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2026 Vuelta a España

Cycling race From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2026 Vuelta a España was a three-week cycling race taking place in Monaco, France, Andorra and Spain. It started on 22 August in Monaco and finished on 13 September in Granada.[1] It is the 81st edition of the Vuelta a España and the third and final grand tour of the 2026 men's road cycling season.

Dates22 August – 13 September
Stages21
Distance3,310.6 km (2,057.1 mi)
Winning time73h 52' 55"
Quick facts , race 31 of 36, Race details ...
2026 Vuelta a España
2026 UCI World Tour, race 31 of 36
Race details
Dates22 August – 13 September
Stages21
Distance3,310.6 km (2,057.1 mi)
Winning time73h 52' 55"
Results
Winner  Enric Mas (ESP) (Movistar Team)
  Second  Primož Roglič (SLO) (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe)
  Third  Felix Gall (AUT) (Decathlon CMA CGM)
Points  Wout van Aert (BEL) (Visma–Lease a Bike)
Mountains  Santiago Buitrago (COL) (Team Bahrain Victorious)
Young rider  Oscar Onley (GBR) (Netcompany INEOS)
Combativity  Wout van Aert (BEL) (Visma–Lease a Bike)
Team France Decathlon CMA CGM
← 2025
2027 →
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The general classification was won by Enric Mas of Movistar Team. Although Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) was widely expected to win the GC, and won three of the first six stages, he was injured in a crash on the eighth stage and forced to withdraw from the race. Mas, who was in second place when Pogačar crashed, inherited the red jersey, won the ninth stage, and defended his lead until the end of the Vuelta.

The points classification was won by Wout van Aert (Visma–Lease a Bike}, who also won two stages and the overall combativity award. Van Aert's teammate Matthew Brennan won five stages, more than any other competitor. Santiago Buitrago (Team Bahrain Victorious) won the mountains classification, and Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS), placing sixth in the overall GC standings, won the young rider classification.

Teams

Main article: List of teams and cyclists in the 2026 Vuelta a España

Twenty-three teams took part in the race. All eighteen UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited. They were joined by five UCI ProTeams; the three highest ranked UCI ProTeams in 2025 (Tudor Pro Cycling Team, Pinarello–Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team and Cofidis), along with two other Spanish teams (Burgos Burpellet BH and Equipo Kern Pharma). The teams were announced on 30 January 2026.[2]

UCI WorldTeams

UCI ProTeams

Pre-race favourites

Five-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) arrived to the Vuelta regarded as the presumptive winner of the race, but retired from the race after crashing during the eighth stage. The Slovenian held a big lead in the race but got caught in a crash near the end of the stage. He tried to rejoin the race but was unable to due to severe injuries to his clavicle and spine, and was taken by ambulance to hospital. Race organizers confirmed he pulled out of the race.[3] Other contenders for the general classification included Felix Gall and Richard Carapaz, as well as 4-time winner Primož Roglič, despite having been hit by a car during training just 3 weeks before the start.[4] In the competition for the green jersey, Mads Pedersen and Wout van Aert were considered the favourites.[5]

Route and stages

The official route was announced on 17 December 2025 in Monaco.[6]

