2026 Vuelta a España

91st edition: Aug 22 - Sept 11, 2026

Start list, Teams presentation photos, Vuelta With 2 Days to Go, Statistics & Route Description

Vuelta Podium History | 2025 edition | Start list | Teams presentation photos | The Vuelta with 2 days to go | Statistics & list of stages | Route description

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Start list with back numbers, August 21, 2026:

	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
1	Primoz Roglic
2	Finn Fisher-Black
3	Jordi Meeus
4	Gianni Moscon
5	Callum Thornley
6	Luke Tuckwell
7	Gianni Vermeersch
8	Frederik Wandahl
	UAE Team Emirates-XRG
11	Tadej Pogacar
12	João Almeida
13	Domen Novak
14	Ivo Oliveira
15	Pavel Sivakov
16	Pablo Torres
17	Kevin Vermaerke
18	Jay Vine
	Movistar Team
21	Enric Mas
22	Jorge Arcas
23	Orluis Aular
24	Carlos Canal
25	Pablo Castrillo
26	Raúl García
27	Iván Romeo
28	Cian Uijtdebroeks
	Team Visma | Lease a Bike
31	Wout van Aert
32	Bruno Armirail
33	Matthew Brennan
34	Steven Kruijswijk
35	Sepp Kuss
36	Christophe Laporte
37	Jørgen Nordhagen
38	Ben Tulett
	Decathlon CMA CGM Team
41	Felix Gall
42	Léo Bisiaux
43	Oscar Chamberlain
44	Sander De Pestel
45	Jordan Labrosse
46	Gregor Mühlberger
47	Matthew Riccitello
48	Callum Scotson
	Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
51	David de la Cruz
52	Xabier Azparren
53	Walter Calzoni
54	Marcel Camprubí
55	Edward Dunbar
56	Thomas Gloag
57	David González
58	Milan Vader
	Netcompany INEOS
61	Oscar Onley
62	Jack Haig
63	Lucas Hamilton
64	Axel Laurance
65	Carlos Rodriguez
66	Embret Svestad-Bårdseng
67	Joshua Tarling
68	Ben Turner
	Bahrain Victorious
71	Pello Bilbao
72	Santiago Buitrago
73	Roman Ermakov
74	Matevz Govekar
75	Pau Miquel Delgado
76	Jakob Omrzel
77	Mathijs Paasschens
78	Attila Valter
	Lidl-Trek
81	Mattias Skjelmose
82	Julien Bernard
83	Lennard Kämna
84	Patrick Konrad
85	Jacopo Mosca
86	Mathias Sunekær Norsgaard
87	Thibau Nys
88	Mads Pedersen
	Groupama-FDJ United
91	Clément Berthet
92	Olivier Le Gac
93	Valentin Madouas
94	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet
95	Rudy Molard
96	Enzo Paleni
97	Rémy Rochas
98	Bastien Tronchon
	Alpecin-Premier Tech
101	Kaden Groves
102	Francesco Busatto
103	Lindsay De Vylder
104	Ramses Debruyne
105	Gal Glivar
106	Michael Gogl
107	Hugo Houle
108	Sente Sentjens
	NSN Cycling Team
111	Alexey Lutsenko
112	George Bennett
113	Jan Hirt
114	Hugo Hofstetter
115	Moritz Kretschy
116	Pau Martí
117	Nick Schultz
118	Floris Van Tricht
	Soudal Quick-Step
121	Mikel Landa
122	Alberto Dainese
123	Gianmarco Garofoli
124	Ethan Hayter
125	Valentin Paret-Peintre
126	Fabio Van den Bossche
127	Mauri Vansevenant
128	Filippo Zana
	Uno-X Mobility
131	Magnus Cort
132	Simon Dalby
133	Fredrik Dversnes
134	Tobias Halland Johannessen
135	Andreas Kron
136	Andreas Leknessund
137	Rasmus Tiller
138	Martin Tjøtta
	Cofidis
141	Emanuel Buchmann
142	Bryan Coquard
143	Alex Kirsch
144	Sylvain Moniquet
145	Paul Ourselin
146	Alexis Renard
147	Louis Rouland
148	Sergio Samitier
	Team Jayco-AlUla
151	Alessandro Covi
152	Koen Bouwman
153	Paul Double
154	Asbjørn Hellemose
155	Hamish McKenzie
156	Finlay Pickering
157	Rudy Porter
158	Jasha Sütterlin
	EF Education-EasyPost
161	Richard Carapaz
162	Vincenzo Albanese
163	Markel Beloki
164	Alastair Mackellar
165	Darren Rafferty
166	Juan Rodríguez
167	James Shaw
168	Georg Steinhauser
	Tudor Pro Cycling Team
171	Marco Brenner
172	William Barta
173	Arthur Kluckers
174	Stefan Küng
175	Roland Thalmann
176	Lawrence Warbasse
177	Fabian Weiss
178	Hannes Wilksch
	XDS Astana Team
181	Harold Tejada
182	Yevgeniy Fedorov
183	Lorenzo Fortunato
184	Victor Langellotti
185	Henok Mulubrhan
186	Cristian Rodriguez
187	Alessandro Romele
188	Darren van Bekkum
	Burgos Burpellet BH
191	Jesus Herrada
192	Clément Alleno
193	Mario Aparicio
194	Sergio Chumil
195	Manuel Diaz Jose
196	Luis Faura José
197	Sinuhé Fernandez
198	Cesar Macias
	Lotto-Intermarché
201	Jarno Widar
202	Vito Braet
203	Lars Craps
204	Steffen De Schuyteneer
205	Lorenzo Rota
206	Reuben Thompson
207	Luca Van Boven
208	Roel van Sintmaartensdijk
	Team Picnic PostNL
211	Chris Hamilton
212	Timo de Jong
213	Mattia Gaffuri
214	Gijs Leemreize
215	Juan Martinez
216	Oliver Peace
217	Henri-Francois Haquin
218	Timo Roosen
	Equipo Kern Pharma
221	Urko Berrade
222	Marc Brustenga
223	Ivan Cobo
224	Iñigo Elosegui
225	Ibon Ruiz
226	Ivan Sosa
227	Diego Uriarte
228	Mats Wenzel

