Only two men have ever won both the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana – Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil.

Which means Chris Froome (Team Sky) stands on the brink of greatness if he can better last year’s runner-up spot.

And on paper he has a strong chance of doing just that, with a route well-suited to his characteristics thanks to the key climbs largely coming early in the race and then a long time trial in the final week.

But the race isn’t won on paper and much will depend on how well Froome has recovered from his Tour de France-winning excursions.

Nairo Quintana (Movistar), runner-up in France, and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) both finished the Tour strongly, while Froome fought to limit his losses having built up a big overall lead in the first two weeks of the race. Froome made his breakthrough at the Vuelta, finishing as runner-up in 2011, and will be backed by a Team Sky squad which included Tour de France lieutenants Geraint Thomas and Nicolas Roche.

Quintana, meanwhile, will be looking to topple Froome having finished runner-up behind the Kenyan-born Brit in both the 2013 and 2015 editions of the Tour de France. The Colombian was leading the Vuelta last year when he crashed badly during the individual time trial, losing four minutes and eventually having to abandon with a broken collarbone. This time out he’ll be revved up to take the race to Froome and co. The 25-year-old will once again be partnered by Alejandro Valverde, giving Movistar plenty of firepower in the mountains, while Nibali is one of three contenders at Astana alongside Fabio Aru and Mikel Landa.

Expect attacks aplenty when the road rises, then – and don’t rule out fit-again Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) or Tinkoff-Saxo’s Rafal Majka. Van Garderen showed his worth at the Tour, despite being forced to abandon on stage 17 with illness when placed third overall, but does the American have the consistency to challenge at the very top of a three-week Grand Tour? Majka , meanwhile, will be something of a wildcard, going for a GC placing having won the King of the Mountains classification and two stages at the 2014 Tour de France, and another stage at this year’s race. Van Garderen, in particular, has the time trial pedigree to back up his climbing pedigree.