Swiss rider Stefan Küng (Tudor Pro Cycling) powered to victory on stage 18 of the 2026 Vuelta a España, during the second individual time trial stage of the race, crossing the line just two seconds faster than Callum Thornley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

Race leader and local hero Enric Mas (Movistar), competing in his least-favourite discipline, put in a very strong ride and successfully defended his red jersey, fending off a predicted challenge from Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), who started the day two minutes and 10 seconds behind him.

After posting the best time trial performance of his career, Mas placed 12th and lost just 33 seconds to Roglič. With just three stages left to go – two of them in his happy place, the mountains – the 31-year-old Spaniard has over a minute-and-a-half lead at the top of the general classification, and is in pole position to take an unexpected win on home soil.

Ultimately, Roglič finished fourth, behind third-placed João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), a pre-stage favourite, finished fifth. while Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) put in a solid performance to retain the white jersey.

The stage started with an interesting result, when 23-year-old Callum Thornley beat Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) by 29 seconds, taking top spot. The young Scot sat on the leader's throne for a lengthy period of time, before Küng eventually unseated him, but only by a margin of 2.2 seconds.

"In the end you have to win, it doesn’t matter how big of a margin," said Küng in the post-stage interview. "I’m super happy to take the win here, I’m alone on the podium today but it’s a victory to the whole team, thanks to the guys behind me."

"Over the span of 32km you have to be dialled in from the start. When it’s such a fast time trial you cannot have any costly mistakes. When it’s so hard it’s also difficult to make a difference. I had a difficult moment after the second climb, and I misjudged a few corners there, but then I was able to get back into the rhythm, so that’s where I made the difference.

"It’s huge [for Tudor]. It was super good to see Marco [Brenner] winning. We’re roommates on this Vuelta so I think it’s a pretty good outcome for our room. We stand alone on the podium but there are so many people working hard behind the scenes. I want to thank all of them and all the people that got me back on track after my injury in February."

Vuelta a España 2026, stage 18 (ITT): El Puerto de Santa María > Jerez de la Frontera (32.1km)

1. Matthew Brennan (Gbr) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:56:33
2. Jordi Meeus (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe|
3. Magnus Cort (Den) Uno-X Mobility
4. Alessandro Romele (Ita) XDS Astana
5. Steffen De Schuyteneer (Bel) Lotto Intermarché
6. Axel Laurance (Fra) Netcompany-Ineos
7. Pau Miquel (Esp) Bahrain Victorious
8. César Maciás (Mex) Burgos Burpellet BH
9. Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) NSN Cycling
10. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis

General classification after stage 18

1. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, in 60:45:58
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:37
3. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +3:01
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +5:17
5. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany Ineos, +6:03
6. Jakob Omrzel (Slo) Bahrain Victorious, +7:00
7. Clément Berthet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, +7:47
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +7:51
9. Cristián Rodríguez (Spa) XDS Astana, +7:51
10. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS Astana, +9:57

"Sprinters always have plenty of opportunities to shine in their specialist discipline but rarely has one of their number enjoyed the kind of absolute dominance that he now wields."

These words are not about Matthew Brennan, who has won five stages at this year's Vuelta a España, his debut Grand Tour, but very well could be. The 21-year-old has looked unbeatable in sprint finishes across Spain, becoming the youngest rider ever to win five Grand Tour stages, the latest coming on Thursday in Seville, as he continued to make everything look easy.

The above quote, written by Richard Williams in The Guardian in 2009, was about Mark Cavendish – long before he was a knight – after he won his sixth and final stage of that year's Tour de France. At that year's race, the 24-year-old was leagues ahead of everyone else in fast finishes, popping out at exactly the right time as the line approached, then accelerating out of sight.

Brennan has aped this at the Vuelta, timing his efforts to perfection, and winning by a bike length as he crosses the line, such that he's almost gaining time on his rivals. This might be the sprinter-unfriendly Vuelta, and most of the other best fast-men in the world might be elsewhere, but you can only beat what's in front of you, and Brennan has been demolishing the available competition. One sprint win in his first three-week race would have been impressive, but to take five, the final two deep into the third week, shows that he doesn't just have the speed, he has the endurance.

The comparisons to Cavendish have been rolling in, understandably so. They're roughly the same height (although Brennan is taller, importantly) and have both stormed into the public consciousness by dominating sprints at Grand Tours. However, these comparisons are arguably overly simplistic, and understood to not find favour with Brennan himself; this makes sense, given he is his own man, with his own future.

They are different riders, and I really think Brennan could be even better than Cavendish. Perhaps not in terms of sheer magnitude of victories, given Cavendish won 165 times, including a record 35 times at the Tour de France, but perhaps in terms of the breadth of wins. That said, Brennan has already won 23 professional victories at 21; Cavendish was yet to open his account at the same age. The future is bright.

Brennan might look like an out-and-out speed merchant at this Vuelta, but he is a more versatile rider. The man from Darlington is still developing on the bike, but he looks like he has more of a punch than a pure sprinter, and could target the Classics as much as bunch finishes; he won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurnes this year, and it isn't too much of a reach to imagine him winning Paris-Roubaix.

Stage 13 of this year's Vuelta was evidence of Brennan's versatility, as he was the perfect teammate to Wout van Aert in the breakaway, marking moves, chasing down attackers, and setting up the Belgian to take victory. It's not something that Cavendish made a habit of, becoming a domestique for the day, but Brennan is clearly willing and able to use his talent in the service of others.

There was some concern that Brennan would never be able to back up his stunning debut season, with 2025 bringing 12 pro wins, which is why we chose him as Cycling Weekly's male rider of the year, but this has been dispelled. He has not only matched his tally from last year, but shown off on one of the biggest stages of them all.

Next year's Tour de France begins in Edinburgh, with a bunch sprint expected in Carlisle. The level will be higher, with the world's best sprinters present, and immense pressure, but there is a real possibility of Brennan pulling on yellow after winning his first Tour stage on home soil. Imagine the pandemonium.

On Thursday, he said: "I think it's a really good stepping stone for next year's ambitions, and it gives me a lot of confidence to just be in the peloton with all these good guys. It's an unbelievable situation we're in."

Brennan is the real deal, and these five victories are no fluke, no flat-track century. There are sterner tests to come, but Matthew Brennan is here, and is the future of British cycling. Tell your friends at the pub, and remember the name – the hype. He had better start believing

The 2026 Vuelta a España goes into crunch time over the coming days with the individual time trial on Thursday 10 September, preceding two big days in the mountains before the finale in Granada.

Stage 18's 32.1km time trial will help decide the direction of the race's overall classification, as there is just 2:10 minutes separating the top three riders. Anyone with GC ambitions, be it the podium or the top ten, will need to bring their A-game. It is also the last chance for time trial specialists to win a stage, the first since the opening day in Monaco, and for the teams left with nothing to show from the race in the wake of Visma Lease-a-bike and UAE winning 10 of the 17 stages so far.

With stage one victor – Tadej Pogačar, remember him? – absent, the stage is clear for someone else to step up, whether that be a TT specialist like Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) or Stefan Küng (Tudor Pro Cycling), or a GC rider who is strong against the clock, like Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

With just over 150m of climbing in today's 32.1km effort, it is almost certainly a stage for the specialists who have spent time warming down in their TT positions after stages. How leader Enric Mas does will also be key. The Spanish climber typically loses time in flat time trials - 3:51 minutes in 42km to Jonas Vingegaard at the Giro d'Italia this May - but with the red jersey to defend, and home fans behind him, will have added motivation to apply himself.

The timing points come at 11.5km and 22km. The first rider will be the lanterne rouge, or last man on general classification, Mathias Norsgaard (Lidl-Trek) at 2:07pm CEST (1:07pm BST/8:07am EDT), with riders the heading out at minute intervals until Raúl García Pierna (Movistar) at 4:15pm CEST, at which time there will be two-minute gaps all the way to Enric Mas (Movistar) at 4:55pm CEST.

Favourites to look out for include Hayter, Küng, Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Roglič and João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

Vuelta a España stage 18 ITT start times

Matthew Brennan stormed to a historic fifth stage win at the Vuelta a España on Wednesday, winning stage 17 in Seville.

Visma-Lease a Bike's British sprinter became the first fast man to win five stages in the same Grand Tour since Marcel Kittel in 2017, and won for the second day in a row to boot. All in his debut Grand Tour. He is the youngest rider to ever win five Grand Tour stages, and the younger rider to win back-to-back Vuelta stages.

The bunch sprint was closer than other days, with Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) looking good until being pipped at the last, with Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) finishing in third.

21-year-old Brennan's win also marked Visma-Lease a Bike's seventh win of this Vuelta, their biggest haul ever, with Wout van Aert winning two stages. It was a slightly more complicated bunch sprint with previous days, with Brennan being dropped off by his deluxe leadout man Van Aert earlier, onto the wheel of Cort, before he fully opened up with around 150m to go and was not caught again.

There were lessons taken after Van Aert finished second in a sprint in Seville in 2024, Brennan explained.

"We discussed it in the morning, the bits where he went wrong," he said on TV post-race. "We didn't want to repeat that today, we wanted to make sure that we crossed the line first. He was there by my side the whole way, which was fantastic to see, and I'm very thankful for his support."

The stage was not simple, despite there being no categorised climbs, with a threat of wind throughout, but everything came together for a bunch sprint in the end. The day's breakaway consisted of two riders, Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ United) and Sinuhé Fernández (Burgos Burpellet BH), with the former the last to be caught.

"It's unbelievably special," Brennan told Eurosport later. "We have had so many big names coming through the team and trying to achieve the same thing we have, and we've come to this race with a plan to win some stages. But it was never treally in anyone's mind to break this record. We sat down yesterday and said we needed to do something now and break the record. Also now, Frans Maassen has to stand up in the dinner hall and do his thing. Something humiliating.

"I don't think I fully believe it yet," he continued. "Five Vuelta stages, that doesn't really sit well in my head. It's a lot of victories. But I also stand here with some of the best bike riders in the peloton. For myself, it's unbelievable. In two or three weeks time I still won't believe I've won five victories, but also that's OK. Maybe a couple of weeks on from that I will believe or look back and think that was pretty impressive.

"When I try and get into the same shape again and think 'this is getting hard now, how on earth did I win five stages, I'm crawling'. I think it's a really good stepping stone for next year's ambitions, and it gives me a lot of confidence to just be in the peloton with all these good guys. It's an unbelievable situation we're in.

"I know what this bike race is. The three races I knew were the Giro, the Tour and the Vuelta. I knew what I was signing up for this year and it's spectacular. We're here in Sevilla and I just won a big bunch sprint. It's a beautiful situation to be in."

Vuelta a España 2026, stage 17: Dos Hermanas > Seville (185km)

1. Matthew Brennan (Gbr) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:56:33
2. Jordi Meeus (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
3. Magnus Cort (Den) Uno-X Mobility
4. Alessandro Romele (Ita) XDS Astana
5. Steffen De Schuyteneer (Bel) Lotto Intermarché
6. Axel Laurance (Fra) Netcompany-Ineos
7. Pau Miquel (Esp) Bahrain Victorious
8. César Maciás (Mex) Burgos Burpellet BH
9. Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) NSN Cycling
10. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis

General classification after stage 17

1. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, in 56:02:29
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +2:06
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +2:10
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +4:24
5. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany Ineos, +5:44
6. Jakob Omrzel (Slo) Bahrain Victorious, +6:14
7. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +6:49
8. Cristián Rodríguez (Spa) XDS Astana, +7:01
9. Clément Berthet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, +7:19
10. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +8:55

Matthew Brennan looked untouchable as he romped to a fourth victory in this year's Vuelta a España, on stage 16.

