Far more important to the calendar than its spot as third Grand Tour of the season would indicate, the Vuelta often offers up the most unpredictable racing of any stage race in the year. Fatigued riders will clash with those who enjoy a burst of late season form to make this race on of the hardest to guess what will happen beforehand. The 2012 Vuelta gets underway a little over two weeks after the London Olympic Games time trial and its outcome promises to be just as difficult to foretell as always.