 

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Teams presentation ceremony: Monaco, August 20, 2026: Photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti

The man everyone will be watching: Tadej Pogacar heads to the ceremony at Casino Square (Place du Casino).

Team Visma| Lease a Bike

Team Lidl-Trek

Mikel Landa

Bryan Coquard

Richard Carapaz

Alexey Lutsenko

Wout van Aert

Cian Uijtdebroeks

Primoz Roglic reaches up to Prince Albert.

And here's another shot of Roglic.

Felix Gall

Oscar Onley

Mads Pedersen

Pello Bilbao

Guillaume Martin

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The Vuelta with two days to go:

The stars of La Vuelta 26 were introduced on Thursday to the crowds in Monaco, starting with the world’s number 1 rider Tadej Pogacar, who lives in the Principality. “It has been a dream for a few years”, he says as he aims to add the Spanish Grand Tour to his unique record. Pogacar will notably face his Slovenian compatriot Primoz Roglic, a four-time winner of La Vuelta. Richard Carapaz, Felix Gall and Mattias Skjelmose also expressed their GC ambitions two days before the Gran Salida. Stage hunters such as Mads Pedersen, Wout van Aert and Kaden Groves are also set to animate the three weeks from Monaco to Granada with their power and versatility.

Pogacar comes to fulfil "a dream"
La Vuelta was the first Grand Tour Tadej Pogacar rode, finishing 3rd in 2019 before his 21st birthday, and it remains the last one missing from his winning record, after five triumphs in the Tour de France and one in the Giro d’Italia. Three weeks from now, will he be the ninth rider to have won the three Grand Tours? “It has been a dream for a few years now”, the Slovenian says as he prepares to start from Monaco, where he lives, and to chase victory en route to Granada, where he is used to training.

“I wanted to do La Vuelta for a long time”, Pogacar developed. “We sat down in December and spoke about it. I really wanted to do it, also because the start is in Monaco. This year was the right time to do both the Tour de France and La Vuelta. It was quite a short time but I think it was enough to recover.” Since La Vuelta has been organised at the end of the summer, only Chris Froome was able to win the French and Spanish Grand Tours the same year (2017).

“I hope my legs are good”, Pogacar says while being touted as the absolute favourite. “We have amazing talents on the start line and it’s gonna be a very tough race, so it’s gonna be a hard Vuelta. I expect everybody who is here to be in shape. There are very good riders and it’s never easy.”