After a final five kilometres that looked calmer than any sprint finale has any right to, Brennan's win almost looked like a formality, as Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Wout van Aert guided him towards the finish line with a deluxe lead out that pulled the Briton out of the front of the bunch.

The 21-year-old, who has also won stages 2, 5 and 11, finished two bike lengths ahead of second placed Bryan Coquard (Cofidis).

Speaking afterwards, Brennan admitted he was already dreaming about wearing yellow in next year's Tour de France, which starts in the UK.

"A UK start next year, I already said it to the team two years ago when I heard about it, that I'd really like to be there on the start line," he said. "And to have guys like Wout and Christophe [Laporte] there also, if we do the same [as we do] here, we can really try to copy what we do and replicate that into a yellow jersey on day one."

Maillot jaune dreams aside, he insisted that today's in win in La Rábida. Palos de la Frontera felt just as good as his victory on stage two, saying, "It's unbelievable. Four victories here, the plan was for one. As a team we've won six. I think. I can't count, we've won so many.

"The stages that we've gone for we've really committed to the plan that we had," he said. "You've seen the boys all day today, they've been pushing so much wind, and to finish it off like that, Wout bringing me across the line, basically in a perfect place in such a chaotic final, it was perfect."

Asked whether Van Aert was the best lead out man in the world he said, "Yeah, I don't really think you can compete. It was a real shame that we lost Christophe, but it's still unbelievable what we can do when we're a man down in these type of situations."

With a parcours that trended downhill, albeit with plenty of lumps and bumps along the way, and with a near-flat second half, today's stage always seemed unlikely to end in anything other than a bunch sprint.

The route took the riders southwards from Cartagena to La Rábida. Palos de la Frontera on Spain's south-west coast in heat that soared once again into the high 30s (high 90s). Only the threat of marauding crosswinds had the potential to spoil the party for the sprinters, though ultimately, they did not appear.

That didn't stop the inevitable plucky breakaways from having a go, though, and within 15km a five rider group had gone clear. Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Simon Dalby (Uno-X Mobility), Jasha Sütterlin (Jayco AlUla), Roland Thalmann (Tudor Pro Cycling), worked dutifully together for the next 140km or so, but their advantage was pinned at below two minutes for much of that time.

They were caught early, at 23km to go. But any other wannabe escapees seemed deterred by a combination of wide, flat roads and a selection of sprinters' teams who seemed determined to make the most of a rare bunch finish opportunity.

Neatly lined up across the expansive tarmac, the teams ate up the kilometres in smooth style nearly all the way to the finish, at which point Van Aert found the gap he was looking for and drew Brennan out of the bunch for a win that never really looked in doubt.

Vuelta a España 2026, stage 16: Cartagena > La Rabida. Palos de la Frontera

1. Matthew Brennan (Gbr) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:56:33
2. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis
3. Vito Braet (Bel) Lotto Intermarché
4. Jordi Meeus (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
5. Magnus Cort (Den) Uno-X Mobility
6. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike
7. Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) NSN Cycling
8. Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) EF Education-EasyPost
9. Alberto Dainese (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step
10. César Macías (Mex) Burgos Burpellet BH

General Classification after stage 16

1. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, in 56:02:29
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +2:06
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +2:10
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +4:24
5. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany Ineos, +5:44
6. Jakob Omrzel (Slo) Bahrain-Victorious, +6:14
7. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +6:49
8. Cristián Rodríguez (Spa) XDS-Astana, +7:01
9. Clément Berthet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, +7:19
10. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +8:55

An audacious move from Wout van Aert saw him triumph in Córdoba on stage 15 of the Vuelta a España, as he seized an opportunity to jump out of the peloton at the intermediate sprint with around 30km to go and drew a five-rider group clear to the finish, where he won the sprint convincingly.

After trying to go solo over the top of the final uncategorised climb, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider had to mark attacks in the closing kilometres, but he ultimately proved too strong for his breakaway companions, as he was able to control the race from the front and follow any moves with relative ease before outsprinting them in the final few hundred metres.

Van Aert is no stranger to winning in Córdoba, having already won in the Andalusian city when the race last visited in 2024. He now has two stage wins to his name at this year’s race and a seemingly unassailable lead over his teammate Matthew Brennan in the points classification, with the green jersey firmly on his shoulders with six stages remaining.

“We tried to surprise the bunch. We took control the whole day and we were still there with a few strong guys to help us, but I knew people would not expect us to choose to go on the attack. I smelled the moment there at the intermediate sprint and with Matthew behind, there was no risk at all to give it a try, because we always had a good option in the bunch. That was how I like to race,” Van Aert said in his post-race interview.

With five stage wins between him and Brennan, as well as the green jersey looking a near-certainty, Visma-Lease a Bike have been one of the most successful teams at this year’s Vuelta a España.

“It’s amazing! Most of the days we thought we were able to win, we won actually, so that’s pretty impressive,” Van Aert said on the race as a whole. “On a stage like today, how we took control as a team is something to be really proud of and I have to be very grateful for the work of the boys again.”

Meanwhile, there were no changes in the general classification, as overall leader Enric Mas (Movistar) and the rest of the contenders finished safely in the peloton ahead of the second rest day. The Spaniard now goes into the final week of the race with an advantage of more than two minutes over Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), with an individual time trial and two summit finishes still to come.

How It Happened

With temperatures soaring to highs of 40°C in Andalusia, the race organisers were forced to shorten stage 15 of the Vuelta a España from 190km to 110km in length, as the race headed from Palma del Río to Córdoba. Even with the shortened distance, the heat put a clear strain on the peloton throughout the day, with riders even looking to rival teams for bottles at points during the stage.

Unfazed by the heat were the eleven riders who formed the day’s early breakaway, with stage 1 runner-up Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) and stage 7 winner Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) among those at the head of the race. They were kept on a tight leash throughout the stage and never allowed much more than a minute of an advantage by the peloton.

Their number then increased to twelve, as Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) bridged across from the peloton with around 70km to go, but at this point the gap was little more than thirty seconds, as Visma-Lease a Bike and Cofidis set the pace behind.

The lead group then began to splinter on the Puerto Artafi (5.9km at 5.5%), with Leknessund going solo off the front with 40km to go, whilst counterattacks began from the peloton behind. The Norwegian rider took maximum points over the top of the climb, before then being joined by Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) on the descent.

Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) then attacked with Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana) through the intermediate sprint and bridged across to the leading duo, before Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) also made contact to form a five-rider group at the head of the race.

A chasing group then also formed behind, as more riders attempted to bridge across, but they struggled to make any inroads into the gap, as the size of the group caused a lack of cooperation. However, there was not total cohesion in the leading group either, as Debruyne and Van Aert both launched moves on a series of short, uncategorised rises, but neither were able to get away before beginning the descent towards Córdoba.

As they entered the outskirts of the city with around 10km to go, their gap to the chasing group stood at just under a minute, with a further minute of an advantage over the peloton. It was therefore clear that the stage winner would, in all likelihood, come from the leading group, which then led to a flurry of attacks in the closing kilometres.

The first move came from Nys with just over 3km to go, with Debruyne following him instantly, whilst Van Aert was forced to close the gap with the other two riders in his wheel. Leknessund then made the next acceleration, but he too was quickly marked by Van Aert.

The Norwegian then tried again going into the final few hundred metres, but it only served to position himself at the front of the group as they went into the sprint.

Nys was the first to launch for the line, but went too early with around 300m to go, giving Van Aert the perfect leadout, as he came around his young compatriot to win the stage, whilst Romele also came through to take second place.

Behind, Alessandro Covi (Jayco AlUla) won the sprint for the minor placings from the chasing group to finish sixth on the stage, just under a minute behind Van Aert, whilst all of the general classification contenders finished safely in the peloton nearly three minutes down.

Vuelta a España 2026 stage 15: Palma del Río > Córdoba (110km)

1. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 2:35:00
2. Alessandro Romele (Ita) XDS Astana
3. Thibau Nys (Bel) Lidl-Trek
4. Ramses Debruyne (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech
5. Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, all at same time
6. Alessandro Covi (Ita) Jayco AlUla, +58s
7. Bastien Tronchon (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8. Henok Mulubrhan (Eri) XDS-Astana
9. Stefan Küng (Swi) Tudor Pro Cycling
10. Ivo Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, all at same time

General Classification after stage 15

1. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, in 52:05:56
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +2:06
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +2:10
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +4:24
5. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany Ineos, +5:44
6. Jakob Omrzel (Slo) Bahrain-Victorious, +6:14
7. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +6:49
8. Cristián Rodríguez (Spa) XDS-Astana, +7:01
9. Clément Berthet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, +7:19
10. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +8:55

Another challenging mountaintop finish saw Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling) emerge victorious atop the Sierra de la Pandera on stage 14 of the Vuelta a España. The German rider faced stiff competition from the current polka-dot jersey Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) on the final climb, but had enough in the legs to match and overcome the Colombian in the final kilometre to win the stage from the breakaway.

It marked a first Grand Tour stage win for his Tudor Pro Cycling team, who have put a lot of faith in Brenner since signing him in 2024, with a recent contract extension set to see him stay with the team until the end of the 2030 season. The 24-year-old now seems to be delivering on the promise he once showed as a junior rider and has clearly been in a strong vein of form as of late, as this follows on from his overall victory at the Tour de Pologne in August.

Elsewhere, overall leader Enric Mas (Movistar) further strengthened his grip on the red jersey, as he gained yet more time on Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who slipped to third place behind Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) in the general classification. The Slovenian rider constantly found himself on the back foot on the final climb and was simply unable to match the other two in the final kilometres.

Mas is now set to go into the final week of the race with an advantage of more than two minutes over Gall and Roglič, with his main challenge set to be the 32km-long individual time trial on stage 18, as he has historically struggled in the race against the clock. The two summit finishes that follow will also decide who will ride into Granada in the red jersey on the final stage, but Mas has shown no signs of cracking on any of the climbs at this year’s race.

Meanwhile, Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos) had his podium ambitions slip further away, as he lost yet more time on those ahead of him in the general classification and is now more than three and a half minutes off the podium in fifth place. After his victory on stage 12, Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) now sits just thirty seconds behind the British rider on the general classification and poses a serious threat to Onley’s white jersey as the best young rider heading into the final week, as there was nothing to separate the pair on the Sierra de la Pandera.

Results

Vuelta a España 2026 stage 14: Jaén > Sierra de la Pandera (155km)

1. Marco Brenner (Ger) Tudor Pro Cycling, in 4:34:00
2. Santiago Buitrago (Col) Bahrain Victorious, +1s
3. Cristián Rodríguez (Spa) XDS Astana, +11s
4. Iván Ramiro Sosa (Col) Equipo Kern Pharma, +14s
5. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +22s
6. Clément Berthet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, +27s
7. Jørgen Nordhagen (Nor) Visma-Lease a Bike, +39s
8. Filippo Zana (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step, +43s
9. Walter Calzoni (Ita) Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +1:06
10. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:09

General classification after stage 14

1. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, in 45:08:51
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +2:06
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +2:10
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +4:24
5. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany Ineos, +5:44
6. Jakob Omrzel (Slo) Bahrain-Victorious, +6:14
7. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +6:49
8. Cristián Rodríguez (Spa) XDS-Astana, +7:01
9. Clément Berthet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, +7:19
10. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +8:55

Matthew Brennan continued his impressive Grand Tour debut on Wednesday, when he took his third victory in 11 days at the Vuelta a España.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider was guided by his team-mate Wout van Aert through stage 11's finale in Lorca, where he kicked ahead with 150m to go and won comfortably ahead of Bryan Coquard (Cofidis).

Brennan, who also won on stages two and five, celebrated his hat-trick by pointing three fingers into the sky – one for each victory.