More information Stage, Date ...
Stage characteristics and winners[1]
Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner
1 22 August Monaco to Monaco 9 km (5.6 mi) Individual time trial  Tadej Pogačar (SLO)
2 23 August Monaco to Manosque (France) 215.5 km (133.9 mi) Hilly stage  Matthew Brennan (GBR)
3 24 August Gruissan (France) to Font Romeu (France) 166.7 km (103.6 mi) Medium-mountain stage Stage cancelled[a] [7]
4 25 August Andorra la Vella (Andorra) to Andorra la Vella (Andorra) 104.9 km (65.2 mi) Mountain stage  Tadej Pogačar (SLO)
5 26 August Falset to Roquetes 171.1 km (106.3 mi) Hilly stage  Matthew Brennan (GBR)
6 27 August Alcossebre to Castellón 176.8 km (109.9 mi) Medium-mountain stage  Tadej Pogačar (SLO)
7 28 August Vall d'Alba to Aramón Valdelinares 149.9 km (93.1 mi) Mountain stage  Andreas Leknessund (NOR)
8 29 August Puçol to Xeraco 176.4 km (109.6 mi) Flat stage  Bryan Coquard (FRA)
9 30 August Villajoyosa to Alto de Aitana 187.5 km (116.5 mi) Mountain stage  Enric Mas (ESP)
31 August Rest day
10 1 September Alcaraz to Elche de la Sierra 184.5 km (114.6 mi) Hilly stage  Bastien Tronchon (FRA)
11 2 September Cartagena to Lorca 156.1 km (97.0 mi) Flat stage  Matthew Brennan (GBR)
12 3 September Vera to Calar Alto 166.5 km (103.5 mi) Mountain stage  Jakob Omrzel (SLO)
13 4 September Almuñécar to Loja 193.2 km (120.0 mi) Medium-mountain stage  Wout van Aert (BEL)
14 5 September Jaén to Sierra de la Pandera 152.7 km (94.9 mi) Mountain stage  Marco Brenner (GER)
15 6 September Palma del Río to Córdoba 181.2 km (112.6 mi) Medium-mountain stage  Wout Van Aert (BEL)
7 September Rest day
16 8 September Cortegana to Palos de la Frontera 186 km (116 mi) Flat stage  Matthew Brennan (GBR)
17 9 September Dos Hermanas to Seville 189.2 km (117.6 mi) Flat stage  Matthew Brennan (GBR)
18 10 September El Puerto de Santa María to Jerez de la Frontera 32.5 km (20.2 mi) Individual time trial  Stefan Küng (SUI)
19 11 September Vélez-Málaga to Peñas Blancas 205.1 km (127.4 mi) Hilly stage  Eddie Dunbar (IRL)
20 12 September La Calahorra to Collado del Alguacil 187 km (116 mi) Mountain stage  Mikel Landa (ESP)
21 13 September Granada to Granada 99.4 km (61.8 mi) Flat stage  Tobias Halland Johannessen (NOR)
Total 3,310.6 km (2,057.1 mi)
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Race overview

Main articles: 2026 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11 and 2026 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21

Classification leadership

More information Stage, Winner ...
Classification leadership by stage
Stage Winner General classification
 Points classification
 Mountains classification
 Young rider classification
 Team classification
 Combativity award
1 Tadej Pogačar Tadej Pogačar Tadej Pogačar[b] Callum Thornley[c] Joshua Tarling UAE Team Emirates XRG no award
2 Matthew Brennan Koen Bouwman Matthew Brennan Ethan Hayter
3 Stage cancelled[a] no award
4 Tadej Pogačar Tadej Pogačar[d] Oscar Onley Tadej Pogačar
5 Matthew Brennan Ethan Hayter
6 Tadej Pogačar Decathlon CMA CGM Tadej Pogačar
7 Andreas Leknessund Wout van Aert Wout van Aert
8 Bryan Coquard Enric Mas Andreas Leknessund Sinuhé Fernández
9 Enric Mas Santiago Buitrago Pavel Sivakov
10 Bastien Tronchon Michael Gogl
11 Matthew Brennan Ethan Hayter
12 Jakob Omrzel Wout van Aert
13 Wout van Aert Andreas Kron
14 Marco Brenner Kevin Vermaerke
15 Wout van Aert Andreas Leknessund
16 Matthew Brennan Kevin Vermaerke
17 Matthew Brennan Enzo Paleni
18 Stefan Küng no award
19 Eddie Dunbar Eddie Dunbar
20 Mikel Landa Tobias Halland Johannessen
21 Tobias Halland Johannessen no award
Final Enric Mas Wout van Aert Santiago Buitrago Oscar Onley Decathlon CMA CGM Wout van Aert
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  1. [a]
    The stage was cancelled due to the weather conditions making it impossible to continue to Font-Romeu.
  2. [b]
    On stages 2–5, Ethan Hayter who was second in the points classification, wore the green jersey, because first placed Tadej Pogačar wore the red jersey as the leader of the general classification. On stage 6, Matthew Brennan wore the green jersey for the same reason. On stage 7, Wout van Aert wore the green jersey for the same reason.
  3. [c]
    Although there were no points awarded towards the mountains classification during the individual time trial, the first polka dot jersey was awarded to the highest-placed rider who is not leading a classification.
  4. [d]
    On stages 5 and 6 Lorenzo Fortunato who was second in the mountains classification, wore the polka dot jersey, because first placed Tadej Pogačar wore the red jersey as the leader of the general classification. On stage 7, Enric Mas wore the polka dot jersey for the same reason. On stage 8, Andreas Leknessund wore the polka dot jersey for the same reason.

