The Vuelta a España's long-awaited return to the Canary Islands in 2026 has been put off indefinitely, according to multiple media reports, with an initially proposed four-stage finale for next autumn likely set to be replaced by a showdown in the mountains of eastern Andalusia.
Last visited by the Vuelta in 1988, organisers and the islands' regional government had apparently reached a deal for the country's biggest race to end with stages on the archipelago, despite being more than 1,000 kilometres further south of mainland Spain.
However, according to Spanish newspaper AS, the ongoing uncertainty over the future main sponsorship of the Israel-Premier Tech squad has caused the local authorities to backtrack at the last minute.
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This year's Vuelta a España was seriously disrupted by major protests against the presence of the team in the race, with the final, largely ceremonial, stage into Madrid being cancelled as tens of thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators overturned barriers and invaded the race route.
The squad subsequently announced that team boss Sylvan Adams will step back from his role in 2026, with the team also set to change name and rebrand in a move away from 'its current Israeli identity'. Earlier this week, departing co-sponsor Premier Tech confirmed it would be involved in backing the St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93 women's squad in 2026.
Nonetheless, in an interview with an unnamed Canary Islands official published by AS, it emerged that these changes in the current Israel-Premier Tech squad were not enough to persuade the regional government that the team's connections with its Israeli backer had been completely broken. As a result, the Canaries were not prepared to host the 2026 race.
"Despite the news talking about the ending of Sylvan Adams' relationship with the team and the economic challenges they may be facing, the team owner is still the same person and the possibility that they could return to the Vuelta are still there too," the regional government source said.
"So the position of the Cabildo" - the regional government - "has not changed either."
The cancellation of the Canaries segment of the proposed 2026 Vuelta route continues a wearisomely long off-season tradition of repeated rumours and subsequent denials about the possibility of the Vuelta revisiting the islands. This time round, however, it looked like it really might happen, with potential routes floated of time trials up the Mount Teide, frequently used by teams for altitude training, or ultra-hard stages across the rugged lower slopes of various of the other mountains in the archipelago.
But as reported by MARCA this autumn, Antonio Morales, president of the Cabildo, had already made it clear that the Canaries' hosting of the Vuelta finale hinged totally on the non-presence of Israel next year in the race. That position has not changed, and a final deadline to sign a deal worth 6.5 million euros has been cancelled.
Where now?
The radically revamped finale of the Vuelta, together with the rest of the route, is due to be revealed in Madrid on December 17. The race's seventh foreign start is already confirmed to begin with a 9.5-kilometre individual time trial through the streets of Monaco on Saturday, August 22.
Rather than a repeat of the 2025 massive transfer back from Italy after its four stages in the Piedmont region, roughly four stages in France are expected to follow, bringing the race closer to Spain and ending the first week with a major summit finish in Andorra.
Much of southern and eastern Spain is then expected to feature, following a 2025 route which completely bypassed both parts of the country, and there are rumours of a time trial in the motorbike circuit in the south-westerly circuit of Jerez de la Frontera.
However, following the Canaries cancellation, there is renewed interest as to what will happen in the third week. Given both the clash of dates with a new Formula 1 race in Madrid on the final weekend, and the events of last autumn, a return to the usual finish in the Spanish capital in 2026 is thought very unlikely
Instead, the Andalusian city of Granada is strongly rumoured to be a possible new host for the last stage of the race on Sunday, September 12. The city's location makes some kind of showdown stage through the nearby mountains of Sierra Nevada – also often used by teams in training camps – a virtual certainty.