The last rider to win three times in their first Grand Tour was Tadej Pogačar, who did so at the Vuelta in 2019.

"It's massive," said Brennan, after pulling off the same feat. "I’m with a team full of massive champions. You’ve got guys who have been on podiums in Grand Tours, and won them as well. You’ve also got guys who’ve won big Classics and some huge races, and the fact that they go for me each time is an amazing opportunity. I’m really thankful that they go full gas for me.”

Describing the run-in to the finish, the 21-year-old praised his Visma-Lease a Bike team-mates, who he said "took the initiative" and "pulled as hard as they could".

"Coming into the final, we really held or own place, and knew that we were strong enough to get to where we wanted to be," he said.

"The boys did a fantastic job within that last 10km to really keep us in the right place, in the right position, out of trouble. And we crossed the line first, so [I’m] super-happy.”

There were no changes in the top 10 of the general classification on stage 11; Enric Mas (Movistar) continues to lead the Vuelta by one minute and 18 seconds ahead of Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe). Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) is third, another 21 seconds behind.

Contained within the southeastern region of Murcia, stage 11 took the riders inland from the coastal city of Cartagena.

The day began with news of the withdrawal of former world champion Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who abandoned ahead of the roll-out due to illness.

The first 110km of racing then passed uneventfully. Attempts to form a breakaway were short-lived on the flat route, and the peloton trundled mostly together to the intermediate sprint in Totana, with 42km remaining.

There, an escaped duo of Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) and Larry Warbasse (Tudor Pro Cycling) rolled through in tandem for maximum points. They were followed promptly by green jersey wearer Van Aert, who picked up the scraps for his runaway tally in the points classification.

The Belgian then pushed on over the category-three Alto de Aledo, the only climb of the day (pitched at 4.5% over 7.8km), to claim the KOM points, too. After the summit, barely 150 climbing metres remained in the final 30km, which tipped downhill to the line.

The peloton tore in excess of 55kph on the road into Lorca. Into the final 5km, Visma-Lease a Bike spearheaded the bunch, and despite losing their position momentarily, led again through a U-turn bend inside 500m to go.

Van Aert then threaded Brennan onto the finishing straight, releasing him along the righthand barrier to charge to another victory.

The Briton has now collected 22 professional wins since stepping up to Visma's WorldTour squad at the beginning of 2025. It's a tally that puts him among the most prolific riders in the world.

Results

Vuelta a España 2026, stage 11: Cartagena > Lorca (153.8km)

1. Matthew Brennan (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:17:18
2. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis
3. Jordi Meeus (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
4. Magnus Cort (Den) Uno-X Mobility
5. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike
6. Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) NSN Cycling Team
7. Bastien Tronchon (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United
8. Alessandro Romele (Ita) XDS Astana
9. Mavež Govekar (Slo) Bahrain-Victorious
10. Orluis Aular (Ven) Movistar, all at same time

General classification after stage 11

1. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar Team, in 35:59:02
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:18
3. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +1:39
4. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany-Ineos, +2:20
5. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +3:26
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +3:55
7. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +4:09
8. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS-Astana, +4:39
9. Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +7:33
10. Jakob Omrzel (Slo) Bahrain-Victorious, +8:05

A short, complete list of the races which Tadej Pogačar has entered and not won in 2026: Paris-Roubaix, and the Vuelta a España. At the former, the world champion finished second. At the latter, things were progressing normally – ie, the Slovenian was cruising to victory, four minutes ahead of his nearest rival – until he crashed on Saturday, proving that nothing is ever inevitable in cycling.

In the eyes of many cycling commentators, the Vuelta’s red jersey had been all but handed to the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider before a pedal had been turned in anger, but after seven stages, things looked sewn up, with three stage wins, and a comfortable winning margin with two weeks still to go. Record books had been searched for the last rider to lead a race for all 21 days, and accounts of one of the all-time great years were being prepared. There had even been a scare on a descent on stage six, which Pogačar survived, because luck is always on his side. Until it wasn’t.

We are left with a race then, devoid of the best bike rider in the world, but one now with an engaging battle for the overall crown, one which feels could go one of four ways, if not more. The biggest star has departed, but the Vuelta now feels wide open, shorn of its overwhelming favourite.

After Jonas Vingegaard’s exhibition at the Giro d’Italia, and Pogačar romping to a fifth Tour de France title, we have a Grand Tour on our hands that isn’t pre-destined, and one which has a serious chance of going to a new winner, for the first time since the 2023 edition, won by Sepp Kuss. But who is best placed to pounce?

The man in red currently is Enric Mas of Movistar, who had never led his home Grand Tour until Sunday, who finished second thrice at the race between 2018 and 2022. A Mas victory would be unexpected, given he finished 32nd at the Giro d’Italia earlier this year, and last finished in the top 10 of a WorldTour stage race at the Critérium du Dauphiné last June. However, the Movistar rider is an expert at the Vuelta, and everything is unexpected right now.

Behind him is Primož Roglič, a man used to winning the Vuelta, four times in fact. The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider is 1:18 behind Mas, but has come into the race after a strange season, which has seen him only win in the TT at the Slovenian National Championships. Like Mas, he has the experience, but his actual form remains a bit of a mystery. The deeper into this race he goes in contention, however, the more likely that the old Roglič will turn up.

In third at the moment is Felix Gall of Decathlon CMA CGM, who is having the best season of his career so far, already having finished second at the Giro d’Italia, minutes behind Vingegaard. The Austrian, on paper, is perhaps the biggest threat, but he is 1:39 behind Mas. However, with multiple serious mountain stages to come, could be the rider to beat, although the 32km time trial on stage 18 could be his undoing. That said, his other main rivals, apart from Roglič, will be similarly wary of the day against the clock.

Finally, Netcompany-Ineos’ Oscar Onley is looking the part for his new-ish team after a season interrupted by illness and injury. He’s 2:20 behind Mas, but in the see-saw fresh start of this Vuelta, that might not be as much as it looks on the results sheet. He has already gone further in the Vuelta than ever before; in 2023 he lasted just one stage, and having got over stomach problems, touch wood, should get better through the race. Gall beat him at the Vuelta a Burgos last month, and a TT is not his strong suit, but the 23-year-old is making up for lost time. An Onley triumph is not improbable, which would have seemed improbable just three days ago.

They are not alone, but they are the four within two minutes of each other. Richard Carapaz, Mattias Skjelmose and Sepp Kuss are all not completely out of the race, with the former and the latter knowing what it takes to win over three weeks. However, I think we will see one of the top four in red in Granada in just under two weeks. Whoever wins, it will be a surprise – either Roglič after his odd season, writing himself into the record books, or a new Grand Tour champion in Mas, Gall, or Onley. It’s game on.

This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.

Tadej Pogačar has undergone successful surgery on his fractured left clavicle following the crash that ended his Vuelta a España.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG confirmed the latest update on Monday evening, two days after the Slovenian abandoned the Grand Tour on stage eight.

Pogačar had initially been unable to undergo the operation due to precautions relating to a concussion he sustained in the crash. Having since received medical clearance, he has now had surgery at Hospital Universitari Dexeus in Barcelona, Spain, and is expected to remain in hospital for monitoring.

"This afternoon, Tadej underwent successful surgery on his left clavicle after receiving the all-clear to proceed with the operation," an update from the team doctor read.

"The procedure went well and he will remain in hospital for post-operative monitoring for a few days.

"When ready, Tadej will travel home to begin his recovery and rehabilitation under the supervision of the team’s medical staff. We will continue to monitor his progress closely throughout the recovery process."

Pogačar crashed with around 31km remaining on stage eight of the Vuelta, when his front wheel appeared to hit some debris or a rock on the road. Several other riders were caught up in the incident, including his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Pavel Sivakov, Oscar Onley and Ben Tulett.

The world champion initially attempted to remount his bike but was unable to continue. He was treated at the roadside before being taken away by ambulance and transferred to hospital for further examination.

The full extent of Pogačar’s injuries was confirmed later that evening. Alongside the concussion and left clavicle fracture, he was diagnosed with a stable fracture of the C7 vertebra in his neck and multiple abrasions. The team said there had been no neurological damage or other major injuries.

The crash brought Pogačar’s Vuelta campaign to a sudden end while he was leading the general classification. He had won three of the opening eight stages and held an advantage of almost four minutes over Enric Mas.

It was the first time in Pogačar’s career that he had failed to finish a Grand Tour.

No timeframe has yet been given for his return to training or competition. His injuries, however, place his planned defence of the rainbow jersey at the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal on 27 September in serious doubt. A clavicle fracture typically takes between six and 12 weeks to heal, although recovery times vary.

Pogačar will begin his rehabilitation at home once he is discharged from hospital, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG expected to issue further updates as his recovery progresses.

The day after Tadej Pogačar abandoned the Vuelta a España, stage 9 saw the battle for the general classification explode on the slopes of the Alto de Aitana, as Enric Mas dominated on the final climb to take the victory and strengthen his grip on the red jersey.

It marked the first stage win for Movistar at the Vuelta a España for five years, ending an embarrassing drought for the team in their home Grand Tour, whilst Mas also extended his overall lead to a minute and eighteen seconds over Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who was unable to match the Spaniard’s attacks in the final kilometres.

In fact, the only rider able to follow Mas was Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos), but the young British rider did not have enough to come around the red jersey in the final few hundred metres and was forced to settle for second place on the stage, with his strong showing him moving him up to fourth place in the overall standings.

It was a disappointing day for Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), as the Austrian rider’s team made massive efforts to whittle down the lead group on the lower slopes of the Alto de Aitana, but he found himself out of position when the decisive moves came and was ultimately unable to match the strength of some of his rivals, losing time to Mas, Onley and Roglič in the general classification.

With the first rest day coming on Monday, Mas now goes into the second week of the race with the red jersey firmly on his shoulders, as he has a lead of a minute and eighteen seconds over Roglič in the general classification, with a further twenty-one seconds to Gall in third place.

Meanwhile, Onley continues to lead the youth classification by a large margin and moved up to fourth place overall, just forty-one seconds off the podium, after Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) lost nearly two minutes on the stage, which saw the American rider drop to seventh place, with Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) also moving ahead of him.

How It Happened

The abandonment of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) the previous day left the Vuelta a España in a state of uncertainty heading into stage 9, which saw the race head back into mountains near the Costa Blanca, with a summit finish atop the Alto de Aitana awaiting the riders at the beginning of the day.

Without the usual control of UAE Team Emirates-XRG at the head of the peloton, several teams saw an opportunity to get riders into the breakaway at the beginning of the day, with multiple attacks on the opening climbs culminating in a massive group of 24 riders going up the road.

Behind them, Movistar assumed the responsibility of setting the pace in the peloton after Enric Mas (Movistar) inherited the red jersey of overall leader from Pogačar after stage 8. They would allow the breakaway an advantage of more than five minutes at some points in the stage, with no threats to the general classification in the lead group.

One rider active in the breakaway in the middle of the stage was Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), as he took maximum points on the Puerto de El Miserat (5.1km at 10%), Puerto de Tollos (4.1km at 5.8%) and Puerto de Tudons (7km at 5.3%), with the Colombian rider moving into the lead of the points classification and pulling on the polka-dot jersey at the end of the stage.

It was on the descent of the Puerto de Tudons where Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana) went solo off the front of the breakaway and gradually drew out a gap of close to a minute over the rest of the group, whilst also growing his advantage over the peloton to well over six minutes in the process.

Meanwhile, the Decathlon CMA CGM team made their first appearance at the front of the peloton with around 50km to go, as they looked to bring the stage victory back into play for Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), after Movistar had allowed the gap to the breakaway to expand.

