Nimes: UAE Team Emirates have announced the line-up for their first Vuelta a Espana — the third and final Grand Tour of the season — which starts in Nimes, France this Saturday and ends in Madrid, Spain on September 10.

South Africa’s Louis Meintjes leads the pack along with Portugal’s Rui Costa, Morocco’s Anass Ait Al Abdia, Italians Sacha Modolo and Federico Zurlo, Slovenians Jan Polanc and Matej Mohoric, Colombia’s Darwin Atapuma and Poland’s Przemyslaw Niemiec.

The 21-stage, 3,324-km Vuelta a Espana is the youngest of the three Grand Tours, having been started in 1935, while the Giro d’Italia was founded in 1909 and the Tour de France began in 1903. This is only the third time in 80 years that the race has started outside of Spain. The winner receives the coveted Maillot Rojo (Red Jersey).

Former world champion Costa, who is participating in this race for the first time, said: “This will be my race debut and I am excited about taking part. I am looking forward to enjoying every single stage and the challenges that come with it. The season is nearing its end and I want to savour every minute.”

Meintjes, who has finished eighth in the Tour de France two years running with two young rider runners-up spots, added: “I’m currently undergoing altitude training in Andorra in preparation for the Vuelta. The training has been going really well following the Tour de France. I am gunning for a good general classification result but it all depends on my performance; my body is still recovering.”

UAE Team Emirates sporting director Simone Pedrazzini said: “We are quite happy with the selection and believe we have a good team with a varied selection of specialisms. The riders are in form and, hopefully, we will be able to target a few stage wins. Our general classification contenders will be Meintjes and Costa, who will both be on the lookout for a top 10 finish, while Atapuma and Polanc will compete to be King of the Mountain.

“Our fastest rider, Modolo will be supported by two of our younger riders, Mohoric and Zurlo with Al Abdia making his Grand Tour debut. Among the line-up is Niemiec, who has previously won a stage in the 2014 edition of the race and his experience will definitely be valuable.”

This year’s route features nine summit finishes, including the 13.3-km-long ascent to Alto de l’Angliru in Asturias, where riders climb 1,573 metres with gradients as steep as 23.6 per cent, making it one of the steepest climbs in Europe, ensuring a shake-up in the overall classification before the final stage in Madrid.

The route will also take riders across six flat stages, eight hilly stages, five demanding mountain stages, one team and one individual time trial. Setting off from Nimes, the first two stages of La Vuelta will be contested in France before crossing the Pyrenees towards Andorra, taking the peloton across the northern Spanish coast. The remainder of the stages will see riders cross the finish line in the following Spanish cities: Tarragona, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, Navarra, La Rioja, Castilla y Leon, Cantabria, Asturias before ending in Madrid.