2026 Vuelta a España by BikeRaceInfo

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Weather at the race city of Monaco at 5:00 PM, local time: 30C (86F), sunny, with the wind from the east at 16 km/hr (10 mph). Thereis just a 3% chance of rain.

The stage: La Vuelta 26 will start with a very technical time trial through the streets of Monaco. With a route held entirely within the Principality, the riders face a quick stage where the very first leader of the race will be determined by the smallest of details.

The first of the 184 riders to start was Diego Uriarte (Kern Pharma). He was scheduled to to set off at 4:17 PM, local time (7:17 AM, Pacific Time). The last rider off will Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) at 7:20 PM (10:20 AM, Pacific Time).

The race: Here's the organizer's stage one summary.

First stage, first victory for Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates XRG), who takes the first leader’s jersey for the first time in a Grand Tour. A Monaco resident, the Slovenian icon made the most of his knowledge of the terrain, explosive speed and technical skills to narrowly edge Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) in the opening individual time trial of La Vuelta 26. Both of them averaged 51.5 km/h, covering the 9.4 km with a time of 10’57’’, but Pogacar takes his 36th Grand Tour stage win, the 4th at La Vuelta, by a margin of 0.09 second! He finishes ahead of three British riders, with Josh Tarling (+4’’) and Callum Thornley (+5’’) close behind, and follows in the footsteps of his compatriot Primoz Roglic, winner of the opening ITT of La Vuelta in 2021. This is also the first time Pogacar takes La Roja as the overall leader of the Spanish Grand Tour.

The stage:
For the seventh time in 81 editions, and the fourth time in five years, La Vuelta is setting off from outside Spain. After Lisbon (1997 and 2024), Assen (2009), Nîmes (2017), Utrecht (2022) and Piemonte (2025), it is now Monaco’s turn as the Principality becomes the first town to have hosted the start of the three Grand Tours.

It does so with a 9.4 km individual time trial that echoes the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2009. At the time, Fabian Cancellara powered to the first Maillot Jaune. The most powerful riders of La Vuelta 26 gear to follow in his track on a course that passes by some of the most emblematic landmarks of Monaco and the F1 Grand Prix organised every year in the Principality.

First benchmarks
Diego Uriarte (Kern Pharma) gets the action going at 16:17. He’s the first of 184 riders participating in La Vuelta 26, and the first of 61 rookies making their debut in the Spanish Grand Tour.

Diego Uriarte is the first rider off.

Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon CMA CGM) makes the most of his power and technical skills to set the first benchmark: 11’20’’. The French youngster stays in the hot seat until he is edged out by his teammate Sander De Pestel (11’15’’) and then an even younger rider, Great Britain’s rising star Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike). The sprinter flies through the corners to set a time of 11’13’’.

Bisiaux, Thornley, Tarling… Youngsters rise to the occasion
Technique and explosive speed prove essential as the times get faster and faster. Arthur Kluckers (Tudor) is no less than 5 seconds faster than Brennan. But that’s not enough to hold off Oscar Chamberlain (Decathlon CMA CGM), a former Junior ITT world champion and a Monaco resident. His time of 11’06’’ resists for about twenty minutes, until another Decathlon CMA CGM youngster, Léo Bisiaux, goes 0.75 second faster

Moments later, Scotland’s rising force Callum Thornley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) finishes strong to take the best time with a margin of three seconds.

The intensity and the emotions rise when Josh Tarling (Netcompany Ineos) stands at the start. The British powerhouse is arguably the best ITT talent of the field, but he lost his younger brother Finlay Tarling a week ago in a tragic race accident. The family announced his grandfather also passed away just ahead of the start. The circumstances don’t prevent Tarling from taking the best time: 11’01’’ (51.2 km/h).

Pogacar edges Hayter
Another British specialist impresses as Ethan Hayter (Soudan Quick-Step), the national ITT champion, is the first rider to cover the 9.4 km in under 11 minutes: 10’57’’. Three British rouleurs occupy the three first positions of the stage… But Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates XRG) flies ahead of them as he takes the best time with a margin of 0.09 second!

Tadej Pogacar starts his ride.

The Slovenian icon secures his 4th La Vuelta stage win, and his first La Roja. He had never led a Grand Tour after the opening stage (he waited for stage 2 at the Tour 2024 and the Giro 2024). But the ambition is to have it in Granada, three weeks from now.