The breakaway then began to splinter, with several riders attacking in an attempt to bridge across to the Italian sprinter at the head of the race, with a two-rider move of Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Marcel Camprubí (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling) eventually joining Romele after the summit of the Puerto de Benifallim (4.8km at 5.8%) with just over 40km.

The leading trio worked well together as they continued to grow their advantage over the chasing group, whilst the gap to the peloton remained at over five minutes, as they began the final climb of the Alto de Aitana (22km at 5.8%).

After a courageous effort, Alessandro Romele quickly found himself distanced on the lower slopes as Camprubí and Sivakov went clear, whilst Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon CMA CGM) began to up the pace in the peloton, with the Frenchman’s efforts cutting the leading duo’s advantage to four minutes with 16km to go.

The gap began to tumble further as Decathlon CMA CGM continued to set the pace, with each of their riders pulling massive turns before peeling off one by one, as the peloton began to be whittled down to just a select group of general classification contenders.

As the peloton neared in, Sivakov attacked with 10km to go, dropping Camprubí off the wheel to go solo in search of the stage victory. However, it seemed the writing was already on the wall for the Franco-Russian rider, as the gap to the main group had already been reduced to just two minutes.

A massive effort from Gregor Mühlberger (Decathlon CMA CGM) saw him deliver one final leadout, with Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) dropping off the back of the group. Gall then launched his inevitable attack with 7km to go, but failed to distance any of his rivals, as Mas covered the move with relative ease, whilst Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) also followed in the wheel.

Gall then accelerated again, but it was still not enough to open a gap to Mas and the others, as an attack from Carapaz followed soon after. The move from the Ecuadorian rider saw him quickly gain a handful of seconds, which forced the hand of the other contenders, as Mas, Gall, Roglič and Onley all had to bridge across.

After the continuous accelerations behind, the last remnants of the breakaway were then swept up, with Sivakov the last to be caught after he had clearly emptied the tank, as he went out the back shortly afterwards.

Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) then returned to the group after having been dropped earlier on and went straight over the top with an attack with Jarno Widar (Lotto Intermarché) and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) in his wheel. This then triggered a reaction from Mas, who instantly caught and passed the three-rider group and went clear with 3km to go.

Gall found himself out of position and without the legs to respond to the move, as he fell to the back of the group of contenders, whilst Onley attacked across the gap to Mas. The overall leader and the best young rider then began working to extend their advantage over their rivals, with Roglič also attempting to bridge the gap.

The Slovenian rider got to within touching distance of the leading duo, before Mas then launched another attack, dropping him off the wheel once again. Onley was able to immediately follow the Spaniard’s acceleration, as Roglič struggled to regain contact and the gap to the group behind continued to grow.

In the group, Carapaz was beginning to pay for his earlier efforts, as he was dropped off the back, whilst Gall was attempting to limit his losses to those ahead of him.

Going into the final kilometre, it was clear that it would be between Mas and Onley for the stage win, as Roglič continued to lose ground.

Launching the sprint from the front, Mas managed to keep Onley behind in the final few hundred metres, as the British rider was unable to find the power to come around the red jersey and was forced to settle for second place, whilst Mas kicked again to win the stage and extend his lead in the general classification.

Roglič then crossed the line twelve seconds later in third place, whilst Gall had clearly attacked behind in an attempt to limit his losses, as he finished a further six seconds back with a splintered chasing group coming in behind him.

Results

Vuelta a España 2026 Stage Nine: Villajoyosa > Alto de Aitana (187km)

1. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, in 5:10:40
2. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany Ineos, at same time
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +12s
4. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +18s
5. Cristián Rodríguez (Spa) XDS Astana, +20s
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, at same time
7. Jarno Widar (Bel) Lotto Intermarché, +25s
8. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS-Astana, +33s
9. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +54s
10. Santiago Buitrago (Col) Bahrain Victorious, +1:41

General Classification After Stage Nine

1. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar Team, in 28:34:03
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:18
3. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +1:39
4. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany-Ineos, +2:20
5. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +3:26
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +3:55
7. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +4:09
8. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS-Astana, +4:39
9. Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +7:33
10. Jakob Omrzel (Slo) Bahrain-Victorious, +8:05

Tadej Pogačar's injuries were confirmed by the UAE Team Emirates Medical Director this evening as the World Champion faces a lengthy layoff from the bike.

"Unfortunately, Tadej Pogačar suffered a heavy crash during today's stage and was unable to continue the race." The statement read.

"He is stable, and following a thorough medical assessment at hospital, Tadej has been diagnosed with a concussion, displaced left clavicle fracture, a stable C7 cervical fracture, and multiple abrasions. Fortunately, no other major injuries and no neurological fallout."

"He will require clavicle surgery which will be delayed due to concussion precautions."

"Tadej remains under the care of our medical team and we'll provide further updates following the surgery."

While the team didn't confirm either way, the fractures almost certainly rule Pogačar out of the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal Canada, in a month's time, where he was hoping to defend his title that he has held for two years.

The men's road race takes place on September 27, four weeks and one day after today's crash.

Today's abandonment was the first time Pogačar has failed to finish a Grand Tour. His first was the 2019 Vuelta a España, at which, aged 21, he finished third. Since then he has ridden the Tour de France seven times, winning it five times and placing second twice, and ridden the Giro d'Italia once, when he won in 2024.

The last time he failed to finish a race was the 2023 Liege-Bastogne-Liege, when he crashed and broke his wrist. His consistency, along with his win ratio, is unmatched in the modern era of cycling. He had already won three stages of the eight stages, prior to today's stage, at this year's Vuelta.

It is yet to be confirmed what caused the crash, although TNT Sports released a video on social media suggesting debris in the road was the reason. the crash happened on a straight, well-surfaced section of road when the peloton was relatively calm at 32km to go.

Brian Coquard won the stage, while Enric Mas (Movistar) moved into the race lead. The Spaniard was presented with the red jersey on the podium, but out of respect for Pogačar, and mindful of the way he took the lead, declined to put it on and there were no celebrations.

The Vuelta continues tomorrow with a 187km stage from La Vila Joiosa to Alto de Aitana on the Costa Blanca. A mountain-top finish at 1,530 metres above sea level.

Norway's Andreas Leknessund broke clear of the front group to take a memorable mountain victory on stage seven of the Vuelta a España.

His countryman and Uno-X Mobility teammate Tobias Halland Johannessen completed a Norway one-two, with both riders wearing black armbands to commemorate the death of Norway's King Harald, which was announced early this morning.

Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), who had attempted to chase Leknessund down having been out front with him for the entire stage, was third.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was the first of the main GC challenger to finish, coming in 19th at 4:23 behind a swathe of long-time breakaway riders. Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), followed by Enric Mas (Movistar) were best of the rest of the GC men, gaining 23 and 13 seconds respectively on the trio of Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EF Education) came away a significant GC loser, after being dropped in the final and slipping from fourth to seventh in the classification.

Leknessund, who broke away with Van Aert the moment the flagged dropped on the 148.9km stage, said afterwards how hard the day had been.

"I didn't expect it to be this emotional, but there's so much feelings," he said. "I've been fighting really hard - it means a lot. It was such a special day, going from the start with Wout. It was really hard, we were going so fast.

He said his teammate Johannessen had probably been the strongest climber in the group, and that "he basically gave me the win".

"Tobias came up, and when he was there it gave me confidence that today we could win. I believed he was the best climber in the group, and he maybe was, I think. We had a mission that one of us would have a gap on the last climb, he let my wheel go and basically gave me the win, and I'm really proud and grateful," he said.

Asked about the significance of the win, coming as it did on the day of his king's passing, Leknessund said: "It's been a special day for the team and for the whole of Norway. [The win] is a small thing in the bigger picture, but still, it makes the day more special."

It was a day for the breakaways, as the race ventured inland from Vall d'Alba on the east coast to Aramón Valdelinares in the Iberian mountains. Leknessund's early move with Van Aert was eventually joined by Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello Q36.5), Alexey Lutsenko (NSN Cycling) and of course Halland Johannessen, and quintet rode at the front for much of the day.

Behind was a large chase group of 20-plus riders, including the likes of Pursued by a big group including Bruno Armirail (Visma-Lease a Bike), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), with the GC riders falling slowly back to the tune of six-minutes-plus for a large portion of the stage.

For once, it appeared that Pogačar had no particular designs on winning the stage, and the GC riders allowed the stage to play out ahead as Leknessund attacked with seven kilometres to go to the summit finish, never to be brought back, despite a concerted chase by Van Aert.

Vuelta a Espana 2026, stage seven: Vall d'Alba > Aramón Valdelinares, 148.9km

1. Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, in 3:49:47
2. Tobias Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +34
3. Wout Van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease A Bike, +47
4. Jakob Omrzel (Slo) Bahrain Victorious, +58
5. Juan Felipe Rodriguez Contreras (Col) EF Education-EasyPost, +1:13
6. Ivan Sosa (Col) Kern Pharma, +1:16
7. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) NSN Cycling, +1:44
8. Edward Dunbar (Irl) Pinarello-Q36.5, +1:51
9. Léo Bisiaux (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +1:53
10. Raul Garcia (Spa) Movistar, +2:14

General Classification after stage seven

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 19:32:37
2. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, +3:50
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +4:50
4. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +5:01
5. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +6:05
6. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany-Ineos, +6:06
7. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +6:12
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +7:17
9. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS-Astana, +7:46
10. Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +9:29

There's a very simple reason why Tadej Pogačar wins so many stages alone – other riders have a great deal of trouble keeping up. And yesterday on the Vuelta a España, GC hope Oscar Onley offered a demonstration of what can happen if you simply will yourself through the pain barrier in an effort to stay on the Slovenian's wheel.

Netcompany-Ineos's Onley ended up finishing at the back of the second chase group, 1:38 down on stage winner Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG. It was an unaccustomed spot for the British 23-year-old, who clung on to his white jersey by just three seconds.

Onley was one of the quickest responders to Pogačar's move on the final climb of yesterday's stage six from Alcossebre to Castelló. But the Brit admitted he was caught out by how difficult the gravelled climb of the Puerto El Bartolo was, and, he says, "paid the price".

“It was pretty hard," he said afterwards. "The gravel went on for longer than I thought it would. I probably just overcooked here a little bit and paid the price towards the top I think."

Following a tricky descent, Onley was grateful to be able to hook up with a four-strong chase group, including Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), with whom he spent the final 10 headwind kilometres.

"I just took the descent at my own pace," he said. "To be honest, I didn’t want to be alone for the headwinds to the finish, so when I saw Skjelmose and Kuss’s group come up to me I was quite relieved. I tried to pull with them and then I just started getting cramps so I was useless."

Onley, who dropped two places on GC to seventh at 5:37, might have done well to listen to his boss Geraint Thomas's Watts Occurring podcast after the Andorra stage, during which the Welshman said that following Pogačar in full flow was pretty much an exercise in futility.

"You’re not going to mark him if, with 50 kilometres to go, he’s riding at seven watts per kilo," Thomas said. "That’s just not possible.”

That said, second place Enric Mas (Movistar) surprised many when he managed to follow yesterday, beating Pogačar to the top of the Bartolo and accompanying him to the finish, where the Spaniard leapfrogged Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) on GC, taking his second place. Mas now sits 3:34 off the race lead – a gap which could easily change after today's seventh stage, as the riders tackle yet another mountainous day, this time with a summit finish at Aramón Valdelinares.

Tadej Pogačar sprinted to a third victory at this year's Vuelta a España on stage six, surviving a scare on the final descent, and being chased down by Enric Mas.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider has now won half of the stages so far at this year's race, but did not have everything his own way on Thursday. Movistar's Mas was first over the final climb of Puerto El Bartolo, and Pogačar left the road into a muddy verge on the way down, although avoided crashing.