Roglic: “Instead of preparation, I did rehabilitation”
While Tadej Pogacar is embarked on a quest that may make him the greatest rider ever, there’s no doubt as to who has the best record at La Vuelta at the start of the 2026 edition: his compatriot Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), making his return to the event two years after claiming his fourth overall triumph (along with 15 stage wins and 2 wins in the points classification). His first victory, in 2019, coincided with Pogacar’s debut in Grand Tours. “Maybe it was the last time I beat him”, Roglic said with a laugh as he gets ready to pin a race number for the first time since the Slovenian national championships at the end of June.

“Instead of preparation, I did rehabilitation”, explained Roglic, who was hit by a car while training at the end of July. “Putting on my socks was the hardest thing to do three weeks ago. I still can’t lay on the right side, but I’m good enough to start the Vuelta.” The Slovenian star is used to bouncing back in spectacular fashion after the most painful setbacks, notably winning La Vuelta a few weeks after abandoning the Tour in 2021 and 2024. “In the end, I managed to do some training”, he says with his usual sens of self derision. “For the ten kilometres in Monaco, it should be fine, but then I’ll see day by day how it goes. I didn’t do any Grand Tour this year, so it will be nice to race a bit longer.”

All against Pogacar? "He is human, but he is Tadej"
Among the riders who participated in some of the most thrilling battles against Primoz Roglic in recent editions of La Vuelta, Richard Carapaz was second in 2020. Fresh off a spectacular Tour de France, where he took two stage wins and the polka dot jersey through long range attacks in the mountains, the Ecuadorian comes with his mind set on the highest ambitions: “We have a clear goal and that is to go for the overall standings”, EF Education-EasyPost’s leader said on Thursday. “We know we have a good opportunity and we don’t want to miss it. Of course, Tadej Pogacar is the best rider in the world and I have a lot of respect for him. I have never been in a position to battle against him for a Grand Tour GC, so I think it will quite emotional for me. I’ll give it my best. If we win, great, and if we finish second or third, that’s not too bad either, right?”

Carapaz is set to shake the race in the mountains, and the same goes with Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM). “I’m obviously very happy with the preparation an the win in [the Vuelta a] Burgos”, says the Austrian climber, aiming for another Grand Tour podium after finishing second of the Giro d’Italia earlier this year. “It gave me a lot of confidence and high expectations. With Tadej here, it’s gonna be difficult to fight for the win. I suspect he’s gonna be tired after the Tour. He is human, but he is Tadej. In the end, all I can do is focus on myself and do my best. Another podium would be amazing. There are quite a few good riders aiming for the podium with Carapaz, Onley, Skjelmose, Roglic, Mas…”

Stage hunters gear up: “Always a pleasure to race against Wout”
A few weeks after he conquered the green jersey of the Tour de France, thus completing his set of Grand Tour points standings triumphs, Mads Pedersen is back for more at La Vuelta, where he already ruled in 2022 and 2025. “I would say that we can aim for five to seven stage wins”, Lidl-Trek’s Danish leader says ahead of his third participation (3 stage wins in 2022, 1 in 2025). “It will be difficult but we believe it’s a possibility, otherwise it would make no sense being there. In some, I’ll need to find the climbing legs I had in the Tour.”

Pedersen is looking forward to battling with a fellow Classics expert in Wout van Aert: “For me, it’s always a pleasure to race against a rider of that level.” The Belgian impressed in his first La Vuelta participation (2024), winning three stages on different terrain and wearing La Roja and the green jersey, before he had to withdraw due to a crash on stage 16. “My goal, and the goal of the team, is to be as successful as possible, to win as many stages as possible”, the Belgian star claimed, explaining Visma-Lease a Bike are “here more for stage wins than for a clear GC goal”, which doesn’t prevent him from eyeing La Roja early in the race: “The time trial and stage 2 should be my opportunity. It would be a dream to wear it again.”

Gifted with a similar set of skills, Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech) has won seven stages, as well as the points standings in 2023 and 2024. “La Vuelta is always a super hard Grand Tour, but it suits my characteristics”, the Australian sprinter analyses.