Complete results & GC:

GC leader: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
Points classification leader: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
Best young rider: Joshua Tarling (Netcompany INEOS)
Teams classification leader: UAE team Emirates-XRG

Photos

9.4 kilometers raced at an average speed of 51.507 km/hr

1	Tadej Pogacar	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	10min 57sec
2	Ethan Hayter	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
3	Joshua Tarling	Netcompany INEOS Cycling Team	@ 4sec
4	Callum Thornley	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	0:05
5	Christophe Laporte	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	0:06
6	Léo Bisiaux	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	0:08
7	Oscar Chamberlain	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	0:09
8	Wout van Aert	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	s.t.
9	Finn Fisher-Black	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	0:10
10	Arthur Kluckers	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	0:11
11	Alessandro Romele	XDS Astana Team	0:13
12	Stefan Küng	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	0:14
13	Jay Vine	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
14	Ivo Oliveira	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
15	Mads Pedersen	Lidl-Trek	0:16
16	Matthew Brennan	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	s.t.
17	Sander De Pestel	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	0:18
18	João Almeida	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
19	Iván Romeo	Movistar Team	s.t.
20	Rasmus Tiller	Uno-X Mobility	0:20
21	Lennard Kämna	Lidl-Trek	0:21
22	Luke Tuckwell	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
23	Ben Turner	Netcompany INEOS Cycling Team	s.t.
25	Jordan Labrosse	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	0:23
26	Orluis Aular	Movistar Team	s.t.
27	Jasha Sütterlin	Team Jayco-AlUla	0:25
28	Axel Laurance	Netcompany INEOS Cycling Team	0:26
29	Victor Langellotti	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
30	Alex Kirsch	Cofidis	s.t.
31	Lindsay De Vylder	Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:27
32	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
33	Pablo Torres	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
34	Carlos Rodriguez	Netcompany INEOS Cycling Team	s.t.
35	Fabio Van den Bossche	Soudal Quick-Step	0:28
36	Marco Brenner	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
37	Georg Steinhauser	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
38	Tobias Halland Johannessen	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
39	Xabier Azparren	Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	0:29
40	Mattias Skjelmose	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
41	Alastair Mackellar	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
42	Alexis Renard	Cofidis	0:30
43	Bastien Tronchon	Groupama-FDJ United	0:31
44	Andreas Kron	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
45	Alexey Lutsenko	NSN Cycling Team	0:32
46	Valentin Madouas	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
47	Timo de Jong	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
48	Moritz Kretschy	NSN Cycling Team	0:33
49	Pau Martí	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
50	Enric Mas	Movistar Team	s.t.
51	Fabian Weiss	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
52	Richard Carapaz	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
53	Pablo Castrillo	Movistar Team	0:34
54	Fredrik Dversnes	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
55	Jørgen Nordhagen	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	0:35
56	Francesco Busatto	Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:36
57	Filippo Zana	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
58	Jacopo Mosca	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
59	Harold Tejada	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
60	Hamish McKenzie	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
61	Ben Tulett	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	s.t.
62	William Barta	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
63	Gianni Vermeersch	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	0:37
64	Pavel Sivakov	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
65	Carlos Canal	Movistar Team	s.t.
66	Lawrence Warbasse	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
67	Steffen De Schuyteneer	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
68	James Shaw	EF Education-EasyPost	0:38
69	Santiago Buitrago	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
70	Gregor Mühlberger	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	0:39
71	Mathias Sunekær Norsgaard	Lidl-Trek	0:40
72	Jakob Omrzel	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
73	Andreas Leknessund	Uno-X Mobility	0:41
74	Jack Haig	Netcompany INEOS Cycling Team	s.t.
75	Alberto Dainese	Soudal Quick-Step	0:42
76	Kaden Groves	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
77	Clément Berthet	Groupama-FDJ United	0:43
78	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
79	Sente Sentjens	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
80	Paul Double	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
81	Julien Bernard	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
82	Rudy Molard	Groupama-FDJ United	0:44
83	Raúl García	Movistar Team	s.t.
84	Floris Van Tricht	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
85	Iñigo Elosegui	Equipo Kern Pharma	0:45
86	Michael Gogl	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
87	Jordi Meeus	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
