Last chance saloon – The riders and teams who need to turn their season around at the Vuelta a España

Ever since it moved to be the final Grand Tour of the season, the Vuelta a España has occupied an interesting place in the cycling calendar. It's important, of course – it's a Grand Tour – but it is decidedly third in the hierarchy behind the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia in terms of prestige.

As a result, not all that many top riders will start the season with the Vuelta in mind as their primary Grand Tour target – it is often secondary to other goals – and what that means is that the Vuelta start list is often a kind of wash-up of riders who haven't achieved what they wanted to so far this year.

That's how it has come to sometimes have a bit of last chance saloon feel, with riders turning up in Spain in desperate need of a win, or even just a result, to end their season on a high, if success has evaded them so far. The lower pressure and competition level of the Vuelta often makes this more achievable, and it's pretty common to see riders come from nowhere and win a stage here.

This year, the flavour of the race will be somewhat different, with Tadej Pogačar's participation slashing the chances of anyone else winning overall, and indeed probably ring-fencing a number of stage wins, too. But that doesn't mean that there aren't still stages to be won, podiums to aim for, or general good rides to be had in Spain this summer.

As we roll towards the start in Monaco this Saturday, here are a few of the riders who will be going into the race with extra pressure on their shoulders to get something out of the last big stage race of the season.

Oscar Onley

A rider whose season really does need saving, on the other hand, is Oscar Onley. His bombshell (and pricey) transfer from Picnic-PostNL to Netcompany-Ineos last winter was the story of the off-season, and he was touted as their next big Grand Tour star, sure to follow up on his fourth at the Tour and help the team return to their former best.

Well, the first season of that project couldn't have gone a lot worse, with illness and injury disrupting Onley's season, meaning he failed to finish Paris-Nice, the Tour de Romandie and the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and couldn't start the Tour de France at all after needing shoulder surgery. That means that his stock as a GC rider has really fallen, and he really needs a good result at the Vuelta if he is to salvage anything from this otherwise forgettable season.

The good news is that Onley does seem to be on the up, winning a stage and finishing second overall at the Vuelta a Burgos – a good if not season-saving result. If his form is good, he should be able to aim to compete for the podium, and a top five or three – or even just a stage win – would bring his 2026 back from the brink, and set him up with a bit more confidence and positivity going into his 2027 redo.

Cian Uijtdebroeks

Cian Uijtdebroeks is in a similar position to Onley in some ways, signed as a marquee GC rider over the off-season but yet to really deliver on that. His season hasn't been quite as cursed, with seventh overall at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes a solid highlight, but he had to drop out of the Tour early after building his season (and whole move to Movistar) around that race.

The Belgian has moved around a lot since he broke onto the Grand Tour season at this very race three years ago, but so far his results haven't quite matched up with the belief he and his agents clearly have when they've been shopping around for better deals and leadership opportunities, so he definitely still has something to prove. The Vuelta would be a good way to start to confirm whether he should be considered a serious GC contender in 2027.

What's more, his Movistar team have denied Nairo Quintana a final Grand Tour in order to support his GC ambitions this Vuelta, so the pressure is really on to prove that that harsh call was the right one.

João Almeida

Since finishing second overall at the Vuelta a year ago, João Almeida has had a torrid 12 months and is, to be honest, barely holding onto his status as a top GC rider. Unexplained illnesses have led to a slump in form and he's been nowhere near the Pogačar lieutenant we used to see him as.

Going into this Vuelta as a secondary priority to Pogačar, the pressure is arguably off Almeida's shoulders in terms of delivering a result for the team, but there are still questions over his personal ability and level that he'll need to answer. Just finishing the race will be a first priority, seeing as he failed to do that at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes nor his comeback race at the Tour de Pologne, but he will also be hoping to prove that he is still worthy of leadership status at UAE Team Emirates.

He needs to at least play a role in helping Pogačar to the win, if not take a result himself. Another flop of a race would do serious damage to his place in the GC hierarchy.

Wout van Aert

Now, let me get this bit out of the way immediately: Wout van Aert's season does not need saving. He's won Paris-Roubaix, a stage at the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, and another three at the Tour of Denmark. Even if he'd just won Roubaix, his season would be a success, so the fact he's taken five other wins means he's pretty safe.

But, when it comes to Grand Tours, it's been a very different story. He skipped the Giro, preferring the Tour and in fact the early-season aim of a return to the Vuelta, but his Tour hopes were scuppered by an injured elbow meaning he's yet to start a Grand Tour this year. For a rider who has 14 Grand Tour stage victories to his name, and has helped his team to multiple GC podiums, it's not a great position to be in. So although he could be happy with his season if it ended tomorrow, Van Aert does have a small need to prove he's still one of the great Grand Tour stage winners in the current peloton.

Since 2019, there's only been one season – 2024 – where he failed to win a Grand Tour stage, so there is a little bit of pressure to keep that streak going, as well as correct some unfinished business with the Vuelta. So even if it's not make or break for his season, there is a lot of expectation on his shoulders, and a poor Vuelta would be considered something of a failure.

Thibau Nys

It may be a bit harsh to say Thibau Nys' season needs 'saving', as he was out for six months of it after needing knee surgery rather than lacking form, but ultimately that does mean that 2026 has been a bit of a wash-out and he doesn't have that many chances to try to turn that around.

A punchy climber, Nys will be in Spain to take opportunities, work with Mads Pedersen, and basically see where his form and ability lies in what is only the second Grand Tour of his career. His status as a prodigious talent has taken a bit of step down through his injury, so this is more about getting back on track for next year than anything else.

Given he nearly didn't make it to the start line after suffering from toxoplasmosis, it won't be the end of the world if Nys can't perform, but a good result – whether that's for himself or helping Mads Pedersen in his quest for the points jersey – would add a highlight to an otherwise forgettable season.

Picnic-PostNL

There are a few teams who have had pretty rubbish seasons and will be going into the Vuelta hoping against hope that they can salvage a good result, but for none has the season been so starkly bad as Picnic-PostNL.

The Dutch team already got off on the wrong foot in 2026 when their WorldTour license was only granted for a year amid sponsorship issues and they lost their main star in Onley, and it hasn't got all that much better since. The squad has taken one single win this year, when Casper van Uden won a stage of the Tour of Turkiye, and they're sitting a lowly 30th in the UCI rankings, below multiple ProTeams.

The plucky squad certainly hasn't given up on getting something out of this season, but it's hard to see where that might come from, and their line-up for the Vuelta isn't particularly inspiring. Still, they have 21 chances to try and do something – anything – and at the very least score a few UCI points. But to be honest, short of winning the whole thing, there's very little that Picnic could to do make this season anything short of a disaster.

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