Spanish figures look for sensations: "I just want to race"
At 36 years old, Mikel Landa is going through what may well be his toughest season since he turned professional in 2011, a year before his first La Vuelta participation. “I’m not enjoying anything”, admits the Basque icon, whose crash in the Itzulia Basque Country prevented riding the Giro d’Italia and then the Tour de France. He is now set for a final Grand Tour with Soudal Quick-Step before racing with the orange jersey of Euskaltel-Euskadi the next couple of years: “I’ve come such a long way, I’ll be happy with anything. Let’s survive the first week and then we’ll see what kind of proper goals we can set for this Vuelta. I just want to race and leave it all behind me.” What version of Landa we’ll see in La Vuelta 26 remains unknown, but he’s already looking further ahead: “I want to participate again with a better preparation and better conditions.”

Aged 31, Enric Mas is younger and has been a staple on the podium of La Vuelta (2nd in 2018, 2021, 2022, 3rd in 2024), but he’s also faced recent challenges that leave question marks around his ability to carry Spain’s hopes to take the fore of the GC battle. “La Vuelta is where I’ve had my best results”, Movistar’s climber says ahead of his eighth participation. “We’re coming with a strong team, with riders for any kind of terrain, for flat stages, for the TTs… And then there’s Cian [Uijtdebroeks] and I. I will take things differently, because it’s been two years since I last fought for a GC. I’ll go day by day to really understand how I feel and hopefully find myself in a better position at the end of La Vuelta."

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2026 Vuelta quick statistics:

Running from 22 August to 13 September 2026, La Vuelta 26 will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,275 kilometers.

4 hilly stages

1 hilly, uphill finale stage

4 flat stages

4 medium mountains stages

6 mountain stages

2 individual time trial stages

2 rest days

List of stages:

1	Individual time-trial	Sat 08/22/2026	Monaco > Monaco	9 km
2	Hilly	Sun 08/23/2026	Monaco > Manosque	215.2 km
3	Medium Mountains	Mon 08/24/2026	Gruissan > Font Romeu	166.7 km
4	Mountain	Tue 08/25/2026	Andorra la Vella > Andorra la Vella	104.9 km
5	Hilly	Wed 08/26/2026	Falset . Costa Daurada > Roquetes. Terres de l'Ebre	171.1 km
6	Medium Mountains	Thu 08/27/2026	Alcossebre > Castellón	176.8 km
7	Mountain	Fri 08/28/2026	vall d'Alba > Aramón Valdelinares	149.9 km
8	Flat	Sat 08/29/2026	Puçol > Xeraco	176.4 km
9	Mountain	Sun 08/30/2026	La Vila Joiosa/ Villajoyosa > Alto de Aitana.Costa Blanca	187.5 km
-	Rest Day	Mon 08/31/2026	Descanso
10	Hilly	Tue 09/01/2026	Alcaraz > Elche de la Sierra	184.5 km
11	Flat	Wed 09/02/2026	Cartagena > Lorca	156.1 km
12	Mountain	Thu 09/03/2026	Vera > Calar Alto	166.5 km
13	Medium Mountains	Fri 09/04/2026	Almuñécar > Loja	193.2 km
14	Mountain	Sat 09/05/2026	Jaén > Sierra de La Pandera	152.7 km
15	Medium Mountains	Sun 09/06/2026	Palma del Río > Córdoba	181.2 km
-	Rest Day	Mon 09/07/2026	Descanso
16	Flat	Tue 09/08/2026	Cortegana > La Rábida. Palos de la Frontera	186 km
17	Flat	Wed 09/09/2026	Dos Hermanas > Sevilla	189.2 km
18	Individual time-trial	Thu 09/10/2026	El Puerto Santa María > Jerez de la Frontera	32.5 km
19	Hilly. Uphill arrival	Fri 09/11/2026	Vélez-Málaga > Peñas Blancas. Estepona	205.1 km
20	Mountain	Sat 09/12/2026	La Calahorra > Collado del Alguacil	187 km
21	Flat	Sun 09/13/2026	Carrefour Granada > Granada	99.4 km

 

Here's the race organizer's description of the 2026 Vuelta a España route:

The route of La Vuelta 26 stays close to the Mediterranean, from Monaco to Granada, passing through France and Andorra, visiting four countries, with the last ten stages taking place in the region of Andalusia alone, from August 22 to September 11.