The pair put time into their other general classification rivals, with Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) beating the other chasers in to third. Mas is now second overall, with Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) dropping to third.

Among those to miss out on stage six was Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos), who dropped from fifth to seventh, coming in 1:38 behind Pogačar.

Thursday's stage, which involved a gravel sector on the final climb, looked set to be a breakaway day, but it was reeled in on that ascent after UAE Team Emirates-XRG kept it on a short leash.

"We had a plan to let the breakaway go today, but it took nearly two hours to form a breakaway," Pogačar explained on TV post-stage.

"So in the end, we had to pull less than half the stage to control. João [Almeida] and Kevin [Vermaerke] did a good job to keep it together, and then I could go for the stage, with Pavel [Sivakov], Jay [Vine] and Pablo [Torres] leading out on the climb and setting me up for a perfect attack."

As for Mas's attack to beat Pogačar to the top of the Puerto, catching him, which is something seen rarely in cycling in the last few years, Pogačar explained that he was unaware the gap was closing.

"I was really surprised on the top, he flew past me like a rocket," he said. "I was not expecting it, because I heard on the radio that I was leading by 40 seconds to second, to the chasers. There was no mention of Enric, so when he passed me I was a little bit shocked. I was sure he knew the downhill, and I was just happy to be with him in the last 10km into the headwind, because I had no water.

"It was nice to have a companion next to me. I knew I could beat him in the sprint, but I appreciated that he committed full, and I committed full too. Chapeau to him, and it was a great race."

The brief foray off-road might not have impacted the race in the end, but it was proof of the risks that Pogačar was willing to take on the technical descent. Despite not looking like his usual all-conquering self, he still managed to win the stage.

Stage seven is another general classification day, with well over 3,000m of elevation in 150km and a category-one summit finish.

It took until less than 100km to go on Thursday for the break to be established, meaning it did not have a lot of leeway to build up a sufficient gap to hold off the peloton.

Onto the final climb, just 14 riders were left in the group out front, with just over 90 seconds on what was left on the peloton: Carlos Canal (Movistar), Tom Gloag (Pinarello Q36.5), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek), Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech), George Bennett (NSN Cycling), Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal Quick-Step), Andreas Kron (Uno-X Mobility), Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost), Hannes Wilksch (Tudor Pro Cycling), José Manuel Díaz (Burgos Burpellet BH), Lars Craps (Lotto Intermarché), Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL) and Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma).

However, just a couple of kilometres later, Canal, Gloag, Albanese, Wilksch, Konrad, Bennett and Leemreize were all dropped, leaving a handful out front, as UAE Team Emirates-XRG pulled the bunch back to the front. The team of Pogačar burned through riders, but the break was blowing apart at the same time.

As soon as the race hit the newly resurfaced road ahead of the gravel section, Pogačar put the power down, splitting up the group of favourites, and reeling in those left up the road. Onley was the only rider who could follow immediately, with Mas, Roglič and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) following further behind. Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) was briefly distanced, but made it back to the chasers. On the gravel, Mas pushed on.

Out front, Debruyne was the first to hit the gravel sector, with the red jersey 30 seconds behind, but Pogačar quickly ate this gap up, moving to the head of the race with just under 3km to go of the climb, and 23.5km remaining of the stage. Onley was dropped by Roglič and Gall, with Carapaz for company.

Mas put in the ride of the day to catch Pogačar, pipping him to the top of the Puerto El Bartolo. On the descent, the Slovenian misjudged a corner, going off the side of the road, but quickly rejoined the race.

The duo up front built a lead on the flat run-in to the finish, with Roglič, Gall, Carapaz, Debruyne and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) around half a minute behind. Onley was about a minute further back, along with Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek).

In the finale, Mas forced Pogačar to lead him out, but it was to no avail, with the Slovenian comfortably having enough power to win once again.

Results

Vuelta a España 2026 stage six: Acossebre > Castelló (177.4km)

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:12:40
2. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, at same time
3. Ramses Debruyne (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech, +46s
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost
5. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS-Astana
6. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM
7. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, all at same time
8. Cristián Rodríguez (Spa) XDS-Astana, +1:38
9. Clément Berthet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United
10. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, at same time

General classification after stage six

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 15:38:27
2. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, +3:34
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +4:21
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +4:50
5. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +4:55
6. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +5:36
7. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany-Ineos, +5:37
8. Ramses Debruyne (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech, +5:40
9. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +5:58
10. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS-Astana, +6:30

Josh Tarling abandoned the Vuelta a España early on stage six on Thursday, leaving Netcompany-Ineos with seven riders.

The Welshman started the Spanish Grand Tour on Saturday just over a week after his brother Finlay died after he was hit by a non-race driver at the Volta a Portugal.

He finished third on the opening day's time trial in Monaco, just four seconds behind the winner, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

He spent the next few stages working for Oscar Onley, who sat in fifth overall after stage five.

Netcompany-Ineos posted on social media: "Josh Tarling’s Vuelta has come to an end as he’s decided to stop. We couldn’t be prouder."

Later, the team added: "After the unimaginable loss of his brother Fin, Josh showed incredible courage in starting La Vuelta. 


"We are immensely proud of him, and he now returns home to be with his family with the full love and support of everyone at Netcompany-Ineos. Family comes first. Always."

Ahead of the race, Tarling's parents, Dawn and Michael, posted on Instagram that he heading to the Vuelta with their support.

"He has chosen to do so in honour of his brother Fin, with the full support of his family, surrounded by a team who have been incredibly supportive of whatever decision he made," they wrote.

"I could not have wished for two boys who were closer growing up and into adulthood we have watched with pride as Joshua has been the most loving and supportive big brother to Fin. Following this devastating news he has been an incredible strength for us all.

"Finlay was so incredibly proud of his big brother, and would be watching nose to the TV and shouting as he competed.

"So it is right that Josh honours that love."

A GoFundMe page created in memory of Finlay Tarling, aiming to raise money to support young Welsh riders in the future, has raised over £90,000 in less than a fortnight.

Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) sprinted to an assured second stage victory in Roquetes Terres de l'Ebre, on stage five of the Vuelta a España.

The Briton, riding his first Grand Tour, said he hoped there would be more to come after winning stage three at the weekend, and he got his wish. With a strong leadout train including Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte, there was little stopping Brennan, who romped home well ahead of second placed Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

GC leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) finished comfortably in the bunch, and retained his red jersey, with a 3:21 lead over second-placed Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe). The entire GC top-10, in fact, remained static.

Speaking afterwards, Brennan said: "It's not a bad one. Better than a normal day job. It's fantastic. Second one in the bag, first Grand Tour."

The team had gone all-in for him all day, he said, adding, "I'm very thankful to finish it off again, and I think the boys are also quite relieved."

Asked about his leadout deluxe from Van Aert and Laporte, he said: "It was pretty spot-on to be fair. Wout and Christophe are the best guys you can have in the world for this type of thing, and they supported me all the way into the final. Last corner I lost my wheel a bit – the paint was a little bit slippery. But thankfully I stayed safe. Christophe also felt that a little bit, and managed it really well. So, glad we could finish with the arms in the air.

"I wouldn't say I'm a sprinter," he continued, "but I can climb a little bit and I think on this type of terrain it works really nicely with the support that I have here. Even Stevie [Kruijswijk] and Bruno [Armirail], these guys are just so strong. And when you've got these guys with you, it really gives you the confidence to try and achieve more."

Following a chaotic first few days, with major transfers and an abandoned third stage, the riders entered Spain for the first time today, with this 173.3km outing from Falset Costa Daurada to Roquetes Terres de l'Ebre in southern Catalonia.

Largely flat with a series of hills in the last third and a 20km flat run-in to the finish, a sprint finish was predicted, with many eyes on the imperious-looking Brennan.

An early five-man move included Fredrik Lavik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility), Walter Calzoni (Pinarello-Q36.5), Mattia Gaffuria (Picnic PostNL) and Diego Uriarte (Kern Pharma), and for a short while Stefan Küng (Tudor Pro Cycling), but it was brought to heel with 100km still to ride.

It was then the turn of solo escapee Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step), who has been caretaking the green points jersey for Pogačar since the start of the race in Monaco. He earned himself the day's combativity prize after 23km mid-stage break, with the bunch bringing him back as the hills appeared on the horizon.

Assertive riding from Visma-Lease a Bike with Brennan in mind ensured that no other significant gaps were opened. It was clear at that point that the Brit was on a good day, and he proved as much at the stage finish.

Vuelta a España 2026, stage five: Falset Costa Daurada > Roquetes Terres de l'Ebre, 173.3km

1. Matthew Brennan (Gbr) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:47:02
2. Jordi Meeus (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
3. Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) EF Education-EasyPost
4. Alessandro Romele (Ita) XDS-Astana
5. Axel Laurence (Fra) Netcompany-Ineos
6. Orluis Aular (Ven) Movistar
7. Christophe Laporte (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike
8. Alberto Dainese (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step
9. Vito Braet (Bel) Lotto Intermarché
10. David González (Spa) Pinarello-Q36.5

General Classification after stage five

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 11:26:01
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3:21
3. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, +3:32
4. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +3:44
5. Oscar Onley (Gbr) Netcompany-Ineos, +3:45
6. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +3:50
7. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +3:57
8. Mattias Skejlmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +4:06
9. Jarno Widar (Bel) Lotto Intermarché, at s.t.
10. Jay Vine (Aus) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +4:11

After being forced to stay home during the Tour de France thanks to a shoulder injury back in July, GC hope Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) is making the most of being let off the leash at the Vuelta a España.

He rode himself into the young rider's white jersey on yesterday's stage to Andorra La Vella, finishing in a creditable fourth place behind winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and at the same time as second and third-placed finishers Jarno Widar (Lotto Intermarché) and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM).

The ride left him sitting fifth on GC, just 24 seconds off Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) in second place, and 3:45 behind race leader Pogačar, who looks as though he will be difficult to topple over the coming two-and-a-half weeks.

Onley's white jersey grab was perhaps all the more impressive given he had apparently been ill with a stomach issue that had kept him up throughout the previous night.

“Before the stage, I half expected to lose my overall classification standing entirely, so it was nice to be able to compete in the group behind Tadej,” said Onley after the stage.

"I actually got sick late last night and spent the whole night in the bathroom," he said. "I'm relieved. I actually felt pretty OK. I surprised myself a little. Luckily, I was able to eat this morning and had a normal meal last night too, so I don't think it's such a big deal."

The Scot said he had circled stage four, a 104.8km outing that started and finished in Andorra La Vella, as an important one for the GC, adding: "With the descent and the short climbs, I actually expected it to turn out this way, with a small group crossing the finish line.”

Asked about his plans to retain the white jersey, the 23-year-old called it "a great goal".

"So far, so good," he said. "The white jersey matches the shorts, which is always nice. It's a great goal. Given my ambitions, I hope the white jersey will be a nice bonus. Jarno Widar is, of course, very strong. That final sprint he had... The upcoming stages will be pretty tough, so it’s certainly not over yet.”

With today's fifth stage to Roquetes Terre d l'Ebre likely to favour the sprinters, Thursday's stage six looks like the next GC appointment, with the riders cresting the cat-one Castello de la Plana climb 20km before the finish.

The likelihood of Tadej Pogačar leading this year’s Vuelta a España from start to finish grew stronger on Tuesday, when he won stage four with a 50.3km solo attack, and extended his overall lead to 3 minutes and 21 seconds.

The world champion launched his stage-winning move on the second of four climbs, the category-one Collada de Beixalis, and immediately drew out a gap over the peloton.

He went on to claim the stage – the fifth of his career at the Vuelta, including stage one’s 9.4km time trial – by two minutes and 39 seconds in Andorra la Vella.

