Vuelta a España 2026

The 2026 Vuelta a España kicked off with an individual time trial on August 22, with Tadej Pogačar(UAE Team Emirates-XRG) claiming the stage win and the red leader's jersey in Monaco. He held his lead after a reduced-stage sprint won by Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike), despite an onslaught of attacks into Manosque, while the race was cancelled on stage 3 due to extreme weather.

The Slovenian increased his overall lead at the Vuelta a España on stage 4 after a solo mountain rampage on the roads to Andorra and now leads the GC by an astonishing 3:21 after just four days of racing.

Pogačar's domination came to an abrupt and shocking end on stage 8 when he crashed out and abandoned the race, leaving Enric Mas (Movistar) atop the GC standings.

Not only did Mas survive all attacks on stage 9, but he showed he was the strongest climber out of the GC group, taking the win ahead of Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos).

Following the rest day, Groupama-FDJ United's Bastien Tronchon blasted from the bunch sprint for an unexpected victory on stage 10.

Another sprint stage followed for stage 11, with Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) following Wout van Aert's wheel to score his third victory in his Grand Tour debut.

Across stages 12 and 13, Mas padded his GC lead, while Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) moved into the top 10 with the victory on Calar Alto, followed by Van Aert taking victory from a breakaway on Loja the next day.

Mas continued to look solid on stage 14 to the summit finish at Sierra de la Pandera, won by Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro).

Movistar saw no threats in breakaway moves on Sunday's modified route that was shortened due to extreme heat, so allowed those riders to contest for a sprint in Cordoba, stage 15 won by Van Aert, his second victory in three days.

Visma seemed more than refreshed after the final rest day, as Van Aert, wearing the points classification green jersey, provided a text-book leadout for Brennan on stage 16. Then the 21-year-old won again on stage 17, collecting his fifth stage win of this Grand Tour.

The flat 32.1km time trial on stage 18 went to Stefan Küng (Tudor Pro Cycling), but Mas finished 12th and retained the red jersey, though an inspired fourth place for Roglič saw him gain time.

Mountains classification leader Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) had less than 1km to go on the steep slopes of Peñas Blancas as he charged on a solo attack, but he was passed by Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello-Q36.5) and the Irishman grabbed the victory.

Mas put the finishing touches on a certain Vuelta a España victory atop the steep slopes of the Collado de Alguacil, the Spaniard surviving a day of long-range GC action to hold onto the red jersey after five hours of racing. There was double celebration for Spain on the penultimate stage 20 of the Vuelta as Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) proved the strongest from the day's breakaway and took the win.

On the stage 21 finale in Granada, Mas claimed the biggest triumph of his career with his first Grand Tour victory at the 2026 Vuelta a España, a race that he has finished on the podium in four other occasions, as Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) claimed the thrilling finale in Granada.

The biggest story pre-race was definitely the fact that Tadej Pogačar takes part for the first time since 2019 in his search to complete his Grand Tour set, and in the process has probably set himself up as the out-and-out favourite.

In our pre-race countdown, we have analyzed the top 10 GC contenders, including who might come closest to challenging Pogačar and who is aiming for the top five and top 10.

Our Vuelta expert Alasdair Fotheringham has also taken a closer look at the key stages that will decide the Vuelta, featuring some seriously spicy climbs and the races' first foray onto gravel.

We have plenty more countdown content for you this week, including expert columns, route analysis, an interview with Pogačar's coach, and more.

On this page, you'll also find the full route, timetable and history of the race, but daily stage previews, and of course all our usual results, news analysis, including from our team of experts on the ground.

Important Vuelta a España news

• The morning after winning the time trial, Stefan Küng pulls out of the Vuelta a España
• Vuelta a España stage 15 shortened by 70km to protect the health of the riders in extreme heat
• Tadej Pogačar abandons the Vuelta a España after crash on stage 8
• How to watch Vuelta a España 2026 – Live streams and official broadcasters

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Vuelta a España start list

Here are all the team line-ups for the 2026 Vuelta a España.

Vuelta a España information

The 81st edition of the Vuelta a España will take place from Saturday August 22 to Sunday September 13, 2026 with confirmation that Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar will be competing for the first time since his debut in 2019.

The complete race route for the 2026 Vuelta a España will total 3,283.7 kilometres with 58,156 metres of elevation gain, making it one of the most challenging editions of the Spanish Grand Tour to date. The three-week stage race will visit four countries - Andorra, Monaco, France and Spain - with 16 provinces crossed in Spain on a path that hugs the Mediterranean coast.

The Grand Départ takes place in Monaco with a 9.6km individual time trial and the final stage will finish in the historic city of Granada, becoming the eighth city in the 81 editions of the race to crown the overall winner. A route presentation event was held on Wednesday, December 17, 2025 to confirm all 21 stages. See the full details on our route page for the 2026 Vuelta a España.

In 2025, the Vuelta started in Piemonte, Italy, with three stages, including a mountain finish at Limone Piemonte on stage 2. Stage 4 headed into the French Alps for another mountain stage. In fact, the race crossed through four countries, including Italy, Andorra, France, and Spain.

In 2024, Primož Roglič won a fourth Vuelta a España title in the 2024 edition, sealing his fifth Grand Tour title in the last six years with a second-place finish in the final stage time trial in Madrid.

In 2025, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) was crowned the overall winner despite a series of Pro-Palestinian protests disrupting the race and especially the final stage to central Madrid.

João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was second overall at 1:16 and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) was third at 3:11.

Vuelta a España schedule

Vuelta a España records

Most overall wins: Roberto Heras (four); Primoz Roglič (four), Tony Rominger, Alberto Contador (three).

Most stage wins: Delio Rodríguez (39); Alessandro Petacchi (20); Laurent Jalabert, Rik van Looy (18); Sean Kelly (16); Gerben Karstens (14); Tony Rominger, Freddy Maertens (13); Primoz Roglič, Alejandro Valverde (12).

Most mountain classification wins: Jose Luis Laguía (five); David Moncoutie, Jose María Jiménez (four each); Julio Jiménez, Anthony Karmany, Andres Oliva (three each).

Most points classification wins: Sean Kelly, Laurent Jalabert, Alejandro Valverde (four each); Erik Zabel (three).

Most starts: Inigo Cuesta (17).

Youngest winner: Angelino Soler, 1961 (21 years and 167 days).

Oldest winner: Chris Horner, 2013 (41 years and 327 days).

Smallest margin of victory: Erik Caritoux, 1984 (six seconds).

Largest margin of victory: Delio Rodríguez, 1945 (30:08).

Fastest edition: 2001 (42.534 kph average)