The 2020 strategy of Australian WorldTour team Mitchelton Scott (open in new tab) is to place three GC contenders in the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France (open in new tab), Adam and Simon Yates and Esteban Chaves, Vuelta a España (open in new tab) will be left to up-and-coming stage race challengers.

Mitchelton-Scott traditionally splits its three leaders between the three Grand Tours; for 2019, Simon Yates will focus on the Giro and Tour, Adam Yates on the Tour alone, and Esteban Chaves will combine the Giro and Vuelta.

However, sport director Matt White told Cyclingnews that the most likely option for 2020 is for the Yates brothers and Chaves to focus on the Giro and Tour. In the process, they would miss the Vuelta, which Simon Yates won in 2018 (Mitchelton Scott's only Grand Tour victory to date).

Asked who of the three would be best suited for the 2020 Vuelta route, White replied: 'Look, come September, there could be a fourth or fifth person. Maybe Jack Hague or Lucas Hamilton."

"The Grand Tour plan is that at the end of the year race [the Vuelta] there might be a new leader, it might not be one of the three leaders, it might not be one of the three leaders. They may not be here.

A final decision will be made public "fairly soon," White says.

As for the Vuelta route itself, White suggested that the third week is "one of the easiest in the Grand Tour in a while."

"The last week has a time trial and some very tough but mountainous stages. But the real difficulty comes after the first three stages in the Netherlands and back in Spain.

"Effectively, I think the Vuelta will be decided by Angril. But I do like the course with its many short stages, none of which were longer than 200 km.

"In the last few years, there have been a lot of hilltop finishes in the Vuelta."