More than 58,000 metres of elevation gain are on the menu for one of the toughest editions in the history of La Vuelta, which is divided into two time trials, seven mountain stages, four medium mountain stages and eight hilly or flat stages.

The Grand Départ and the grand finale will take place in prestigious locations steeped in history: Monaco’s casino and the Alhambra of Granada.

With Monaco having been unveiled as the Grand Départ location in advance with the details of the opening individual time trial, the major news at the presentation of the route of La Vuelta 26, which was also held in the principality in the presence of H.S.H. Prince Albert II, was that the final stage of the 81st edition will finish in the historic city of Granada, specifically at the legendary Alhambra Palace. Granada thus becomes the eighth city to crown the overall winner, after Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Miranda de Ebro, Salamanca, Jerez de la Frontera and Santiago de Compostela. Since 1986, the race had ended either in Madrid or Santiago de Compostela.

“La Vuelta 26 will continue to maintain the international character of the event”, general director Javier Guillén said. “It will be an edition of La Vuelta with a very Mediterranean feel, from its start to the final stage in Andalusia. Monaco will mark a prestigious start to an edition that will visit historic cities, mountain passes that are part of our history and unprecedented climbs, before ending in a unique venue such as the Alhambra, the red fortress of Granada.”

As in 2025 after the race kicked off in Piedmont, Italy, France will link the flag off with the Iberian Peninsula, with a finish suitable for sprinters and punchy riders in Manosque and a more challenging uphill finish in Font-Romeu. The entry into the Pyrenees heralds a concentration of mountains in the other principality, Andorra, which is on the map of La Vuelta for the 25th time (since 1965) and will offer a sequence of Port d’Envalira, Beixalis, Coll d’Ordino and Alto de la Comella over only 104 kilometres, entirely on its territory.

This allows route architect Fernando Escartin to paint the overall picture and warn the riders: “It’s a very tough route! The mountains will play a starring role in one of the most difficult editions in the history of La Vuelta. Andorra will set the tone at the start of the race with a short but very tough stage, before tackling climbs such as Valdelinares, Aitana, Calar Alto, La Pandera, Penas Blancas and the unprecedented Collado del Alguacil on a final day of mountain racing that promises to be extremely tough. There will also be several medium mountain stages that are sure to provide us with a great spectacle.”

For the most part, these are returns to familiar uphill finishes. Valdelinares has not hosted La Vuelta since a Colombian fiesta in 2014, when Winner Anacona claimed the stage victory and Nairo Quintana became the new race leader. The last rider to be crowned at Alto de Aitana was France’s Pierre Latour in 2016. His successor will have to make the most of more than 5,000 metres of elevation gain. Whoever wins at Calar Alto will have previously climbed Alto de Velefique, like Colombian Miguel Angel Lopez, who came first at the observatory in the province of Almeria in 2017. The Sierra de la Pandera is fresher in the memory with the success of Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz in 2022. He was also the first to arrive at Penas Blancas that same year.

Two new challenges await the peloton: a 3.5 km stretch of gravelled road leading to Puerto El Bartolo, located 16 km from the finish line of stage 6 in Castellón, and the Collado del Alguacil, the final hill and by no means the least, as its 8 km feature particularly steep sections with gradients of up to 20%. The final point of stage 20 is a climb that is new to La Vuelta, putting to an end a day marked in the Sierra Nevada by a double ascent of the Alto de Hazallanas.

While time trial specialists will enjoy a longer stage than in recent years with 32.5 km of fairly flat terrain from Puerto de Santa Maria to Jerez de la Frontera, in addition to the 9 km in Monaco on the first day, the sprinters will have four or five stages to express themselves, sharing the opportunities with the punchy riders, including on the last day, as the finish at the Alhambra of Granada is located atop a climb of about one kilometre on a spectacular circuit to be covered four times. This will round off three weeks of racing in a beautiful setting, a mecca of culture and history.

"Hosting the Grand Départ of La Vuelta 26 in the Principality of Monaco is a source of great pride and a unique opportunity to show the world all the facets of our country: sporting excellence, environmental commitment and international openness,” said H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco. “We are honoured to offer La Vuelta, the riders, the teams and all cycling enthusiasts a prestigious setting to launch the 2026 edition in the most beautiful way possible."