Jarno Widar (Lotto-Intermarché) placed second and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) third. Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), seventh across the line, finished on the same time as Widar and Gall, and is now second overall.

Reflecting on his victory, Pogačar said in his post-race interview that he "didn't have to" attack from so far out.

"The pace was super-high already on the first climb, then on the second climb, we were basically going all out from the bottom," the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider said.

"When Jay [Vine] let me pass on the wheel of Decathlon, then I knew, ‘Ok, I don’t want to be isolated against all the GC riders, because they will all play against me.’

"I tried with an attack on the climb and then just hoped I could survive until the finish when I saw that I could open the gap. I did it. It was pretty tough, but a beautiful day out there.”

The victory marked the seventh longest solo of Pogačar's career, and his longest ever at a Grand Tour.

Now bolstered by a more than three-minute GC advantage, he said he can be "calm and confident" across the next 17 days of racing. "Any gap is more than enough, but it’s super-good," Pogačar said. "It will be a little bit less stressful, for sure."

The Slovenian also faces the possibility of holding the leader's jersey from start to finish, a feat that hasn't been achieved at a Grand Tour since Tony Rominger at the 1994 Vuelta a España.

"You never know, but now it’s a good gap," Pogačar said of the challenge. "We give our best to control it every day. But if it’s uncontrollable, you cannot control, then we’ll have to fight. It’s going to be tough, but we have a really strong team here, so we are ready.”

How it happened

After stage three’s abandonment due to a hailstorm, the peloton set out under clear skies in Andorra la Vella, the capital of Andorra, for the shortest road stage of this year’s race, but certainly not the easiest.

The day’s 104.8km route counted more than 3,000m of elevation gain over four categorised climbs – three category ones and a category three. The riders began climbing from the gun, immediately onto the 23.2km Port d’Envalira, where a breakaway group went in search of KOM points.

Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana) earned full honours at the summit. The peloton came back together on the descent and into the second climb.

There, Decathlon CMA CGM accelerated at the front, and looked to be setting up a move for their GC leader, Felix Gall.

Before the Austrian could strike, however, Pogačar charged ahead. Gall tried to follow, but within a few hundred metres, the gap grew to a handful of seconds. A few hundred metres more, it was 20 seconds, and the stage win looked destined to bear the Slovenian's name.

Reflecting on that moment after the race, Netcompany-Ineos rider Oscar Onley said he wasn't surprised to see Pogačar go solo. "We just let him do his thing," Onley said, "and then we race between ourselves."

The Scot was part of a GC cluster that formed behind Pogačar on the road. Alongside him were Widar, Gall, Roglič, Enric Mas (Movistar), Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a bike), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) – a group that swung between co-operating and trying to drop each other.

In the end, the only riders to lose time from the chasing group were Carapaz and Skjelmose, who finished another 18 and 38 seconds down respectively.

Pogačar was already on his way to the podium by the time they crossed the line. The world champion spent an hour and 20 minutes alone up the road, and his stage win never looked in doubt.

Tying up the victory, Pogačar also marked a full-circle moment for his career: his first Grand Tour stage win came in Andorra at the Vuelta, back on his race debut in 2019.

"Not for second did I think I would ride like this ever," he said, thinking of his younger self. "I have such beautiful memories from the first time in Andorra. It’s one of my favourite moments of my career.”

Fast forward to today: he's now a two-time world champion, five-time Tour de France champion, former Giro d'Italia winner, with a Vuelta title in waiting.

Until yesterday afternoon, the Igesa Village Club was just another Pyrenean hotel, welcoming a variety of guests for winter and summer sports.

But stage three of the Vuelta a España changed all that, bringing both winter and summer – and a whole load of bedraggled bike riders – through the doors of this ornate building. These were not holidaymakers, far from it. Instead they were sheltering from a hailstorm of biblical proportions that ultimately led to the abandonment of the stage.

But the incident thrust the hotel, situated around 15 kilometres from the intended stage finish near Font Romeu, into the global sporting spotlight. It's newfound fame has been accompanied by a host of affectionate and spoof reviews, many praising it for sheltering the riders or simply joking about their presence.

One reviewer suggested it ought to earn the combativity prize, saying, "Vuelta combativity award for this hotel! It must not be easy to accommodate 183 cyclists+ staff without prior notice."

Another simply listed the benefits of staying here as: "Warm hospitality - Cycling Friendly - Free towels on arrival," alluding to the towels offered to the riders to dry the freezing hail.

More than one review referenced the Vuelta's much-maligned social media influencer Erola Jons, who bemused a raft of riders with her questions, and called Tadej Pogačar as 'Pogacita': "Met a guy named “Pogichitar” he started hyperventilating for some reason," wrote the reviewer, while another wrote: "Undeniably good experience. However, the weather was not too friendly and some amateur cyclists were in the first floor. I even got to meet a kid who was in red, I think his name was pogachita. Anyways, excellent service."

Other 'reviewers' joked about the presence of so many cyclists during their stays, with one writing: "Great hospitality and great service, but it has a serious problem with cyclists," and another saying, "Bad weather but great service! The janitors cleaned a bunch of wet men in leotards. The view was nice."

For many of the riders, yesterday's stage ended at the hotel with hail coating the roads outside. There was no result recorded for the stage, which took riders 174km from Gruissan to Font Romeu, with the general classification remaining as it was after stage two, with Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) still wearing the leader's red jersey.

Today's stage is held within the Pyrenean country of Andorra, with a 104km mountainous outing based on Andorra La Vella.

Stage three of the Vuelta a España was neutralised and then cancelled on Monday after a hailstorm meant racing was impossible on the final climb.

Race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was seen telling riders in the peloton to slow down with around 15km to go on the climb to Font Romeu, after they had topped the Col de Mont-Louis.

Riders were shown on TV sheltering in a hotel on the roadside atop the Col de Mont-Louis, with team staff handing out wet weather gear. While there was initially hope that the stage would be restarted, moments later the day was cancelled.

There are no results for today's stage, and the general classification remains as it was after yesterday, with Pogačar in pole position ahead of Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike).

The day had been largely warm and sunny, but as riders began the final third of the stage, which took them into the Pyrenees, the weather turned. At first it was simply wet and unpleasant, but this soon morphed into a torrential hailstorm with stones so big the riders had little choice but to shelter.

TV images showed riders sheltering at the roadside, before a race announcement urged them to take shelter if needed. This was followed a short while later that the stage had been abandoned.

The stage, which took riders 174km from Gruissan to Font Romeu, was widely expected to bear witness to Pogačar underlining his overall lead with another stage victory. Indeed, his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team had spent much of the day on the front, keeping the early breakaway in check.

The five-rider escape included stage one's nearly-man Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step), Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility), Mats Wenzel (Kern-Pharma) Timo Roosen (Picnic PostNL) and Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ United).

While Hayter, Le Gac and Roosen were caught with 28km to go, Wenzel and Cort pushed on up the penultimate climb of the Mont Louis, but the race was paused before either had the chance to register the mountains points at the top.

General Classification after stage 3

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Emirates-XRG in 4:58:40
2. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike +9s
3. Matthew Brennan (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike +10s
4. Léo Bisiaux (Fra) Decathlon-CMA CGM, +12s
5. Finn Fisher-Black (NZl) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +14s
6. Stefan Küng (Sui) Tudor Pro Cycling, +18s
7. Jay Vine (Aus) UAE Emirates-XRG, at same time
8. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek, +20s
9. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +26s
10. Jordan Labrosse (Fra) Decalthon CMA CGM, +27s

Fans at the Vuelta a España have been asked to "take every possible precaution" to protect and preserve the environment, in light of devastating wildfires in recent months.

The race heads into the Pyrenees on Monday, with stage three finishing in Font-Romeu, before it continues into Andorra and Spain. In a press release on Monday morning, the race's organisers, Unipublic, called on those watching the race to act to prevent further incidents by not creating sparks or throwing cigarette butts.

Last month, 300,000 people were evacuated in France and Spain as wildfires spread, with record-breaking temperatures causing blazes in especially dry areas. Scientists have said that the ongoing climate crisis is creating situations which have fuelled fires. At the Tour de France, fans were prevented from going to stage three in the Pyrenees due to ongoing wildfires, while stage 21 was shortened due to policing resources being redirected to tackle other conflagrations. Fans were also stopped from watching part of stage seven of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift due to fire risks.

The Vuelta's statement reads: "La Vuelta 26 travels through Monaco, France, Andorra and Spain, crossing some of the most spectacular landscapes and natural areas in our territory. Along the route, the race will also visit places that, unfortunately, have been affected by wildfires in recent years, reminding us of the importance of protecting and preserving an environment that is part of the very essence of La Vuelta and which serves as our great open-air stadium.

"For this reason, La Vuelta is calling on all fans following the race from the roadside to take every possible precaution and help prevent fires throughout the 21 stages.

"Small gestures are essential to protecting our surroundings: do not throw cigarette butts or matches on the ground, do not light fires, avoid any activity that could generate sparks, and always collect your waste before leaving the area. In addition, it is essential to respect at all times the instructions and restrictions established by the local authorities.

"Let’s enjoy La Vuelta responsibly. Taking care of our surroundings means protecting the open-air stadium that makes our sport possible."

Images published by sister site Cyclingnews, show what appears to be a new Shimano Dura-Ace groupset being ridden at the Vuelta a España. The new groupset features a 13-cog cassette, integrated satellite-hood shifters, and possibly a new freehub. But it still appears to be semi-wireless.

Given these sightings follow the official launch of the Dura-Ace R9370 wheels and months of online leaks and speculation, we imagine this is the R9300 version of Shimano's flagship road groupset.

12 to 13-speed

The Japanese brand appears to have added a cog to the currently 12-speed Dura-Ace cassette, joining Campagnolo in offering a 13-speed road groupset (SRAM only has a 13-speed gravel groupset, XPLR AXS).

A 13-cog cassette reduces jumps between gears and increases range in a two-bydrivetrain. It is even more beneficial in a 1x setup. This could indicate Shimano is going to make single chainrings for the new Dura-Ace. Until now, the Shimano-equipped pro teams have resorted to aftermarket chainrings to run one-by, while SRAM and Campagnolo supply single rings dedicated to road use.

A new freehub?

The move to a 13-speed cassette may require a new Shimano freehub, as the leaked listing of a DT Swiss freehub body suggested, especially if it has a 10T smallest cog. Shimano looks set to decrease this from 11T to close the gear-range gap with SRAM. This would force users of wheels fitted with Shimano's current road standard, HG for 11-speed and 12-speed drivetrains, to convert their freehubs to use the new Dura-Ace.

When SRAM introduced a 13th sprocket to its XPLR cassettes, it maintained the same spacing as its 12-speed road groupsets so they both could use XDR freehubs. Meanwhile, Campagnolo's 13-speed N3W freehub is backward-compatible with older 9-, 10-, and 11-speed cassettes. But because Shimano has already found space for an extra cog on its HG freehubs with the current Dura-Ace Di2 12-speed, it may be difficult to repeat the trick.

A new rear derailleur but still wired

The new Dura-Ace rear derailleur spotted on the bikes of riders from Team Picnic PostNL and Alpecin-Premier Tech appears to have a slimmer profile and diagonal cut-outs near the charging port, suggesting it could be lighter than before.

From what we can see, there is nowhere for an external, removable battery to go, like on SRAM's AXS derailleurs. The absence of a battery and the presence of a cable running from the drive-side chainstay suggest that Shimano has retained the Dura-Ace R9200's semi-wireless design. This allows the shifters to communicate wirelessly with the derailleurs, which are connected to a battery stored in the frame.

