives us more opportunity to focus on going for stages. I've had a look already and thought about a few stages. We will come up with a plan with the directors.

We’re all going to be going through it at the same time and dealing with the same sort of challenges together, which will make them easier to deal with. It’s nice that we've got that experience from a guy like Esteban, who can make sure we're doing the right stuff, saving energy where we need to be and so on.

I just feel excited to race my bike again. I am grateful to be able to get to a start line of a grand tour and see where I end up, because I haven't done any WorldTour racing for a year. I don't really know what it's like anymore, but I'm looking forward to testing myself and competing again, because I'm a competitor. That's what I love to do. It's been a long, long time just battling with injuries and health, so I am happy to be able to go out there and battle in a real race scenario again.

There were definitely times this past year when I thought I would never race my bike again, because of my knees. That definitely showed me some fragility and reminded me that every race I do could be my last, whether I like that or not. I think that goes with anything in life. Sometimes, cycling is so hard physically and mentally that maybe late in the season, you're ready to go home or ready to throw in the towel when you're suffering in a race, but I have learned that I need to treat every race as if it could be my last one. This year, I’ll get to go to one stage race. So, I have to grab it with both hands and make the most of it.

I've realized that life sometimes just throws crappy situations at you, and it's not really about the outcome or how those situations change your life, it's more about how you perceive them and how you deal with them. I have learned to accept every situation for what it is. A lot of stuff has been difficult, but good comes out of all tough battles. And all bad situations help you develop as a human.

It is a weird feeling to be a veteran on the roster, but that seems to be the theme nowadays. I’m still eligible for the best young rider competition, but I am getting to the older side of our team, but it is good. The young guys bring a lot of enthusiasm and a newer mentality and they keep me feeling young, just being around them. I think they have a bit more appreciation for the Vuelta. For four of them, it is going to be their first grand tour, whereas if you're on a more veteran roster, maybe there's less stress, because everyone has more experience, but at the same time, a lot of guys might just be going through the motions. So it'll be nice to have some fresh faces there.

I'm super excited. I did my first grand tour last year at the Giro d’Italia, and despite crashing, I came out of it pretty well. Obviously, I am hoping for more good luck this year. I know what to expect, so I am looking forward to it

We’re going to aim for stage wins as a team. I see five great opportunities for me to sprint. Those are my goals, those five stages.

The first stage in Italy is already a chance for me. The rest of the parcours is obviously really, really hard. But I am good enough that I think I can survive in the grupetto in a good way, get through it and save as much as possible for the days that are important for me.

Racing with the Estonian champion’s jersey is super cool. It is a really beautiful jersey. I love the design and I feel proud to wear my national colors.