With the first two Grand Tours of the season complete, the Vuelta a España marks the final chapter of three-week long stage racing in 2026. Fighting over steep mountains, full-gas sprint stages, challenging hilly days and battles against the clock, there is sure to be some exciting racing throughout the 21 stages.
The race gets underway in the principality of Monaco with a time trial that takes in some of the famous sights, before departing into France for the second day. From there they make their way towards the Pyrenees with a finish in Andorra on the fourth day. A mixed bag of terrain follows over the coming days in which everyone in the peloton should find something to their liking, before the opening week rounds out with a mountain finish on Alto de Aitana and over 5000 metres of climbing throughout the day.
Week two gets underway with a few opportunities for the faster men in the bunch, before the GC riders, climbers and breakaway experts will most likely split up the remaining four stages. A well-earned rest day follows, before the sprinters once again get their chances into La Rábida and Sevilla. The longest TT of the race on stage 18 will be important for those battling for GC, while two big mountain days on the Friday and Saturday will offer final opportunities for the climbers to make their mark on the race. The event concludes in Granada with an interesting circuit in the finale which will no doubt see the puncheurs look to distance any sprinters that have made it to the end of the race.
Looking ahead to the Vuelta, Team Picnic PostNL coach Phil West expressed: “It’s going to be a tough one. I think we can expect it to be really warm as we track down the east coast towards Granada. It’s typically hot there, so that will add another challenge. In terms of the riders, we’ve come with a team that can go for stage results and have a selection who can go for breakaways in the high mountains. Our Colombian rider, Juan Guillermo Martinez, could be one of those guys, but we also have several other climbers who can compete on those days.
Then we have riders who can target the more rolling stages and the sprints. There are around three sprint opportunities, so we have a couple of guys who can target those stages, either from the bunch or from a breakaway. Overall, we’ve got quite a balanced team. Hopefully, we can be in the race every day. Of course, when the GC riders are battling it out, we’ll race smart and conserve our energy and look towards the next opportunity. There should be something to go for every day, so hopefully we can make it an exciting Vuelta.”
Line-up:
Mattia Gaffuri
Chris Hamilton
Henri-Francois Haquin
Timo de Jong
Gijs Leemreize
Juan Guillermo Martinez
Oliver Peace
Timo Roosen