Because Shimano's latest electronic gravel and mountain bike rear derailleurs are wireless and it has filed a patent for a wireless 13-speed road groupset, it seemed a done deal that the new Dura-Ace would be free of wires.

So why doesn't that seem to be the case? It's handy to be able to charge SRAM's removable derailleur batteries off the bike, but their runtime is shorter than that of the single battery currently used in Shimano's Di2 electronic groupsets. In addition, the external battery makes SRAM derailleurs bulkier than Shimano's, and possibly less aerodynamic as a result.

In-built satellite shifters

Shimano appears to have integrated satellite shifters into the inside of the new Dura-Ace Di2 shifters. As well as the paddles and hidden buttons on top of the hoods, these now appear to have a small lever on the inward-facing side of the pommel. It remains to be seen whether these miniature paddles will replace the hidden buttons on top of the hoods featured in the current groupset, or exist alongside them.

Both SRAM and Campagnolo have their own versions of these bonus shift buttons, which help riders seamlessly change gear when climbing out of the saddle on the hoods or when adopting the aero-hoods position.

New power meter and cranks?

We can't deduce much from the pictures of the cranksets on these bikes, which are fitted with other seemingly new Dura-Ace parts. Cyclingnews reported that the black cranks, which look similar to the existing version, are attached to off-brand chainrings on Alpecin–Premier Tech's bikes. The cranks themselves could still be prototypes like the unreleased SPD-SL pedals that have been raced this season.

We do, however, understand that Team Picnic–PostNL is using an updated Dura-Ace power meter. Shimano will have tried to improve the doubtful accuracy of the current generation.

What is Shimano saying?

A Shimano spokesman said: "Shimano is constantly developing new products, but does not comment on rumours, speculation, or unannounced products.”

British sprinter Matthew Brennan won his first ever grand tour stage at his first attempt at a sprint in the three week race.

On the second day of racing at the Vuelta a España the Visma-Lease a Bike sprinter left the entire field in his wake with an explosive acceleration.

Brennan was ideally placed in the final in Manosque after other teams were forced to chase his team-mate Wout van Aert who had attacked on a short climb 1.8km from the line.

The 21 year-old put clear air between himself and a field that included decorated sprinters such as Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who finished fourth.

However, with race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates XRG) in third place on the day Brennan’s win was not enough to bag him the points jersey.

Regardless, today’s victory is the biggest of the young rider's career, which has already seen him rack up 20 wins, the highest profile of which was Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne this spring.

Speaking at the finish Brennan said: “We started off with the ambition of Wout trying to get in the red jersey today. We said there’s a nice opportunity to attack in the final and Wout was keen to do that.

“I was always going to be in the background to do the sprint in case the guys [out front] sat up and that’s exactly what happened. The guys sat up in the front and Christophe [Laporte] was able to guide me through all the hectic-ness of that.”

Asked how he felt about his first win in a grand tour he said: “Hopefully it’s not the last one, it’s nice. The boys worked all day really well and gave it 100%. They believed in both of us so we could achieve something successful today.”

There was less good fortune for Brennan’s compatriot Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) who had also staged a bid to snatch the red jersey.

Hayter had been one of four riders in the early breakaway alongside Koen Bouwman (Jayco AlUla), Sinuhé Fernández (Burgos Burpellet BH) and Diego Uriarte (Equipo Kern Pharma), but had set off on his own with 50km to race.

He picked up six bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint putting him into the virtual red jersey.

That left the Brit, who started the day just nine hundredths of a second off Pogačar, with just the task of finishing in the same time as Van Aert and Pogačar to likely claim the red jersey – assuming Pogačar didn’t win the stage.

However, when splits emerged in the peloton in the finale Hayter was several groups back from the front of the race allowing the Slovenian to preserve his place at the top of the general classification.

Brennan’s next best chance for a stage will be stage 8 to Xeraco, which is fairly flat.

Result

Vuelta a España, stage 2: Monaco > Manosque (202km)

1. Matthew Brennan (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike in 4:47:47
2. Pau Miquel (Esp) Bahrain-Victorious
3. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Emirate-XRG
4. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek
5. Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) NSN Cycling Team
6. Tobias Johannessen (Den) Uno-X Mobility
7. Finn Fisher-Black (NZl) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
8. Axel Laurence (Fra) Netcompany Ineos
9. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany Ineos
10. Orluis Aular (Col) Movistar, all at same time

General classification after stage 2

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Emirates-XRG in 4:58:40
2. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike +9s
3. Matthew Brennan (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike +10s
4. Léo Bisiaux (Fra) Decathlon-CMA CGM, +12s
5. Finn Fisher-Black (NZl) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +14s
6. Stefan Küng (Sui) Tudor Pro Cycling, +18s
7. Jay Vine (Aus) UAE Emirates-XRG, at same time
8. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek, +20s
9. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +26s
10. Jordan Labrosse (Fra) Decalthon CMA CGM, +27s

0.09 seconds was all that separated reigning Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar with British champion Ethan Hayter in the opening time-trial of the Vuelta a España.

On a 9.4km course that took in parts of the Monaco Formula One street circuit, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man laid down an early marker to his General Classification rivals.

Pogačar was three seconds down on Soudal-QuickStep's Hayter at the intermediate check, but pegged back the 27-year-old to deny him a maiden Grand Tour stage win by the narrowest of margins, finishing with a time of 10:57. Joshua Tarling (Netcompany-Ineos), racing just over a week after the death of his brother, Finlay, finished in third place.

A third British rider, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's Callum Thornley, enjoyed a breakthrough performance in fourth place, just five seconds behind Pogačar.

Pogačar is racing the Vuelta a España for the first time since his Grand Tour debut in 2019, when he finished third. He is looking to complete his Grand Tour set, with the Spanish race being the only three-weeker he is yet to win. Pogačar will wear the leader's red jersey on stage two.

Pogačar's closest overall rival after the opener is his team-mate João Almeida, who sits in 18th, 18 seconds down. Netcompany-Ineos' Carlos Rodriguez is among the next contenders 27 seconds back, while Oscar Onley struggled 50 seconds in arrears. Four-time Vuelta champion Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) finished 22 seconds behind Pogačar, while Giro d'Italia podium finisher Felix Gall (Decathlon-CMA CGM) is 46 seconds down.

"It's a weird feeling to win the time trial on the first stage and by such a small margin. I was not expecting it. I'm really happy. This red is a really nice colour," Pogačar told the media afterwards.

"That 0.09 happened when I passed my apartment because that was the most technical part, and I walk and cycle there every day. Even though it is completely different in the race, still, you race on your home roads, and you know it super well, so that helped me today."

Pogačar is not expecting to hold the race lead from beginning to end, with opportunities in the first week for riders to steal bonus seconds. "Tomorrow, I think, there are some guys who are close in time and can do a breakaway or sprint for bonus seconds, so it's going to be a fight for the red jersey and we can see some shuffle in the GC tomorrow."

How it Happened

On the opening stage of the Vuelta a España, the riders set off from the steps of the world-famous Casino de Monte-Carlo, and it was Tadej Pogačar who had the best hand.

Matthew Brennan (Visma-Leasea Bike) set the early benchmark on a technical course which wound its way past Monaco's yachts and through the Festival International de Monte-Carlo.

Brennan was overcome by a brace of Decathlon-CMA CGM riders before another emerging Briton took to the hot-seat. Callum Thornley of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe completed the 9.4km course in 11:02, the man from Peebles in the Scottish Borders putting in his most impressive time-trial performance to date.

Shortly after, it was the turn of Josh Tarling, racing the Vuelta just over a week after the passing of his brother Finlay Tarling. The Netcompany-Ineos rider finished a second ahead of Thornley in 11:01, with 25 riders still to finish.

Just before the biggest names got underway, another Brit made an impact: national time-trial champion Ethan Hayter. The Soudal-QuickStep rider made it a provisional British 1-2-3 as he became the first man under 11 minutes.

Visma-Lease a Bike’s Wout van Aert was the fourth-from-final finisher, but the Belgian was down on the lead at the intermediate split. He finished nine seconds down on Hayter, but may have a chance to move into the red jersey over the coming stages.

Penultimate finisher Tadej Pogačar, the heavy favourite for the overall title, was three seconds behind Hayter at the time split after 5.7km. In the end, he beat Hayter by just a whisker to make the perfect start to his Vuelta challenge.

Four-time Vuelta winner Primož Roglič was the final rider on the course. The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider finished in a decent time in 24th on the stage, 22 seconds behind Pogačar.

The Vuelta continues on Sunday with a 214km stage starting in Monaco and finishing in Manosque.

Results

Vuelta a España 2026, stage 1: Monaco > Monaco, 138.3km

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG in 10:57
2. Ethan Hayter (GBr) Soudal-QuickStep, +0.09s
3. Joshua Tarling (GBr) Netcompany-Ineos, +4s
4. Callum Thornley (GBr) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +5s
5. Christophe Laporte (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike, +6s
6. Léo Bisiaux (Fra) Decathlon-CMA CGM, +8s
7. Oscar Chamberlain (Aus) Decathlon CMA-CGM, +9s
8. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, +9s
9. Finn Fisher-Black (NZe) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +10s
10. Arthur Kluckers (Lux) Tudor, +11s

General Classification after stage 1

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG in 10:57
2. Ethan Hayter (GBr) Soudal-QuickStep, +0.09s
3. Joshua Tarling (GBr) Netcompany-Ineos, +4s
4. Callum Thornley (GBr) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +5s
5. Christophe Laporte (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike, +6s
6. Léo Bisiaux (Fra) Decathlon-CMA CGM, +8s
7. Oscar Chamberlain (Aus) Decathlon CMA-CGM, +9s
8. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, +9s
9. Finn Fisher-Black (NZe) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +10s
10. Arthur Kluckers (Lux) Tudor, +11s

The Vuelta a España 2026 begins on Saturday, 22 August in Monaco, and will run for three weeks to finish on Sunday, 13 September in Granada, Spain.

The final Grand Tour of the year, it represents the last chance for big name contenders who have so far missed out to redeem their seasons – but the Spanish race has its own character and challenges for fans to enjoy too.

Tuesday will see another chance for the sprinters, with Stage 16 featuring no categorised climbs. After an undulating opening, the route begins to flatten out for the final 70km, setting up another opportunity for Matthew Brennan to take a fourth stage win of this Vuelta.

The biggest name on the start list was five-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), but the Slovenian has had to abandon following a crash on stage 8. Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Enric Mas (Movistar) will be among the big GC names looking to claim the red jersey.

This year's route is concentrated mostly in eastern and southern Spain, with a denouement in the Sierra Nevada in the final week.

Below, Cycling Weekly has put together all the key information on broadcasters and live streams so you can watch the Vuelta a España wherever you are.

Quick guide to watching the Vuelta a España

• UK: TNT Sports / HBO Max (£30.99/mon) - free highlights on 5
• US: Peacock ($12.99/mon)
• Canada: Flobikes ($49.99/mon)
• Australia: SBS (Free)
• Free live streams: SBS (Australia), RTVE (Spain), VRT (Belgium)
• Anywhere: Watch your local stream from anywhere with NordVPN

Can I watch the Vuelta a España 2026 for free?

Fans across the world from Australia to northern Europe will be happy to learn that there are numerous free streams of the Vuelta a España available this year, thanks to broadcasters in their regions.

In Australia, the race is being shown on TV and online by SBS, the country's public service broadcaster. Streaming is available at SBS On Demand.

In Spain, which is of course the Vuelta's host nation, the race will be free to air on state-owned broadcaster RTVE.

The Vuelta is also free to watch in Belgium, with Flemish-language coverage on VRT and the Sporza website and French coverage on RTBF.

Coverage is geo-restricted, so if you're not in any of these countries right now then you'll need a VPN — more on that below.

