Hard on the heels of the Tour de France announcement of the teams line-up for 2026, Friday morning saw the Vuelta a España also reveal their wildcards for the 2026 race.
Spanish ProTeams Kern Pharma and Burgos Burpellet BH have been selected for the race, which starts on August 22 in Monaco and finishes on September 13 in Granada.
In accordance with UCI regulations, the top three teams of cycling's second league in 2025, Tudor ProCycling, Pinarello-Q.36.5 - whose leader Tom Pidcock claimed third overall in the Vuelta a España last September - and Cofidis also join the line-up, with the same automatic qualification for the 18 WorldTour squads.
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Present last year in the Vuelta and one of Spain's longest standing ProTeams, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA are a notable absence from the line-up. But their absence was almost completely eclipsed by the surprise – and welcome, for the team – announcement on Friday that they would be taking part in the 2026 Tour de France.
Both the Tour and the Vuelta a España are owned by ASO, and speculation will be rife that the team's first-time participation in cycling's biggest bike race could well have had a knock-on effect on Spain.
Their place in the Vuelta will be taken by Kern Pharma, last present in the race in 2024 when they won two mountain stages thanks to breathtaking climbing performances by giant-slayer Pablo Castrillo.
It was already known last autumn that Spain's fourth ProTeam Euskatel-Euskadi could not be present as they were outside the top 30 in the UCI ranking, with new regulations meaning that the popular orange-clad squad were automatically disqualified from contention.
Vuelta a Espana 2026 teams
- Alpecin-Premier Tech (WT)
- Bahrain Victorious (WT)
- Decathlon CMA CGM (WT)
- EF Education-EasyPost (WT)
- Groupama-FDJ United (WT)
- Ineos Grenadiers (WT)
- Lidl-Trek (WT)
- Lotto Intermarché (WT)
- Movistar (WT)
- NSN Cycling (WT)
- Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe (WT)
- Soudal-QuickStep (WT)
- Jayco AlUla (WT)
- Picnic PostNL (WT)
- Visma-Lease a Bike (WT)
- UAE Team Emirates-XRG (WT)
- Uno-X Mobility (WT)
- XDS Astana (WT)
- Cofidis (PRT) – automatic invitation
- Pinarello-Q36.5 (PRT) – automatic invitation
- Tudor Pro Cycling (PRT) – automatic invitation
- Burgos Burpellet-BH (PRT) – wildcard invitation
- Equipo Kern Pharama (PRT) – wildcard invitation