88	Mario Aparicio	Burgos Burpellet BH	s.t.
89	Sepp Kuss	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	s.t.
90	Matthew Riccitello	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	0:46
91	Felix Gall	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
92	Pau Miquel Delgado	Bahrain Victorious	0:47
93	Rémy Rochas	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
94	Ibon Ruiz	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
95	Urko Berrade	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
96	David González	Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
97	Hugo Hofstetter	NSN Cycling Team	0:48
98	Vincenzo Albanese	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
99	Gijs Leemreize	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
100	Olivier Le Gac	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
101	Embret Svestad-Bårdseng	Netcompany INEOS Cycling Team	s.t.
102	Marc Brustenga	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
103	Milan Vader	Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	0:49
104	Timo Roosen	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
105	Roel van Sintmaartensdijk	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
106	Oscar Onley	Netcompany INEOS Cycling Team	0:50
107	Koen Bouwman	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
108	Lars Craps	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
109	Finlay Pickering	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
110	George Bennett	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
111	Markel Beloki	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
112	Ramses Debruyne	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
113	Rudy Porter	Team Jayco-AlUla	0:51
114	Henri-Francois Haquin	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
115	Lucas Hamilton	Netcompany INEOS Cycling Team	s.t.
116	Patrick Konrad	Lidl-Trek	0:52
117	Roland Thalmann	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
118	David de la Cruz	Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
119	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
120	Mattia Gaffuri	Team Picnic PostNL	0:53
121	Simon Dalby	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
122	Gianmarco Garofoli	Soudal Quick-Step	0:54
123	Cian Uijtdebroeks	Movistar Team	s.t.
124	Thomas Gloag	Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
125	Yevgeniy Fedorov	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
126	Diego Uriarte	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
127	Nick Schultz	NSN Cycling Team	0:55
128	Gianni Moscon	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
129	Jarno Widar	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
130	Vito Braet	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
131	Callum Scotson	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	0:56
132	Bryan Coquard	Cofidis	s.t.
133	Asbjørn Hellemose	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
134	Frederik Wandahl	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
135	Roman Ermakov	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
136	Mats Wenzel	Equipo Kern Pharma	0:57
137	Edward Dunbar	Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
138	Attila Valter	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
139	Walter Calzoni	Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
140	Hugo Houle	Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:58
141	Alessandro Covi	Team Jayco-AlUla	0:59
142	Primoz Roglic	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
143	Cristian Rodriguez	XDS Astana Team	1:00
144	Magnus Cort	Uno-X Mobility	1:01
145	Ivan Cobo	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
146	Steven Kruijswijk	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	s.t.
147	Bruno Armirail	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	s.t.
148	Lorenzo Rota	Lotto-Intermarché	1:02
149	Luca Van Boven	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
150	Jan Hirt	NSN Cycling Team	1:03
151	Gal Glivar	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
152	Jorge Arcas	Movistar Team	1:04
153	Clément Alleno	Burgos Burpellet BH	s.t.
154	Oliver Peace	Team Picnic PostNL	1:05
155	Henok Mulubrhan	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
156	Paul Ourselin	Cofidis	1:06
157	Matevz Govekar	Bahrain Victorious	1:07
158	Reuben Thompson	Lotto-Intermarché	1:08
159	Kevin Vermaerke	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
160	Louis Rouland	Cofidis	s.t.
161	Mauri Vansevenant	Soudal Quick-Step	1:10
162	Sylvain Moniquet	Cofidis	s.t.
163	Marcel Camprubí	Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	1:11
164	Thibau Nys	Lidl-Trek	1:12
165	Pello Bilbao	Bahrain Victorious	1:13
166	Mikel Landa	Soudal Quick-Step	1:14
167	Mathijs Paasschens	Bahrain Victorious	1:16
168	Darren van Bekkum	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
169	Martin Tjøtta	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
170	Sinuhé Fernandez	Burgos Burpellet BH	1:18
171	Darren Rafferty	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
172	Sergio Samitier	Cofidis	1:20
173	Sergio Chumil	Burgos Burpellet BH	1:24
174	José Luis Faura	Burgos Burpellet BH	1:25
175	Emanuel Buchmann	Cofidis	s.t.
176	Lorenzo Fortunato	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
177	Juan Rodríguez	EF Education-EasyPost	1:26
178	Juan Martinez	Team Picnic PostNL	1:28
179	Domen Novak	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	1:31
180	Jesus Herrada	Burgos Burpellet BH	1:35
181	Cesar Macias	Burgos Burpellet BH	1:35
182	Chris Hamilton	Team Picnic PostNL	1:37
183	Jose Manuel Diaz	Burgos Burpellet BH	s.t.
184	Ivan Sosa	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.