Vuelta a España 2026 stage 6 preview: 'It'll all depend on Tadej' – After years of waiting, gravel is finally on the menu in Spain

• Stage 6: Alcossebre - Castelló
• Date: August 27, 2026
• Distance: 177.4km
• Elevation gain: 2,984m
• Start time: 13:11 CEST
• Finish time: 17:18 CEST

Whether it's stages that start on aircraft carriers, in hypermarkets or gigantic rafts, team time trials across sandy beaches or summit finishes on near-inaccessible mountain trails, the Vuelta a España has long been famous for having the most innovative routes of the three Grand Tours. But that's only true in all but one area: stages with gravel.

For years, Vuelta a España organisers have resisted the habit of the Tour de France to include sections of Paris-Roubaix cobbled farm track (a tradition that started in the 1960s) on their routes. And when the Giro d'Italia began to send the peloton across the strade bianche of Tuscany, the Vuelta equally paid no heed.

It's true that in 2019, there was a small chunk of off-road on stage 9 in Andorra (won by one Tadej Pogačar) and occasionally there are cobbled segments in a town or sections of cement on the toughest climb, like last year on the final mountaintop ascent to La Bola del Mundo. But gravel? For the Vuelta organisers, it's always been a case of No, gracias.

This year, the record is finally set straight - or the last bastion of traditional road racing sticking to tarmac has fallen, depending on how you look at it - and the Vuelta has opted to include 3.5 kilometres of gravel on stage 6.

Such a short distance compared to the 30 kilometres of off-road in Tuscany last year or 20 of Roubaix cobbles in the 2022 Tour might sound like a very symbolic gesture, until it's considered exactly where the gravel will be. This being the Vuelta, where else could they put their gravel but halfway up a mountain?

In this case, the gravel sector will be on stage 6 of the Vuelta, very near the top of the already difficult category 1 Puerto de El Bartolo, with slopes averaging 11% but reaching up to 16% and 20% in places. Not only that, as soon as the race reaches the summit of El Bartolo after a 'normal' segment of 12% climbing straight after the gravel, the road plummets down to the finish, 16 kilometres further on.

Anybody with a puncture or a mechanical issue at that point, given the narrowness and difficulty of El Bartolo, could find themselves in serious difficulties to get assistance quickly, if at all. And no matter whatever the reason for the setback, with the finish in Castelló - the city that's the capital of the northernmost province of the Valencia region - so close after the summit, there's precious little distance (and all of it downhill) to return to the thick of the action, either.

"It's a very tough climb, I know that, for sure," Pau Marti (NSN), one of the very few racers from the Valencia region present in this year's Vuelta, told Cyclingnews.

"It's certainly going to be decisive, particularly if you are going to be in the break. We've heard that the gravel is fairly well tamped down and level and there aren't too many broken-up patches so we'll go with the same setup as usual. We might reduce the tyre pressure a little, though, but only a bit.

"Being gravel on a climb makes it a heck of a lot harder to do than if the gravel was on the flat, that's for sure. And the descent is very technical in places, although as I'm good at descending I should be OK.

"But whatever happens, Pogačar's certainly going to be the favourite. He can win in any kind of terrain, so it'll all depend on what Tadej wants to do. And if it comes down to a break, then a lot will depend on whether [Wout] Van Aert is there."

Given Pogačar's current form, win rate in the 2026 Vuelta and his track record in both Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix, it's hard to disagree with Marti's analysis. But there are yet more reasons for the peloton to be concerned about El Bartolo.

The Cat.2 ascent that precedes the Bartolo, the relatively steady and anodyne Alto del Desierto de las Palmas, is one of the most popular in the region - and frequently features in bike races, including the Vuelta. El Bartolo, on the other hand, has never been used as a climb in a pro event, and is far from almost all the modern-day winter training camps, too. This lack of knowledge further underlines its unprecedented character - and makes it all the more of a challenge, with or without Pogacar, or maybe Van Aert, to blow things apart.

"It's true, there used to be camps up in that part in Valencia, but now the teams mostly go to the area down south around Calpe," Marti says, "so the climb is not at all familiar to virtually anybody. The roads across Valencia are quite similar in terms of surfacing and width and so on, but the gravel will be different. Though it's something I like, too - I do a lot of cyclo-cross."

The inclusion of gravel is getting increasingly accepted in Grand Tours, but it still raises hackles in some quarters regarding whether gravel really has a place in stage races. There doesn't seem to be that sort of debate in the Vuelta this year, although that could change if one of the favourites finds themselves losing time on the climb, and maybe a number of places on GC into the bargain.

"I'm totally in favour, provided rider safety isn't affected," former pro Pedro Horrillo, now working with Unipublic, and one of the few Spanish pros to have specialised in cobbled Classics back in the day, tells Cyclingnews.

"It's another boost for the race, because it means anybody who wants to win this race has to be a real allrounder and at the least, able to defend themselves on that kind of terrain.

"I think that having a small sector of gravel in it fits perfectly with road racing. It's not like they're doing a whole Paris-Roubaix. They've got gravel in the Giro and Tour, it's good for audiences and so on, and even if the riders' opinions are divided, I think that small 'intrusion' that gravel can make into road-racing these days is definitely here to stay." Even, it would seem, at the Vuelta a España.

Stage detail

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Stage 6 of this year's Vuelta a España could cause some surprises as not only does it include four climbs but the final ascent also adds an extra challenge, a three-kilometre stretch of gravel.

After a coastal start in Alcossebre, the route heads inland for the opening 66 kilometres, winding through the Mediterranean highlands and over two climbs, the Puerto de la Serratella and the Coll de la Bandereta, a perfect launchpad for the breakaway.

The peloton then works its way toward the Desierto de las Palmas leading to the first category Bartolo with a final gravel section before the summit.. From there, a fast 11km descent takes the riders down towards Castellón, with a final 9km flat dash to the finish line.

Climbs

• Puerto de la Serratella (cat. 2, 14km at 3.8%), km. 44.6
• Coll de la Bandereta (cat. 3, 4.6km at 6.7%) km. 66.1
• Desierto de las Palmas (cat. 2, 7.6km at 4.9%), km. 128.5
• El Bartolo (cat. 1, 9.4km at 7.1%), km. 156.8

Sprints

• Benicàssim, km. 120.1

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