Classification standings

More information Legend ...
Legend
Denotes the leader of the general classification Denotes the leader of the young rider classification
Denotes the leader of the points classification Denotes the leader of the team classification
Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the winner of the combativity award
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General classification

More information Rank, Rider ...
Final general classification (1–10)[8][9]
Rank Rider Team Time
1  Enric Mas (ESP) Movistar Team 73h 52' 55"
2  Primož Roglič (SLO) Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe + 2' 15"
3  Felix Gall (AUT) Decathlon CMA CGM + 2' 44"
4  Richard Carapaz (ECU) EF Education–EasyPost + 6' 54"
5  Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma–Lease a Bike + 8' 45"
6  Oscar Onley (GBR) Netcompany INEOS + 9' 28"
7  Jakob Omrzel (SLO) Team Bahrain Victorious + 10' 38"
8  Clément Berthet (FRA) Groupama–FDJ United + 11' 41"
9  Cristián Rodríguez (ESP) XDS Astana Team + 11' 59"
10  Harold Tejada (COL) XDS Astana Team + 12' 51"
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Points classification

More information Rank, Rider ...
Final points classification (1–10)[8][9]
Rank Rider Team Points
1  Wout van Aert (BEL) Visma–Lease a Bike 326
2  Matthew Brennan (GBR) Visma–Lease a Bike 273
3  Alessandro Romele (ITA) XDS Astana Team 216
4  Bryan Coquard (FRA) Cofidis 141
5  Jordi Meeus (BEL) Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe 116
6  Kevin Vermaerke (USA) UAE Team Emirates XRG 115
7  Ramses Debruyne (BEL) Alpecin–Premier Tech 115
8  Andreas Leknessund (NOR) Uno-X Mobility 106
9  Tobias Halland Johannessen (NOR) Uno-X Mobility 104
10  Bastien Tronchon (FRA) Groupama–FDJ United 103
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Mountains classification

More information Rank, Rider ...
Final mountains classification (1–10)[8][9]
Rank Rider Team Points
1  Santiago Buitrago (COL) Team Bahrain Victorious 78
2  Wout van Aert (BEL) Visma–Lease a Bike 62
3  Andreas Leknessund (NOR) Uno-X Mobility 36
4  Mikel Landa (ESP) Soudal–Quick-Step 30
5  Tobias Halland Johannessen (NOR) Uno-X Mobility 28
6  Enric Mas (ESP) Movistar Team 24
7  Pau Miquel (ESP) Team Bahrain Victorious 23
8  Lorenzo Fortunato (ITA) XDS Astana Team 21
9  Ramses Debruyne (BEL) Alpecin–Premier Tech 19
10  Kevin Vermaerke (USA) UAE Team Emirates XRG 14
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Young rider classification

More information Rank, Rider ...
Final young rider classification (1–10)[8][9]
Rank Rider Team Time
1  Oscar Onley (GBR) Netcompany INEOS 74h 02' 23"
2  Jakob Omrzel (SLO) Team Bahrain Victorious + 1' 10"
3  Léo Bisiaux (FRA) Decathlon CMA CGM + 15' 35"
4  Juan Felipe Rodríguez (COL) EF Education–EasyPost + 38' 28"
5  Embret Svestad-Bårdseng (NOR) Netcompany INEOS + 1h 01' 18"
6  Raúl García Pierna (ESP) Movistar Team + 1h 07' 17"
7  Jarno Widar (BEL) Lotto–Intermarché + 1h 09' 24"
8  Finlay Pickering (GBR) Team Jayco–AlUla + 1h 19' 42"
9  Ramses Debruyne (BEL) Alpecin–Premier Tech + 1h 41' 03"
10  Valentin Paret-Peintre (FRA) Soudal–Quick-Step + 1h 47' 13"
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Team classification

More information Rank, Team ...
Final team classification (1–10)[8][9]
Rank Team Time
1 France Decathlon CMA CGM 222h 25' 14"
2 Kazakhstan XDS Astana Team + 38' 00"
3 Bahrain Team Bahrain Victorious + 54' 46"
4 France Groupama–FDJ United + 1h 01' 28"
5 United Kingdom Netcompany INEOS + 1h 25' 12"
6 Netherlands Visma–Lease a Bike + 1h 48' 16"
7 Spain Movistar Team + 1h 56' 38"
8 United States EF Education–EasyPost + 2h 00' 07"
9 Belgium Soudal–Quick-Step + 2h 13' 27"
10 Spain Burgos Burpellet BH + 2h 54' 18"
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