How to watch the Vuelta a España while abroad

Most streaming platforms have geo-restrictions these days, which means they only work in certain countries. But being locked out of the races is a thing of the past thanks to a VPN.

A Virtual Private Network is a piece of internet security software that can alter your device's location, so you can unblock your usual streaming services, even when you're abroad.

Want to know more? We have an explainer on the benefits, costs, and considerations of using a VPN...
– Should I use a VPN to watch cycling?

How to watch the Vuelta a España 2026 in the UK

In the UK, the race will be shown live across TNT Sports, Warner Bros. Discovery's premium sports channels, with it being on TNT Sports 1 and 3 depending on the day and the time. Check the schedule here.

The will also be available online and on mobile devices on HBO Max with a package price of £30.99 a month.

There will also be free-to-air Vuelta a España highlights on 5 in the UK during the race, broadcast nightly from 7-8pm.

How to watch the Vuelta a España 2026 in the US and Canada

For North American viewers, this year's coverage of the Vuelta a España is divided across Peacock for those in the US and FloBikes for those in Canada.

Peacock is part of NBC Sports, which comes at $12.99 per month and includes programming from NBC and Bravo.

In Canada, Flobikes is in charge of broadcasting the Vuelta a España 2026. Subscriptions cost CA$49.99 a month, with big savings for long-term plans. The Flobikes TV app is available on Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast and Apple TV, as well as on iOS and Android.

How to watch the Vuelta a España 2026 in Australia

Those in Australia can catch the full Vuelta a España for free on SBS with streaming available via SBS On Demand.

You will need an account with an Australian postcode (e.g. 2026).

What to expect at the Vuelta a España

The Vuelta a España is the final three-week race of the year, following the Giro d'Italia in May and the Tour de France in July. It wasn't always this way round – for the first 60 years of its history the Spanish race was the first Grand Tour on the calendar, before being moved in 1995 with the aim of attracting bigger name riders.

Despite this, it continues to exist in the shadow of its siblings to some extent, but can still feature an impressive start list. This year's is none too shabby, featuring Tadej Pogačar as favourite no less, supported by a very capable team including João Almedia and Jay Vine.

He might be the overwhelming favourite, but there are others to contend with, including Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek).

Also riding are Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos), the Visma-Lease a Bike pair of Wout van Aert and Matthew Brennan, Tour green jersey Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and KOM in France Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost).

The relentless parcours means the GC contenders will rarely be far from the action from start to finish.

▶︎ Read More: How to watch cycling for free in 2026

2026 Vuelta a España stage start and finish times

2026 Vuelta a España - General Classification

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

The Vuelta a España is upon us. The third Grand Tour of the year, it often struggles for the limelight but not this time. The presence of new five-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar guarantees a certain amount of attention, despite the fact that it also means the race might be more predictable than it sometimes can be.

Whether the Slovenian romps to victory or not, there is plenty more to look out for in what could be a thrilling three weeks. From the Monaco time trial, to the incessantly hilly-to-mountainous parcours that should keep the entire top-10 on a vigorous simmer, there is unlikely to be much shortage of action.

Pogačar may have enjoyed the most column inches so far, but it's a stacked field featuring some of the biggest stars of the sport. Read on for more, and enjoy the next three weeks.

1. Tadej Pogačar (who else?)

For some time the smart money has been on Tadej Pogačar riding the Vuelta this year, for the first time since 2019. That was only confirmed a few weeks ago, in the wake of his historic fifth Tour de France win.

Having the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider on board will no doubt offer a huge visibility boost for the race, which often struggles against its Italian and French Grand Tour siblings. The presence of the all-conquering Slovenian could be a mixed blessing for fans though, who are often left both awed by his talent and bored by the predictability of his wins.

If he wins here it would complete the full Grand Tour set for him – just as Jonas Vingegaard's Giro d'Italia win earlier this year did for the Dane. It is an 'if' though. Despite appearances to the contrary, Pogačar is only human. He'll be carrying fatigue from the Tour and remains susceptible to illness, bad days and, unfortunately, crashes.

2. The 'other' GC battle

While much of the talk this coming three weeks is likely to be centred around Pogačar, let's not forget that there is a host of talent lining up behind him. The secondary GC battle, if we can presume to call it that, could be one of the most exciting facets of the race.

Four-time winner Primož Roglič will be present, riding for Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, but he is still recovering from being hit by a car in training and is unlikely to be at his best.

Likely to be lining up to take on Pogačar alongside Roglič (or even above him) will be Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM). Brit Onley in particular will be raring to make up for his Tour de France non-selection due to injury, while Tour King of the Mountains winner Carapaz, and Gall who was second on GC at the Giro d'Italia, will both be looking for podium places at least. It should be a good battle, even if it takes place in the wake of Pogačar.

3. Monaco and the Gran Partida

You may be no big fan of motorsports, but there's a good chance you'll be aware of the Monaco Grand Prix – the most iconic event on the Formula One calendar. The principality's streets echo annually to the roar of V6 engines as they circle the city centre course.

The Vuelta's first stage, a 9.4km time trial, will see the riders racing on parts of the famous F1 circuit, including the Mirabeau hairpin overlooking the marina. Ultra-technical and replete with hard turns, the stage is likely to reward skill as much as raw power and should be a treat to watch.

The Vuelta does not enter the host country until stage five. This Gran Partida is a bit different though; after a second stage from Monaco to Manosque in France, the riders make a sizeable transfer across to western France for stage three, from Gruissan to Font Romeo in the Pyrenees. There is then an Andorran stage before the riders finally enter Spain on stage five.

4. The Pandera and more mountain madness

The Sierra de la Pandera, to give it its full name, is a climb that pops up now and then in the Vuelta a España. Notable for its consistently steep slopes, riders including Rafał Majka and, last time out in 2022 Richard Carapaz, have won there.

This year it's the finishing climb for stage 14, and dwarves the rest of the smaller lumps along the 154km parcours. Topping out at 1,820m, its 11.8km, 7.2% stats only tell half the story, for much of its distance is well into double figures in terms of gradient. It should prove a fascinating arena, but it is only one of six mountain-top finishes.

Perhaps the most brutal of these will be the Collado del Alguacil on the penultimate stage. This HC climb measures 8.4km at an eye-watering 9.4% – it's the last climb of the race and comes on a day featuring four other cat-one climbs. Race organisers are clearly hoping that it will host the denouement of the GC. Tadej Pogačar may have other ideas.

5. Wout van Aert's 'unfinished business'

The popular Paris-Roubaix champion is clearly keen to make up for lost time, following the crash that ultimately saw him retire from the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in June.

He finally began racing again at the 2.Pro Tour of Denmark, which he won at a canter, ticking off three out of five stage wins and the points classification along the way.

However, he will be looking forward to testing himself on the big stage, and his fans will be eager to see him do so. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider described the race as "unfinished business" – last time he rode he crashed out on stage 16 after three stage wins. He has even said that he could try for an early spell in the leader's red jersey, although the final GC is unlikely to be on his radar.

Free-to-air highlights of the Vuelta a España will be shown on 5 in the UK from Saturday, following on from the same practice at this year's Tour de France.

This is the second Grand Tour to be shown on the terrestrial channel formerly known as Channel 5, as part of a deal signed until 2028. Produced by TNT Sports, and hosted by Rebecca Charlton, the first highlights will be shown at 7:30pm on Saturday 22 August, before they are regularly at 7pm each evening for the rest of the race.

Fellow free-to-air channel ITV previously showed Vuelta a España highlights, along with its live Tour coverage, but those rights were not continued. Live coverage in the UK will remain on TNT Sports and HBO Max, with contracts costing £30.99 a month, although it can be purchased for £25.99 a month on a 12-month contract.

When the Tour highlights were announced, Charlton said: "It’s an absolute dream to have the opportunity to bring the racing to life for all of the cycling fans out there as well as guiding some new viewers along for the ride. We’ll be bringing highlights of all of the action as well as telling the stories around the racing and I for one, cannot wait!"

TNT Sports will show every stage live, from start to finish, with the regular The Breakaway show alongside it, hosted by Orla Chennaoui, with Adam Blythe and Matt Stephens as pundits.

In the UK, for the Tour, TNT Sports grew its television audience by +58% year-on-year in its first year of live exclusivity, according to Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).

"After a record-breaking Tour de France that reached and engaged more fans than ever across our platforms, we are proud to bring a monumental Grand Tour season to a fitting conclusion with complete live coverage of La Vuelta a España followed by the UCI Road World Championships," Scott Young, at WBD EVP Sports Europe, said.

"Covering every brutal climb in the battle for the red jersey in Spain, to every sprint in the race for the iconic rainbow jerseys in Montréal, our passionate on-screen expertise, local storytelling and innovative streaming features on HBO Max will give fans across Europe the most comprehensive way to follow the riders, teams and defining moments as another landmark cycling season reaches its climax."

The Vuelta begins on Saturday with a 9.4km individual time trial in Monaco, and ends on Sunday 13 September in Granada.

Josh Tarling is to ride the Vuelta a España "in honour of his brother Fin", who died last week in an accident at the Volta a Portugal.

Finlay Tarling died on stage eight of the Portuguese race last Friday, after he was hit by a non-race driver. Just over a week later, his elder brother Josh will start the Vuelta in Monaco on Saturday, having been included on Netcompany-Ineos's roster for the Spanish Grand Tour.

In a press release on Thursday, Ineos director of racing Geraint Thomas said: "It also goes without saying that, as a team, we all fully support Josh in his decision to take part in the race."

Hours later, Tarling's parents, Dawn and Michael, posted on Instagram that he does so with their support too.

"On Saturday Joshua will be riding the Vuelta," they wrote.

"He has chosen to do so in honour of his brother Fin, with the full support of his family, surrounded by a team who have been incredibly supportive of whatever decision he made.

"I could not have wished for two boys who were closer growing up and into adulthood we have watched with pride as Joshua has been the most loving and supportive big brother to Fin. Following this devastating news he has been an incredible strength for us all.

"Finlay was so incredibly proud of his big brother, and would be watching nose to the TV and shouting as he competed.

"So it is right that Josh honours that love."

Josh Tarling will be targeting the Vuelta's two individual time trials, the first of which comes on Saturday, a 9.4km test against the clock in Monaco, and the second of which isn't until stage 18. However, if he gets through the race, he will be among the favourites for the flat 32.1km TT in Jerez de la Frontera, Andalusia.

The former European and British time trial champion is yet to win individually on the road in 2026, but has Grand Tour victory experience, taking stage two of last year's Giro d'Italia in Tirana.

A GoFundMe page created in memory of Finlay Tarling, aiming to raise money to support young Welsh riders in the future, has raised over £70,000 in less than a week.

With the Tour de France still recent enough that it can still be glimpsed in the rear-view mirror, it's time for the third and final men's Grand Tour of the season – the Vuelta a España.

While it so often plays a subordinate role to its French and Italian counterparts, this year it finds itself in the limelight thanks to the participation of recent Tour winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). It's only his second participation, and the first since 2019, when he was still a mere mortal, albeit one for whom the future looked starry.

Victory here would mean he has won every Grand Tour – a feat achieved by his closest rival Jonas Vingegaard earlier this season. Visma-Lease a Bike's Vingegaard will not be challenging the Slovenian at the Vuelta, but he will face opposition from other quarters.

Four-time Vuelta winner Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) leads the challengers, who also boast Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos), Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) in their ranks.

Against Pogačar they know they have a dizzying task, but he is human like the everyone else on the start list, and carrying the mental and physical fatigue of a recent Tour de France victory. Anything could happen.

Read on for the full startlist, with all teams confirmed. There are 23 teams with 184 riders at the race, so eight per squad.

Vuelta a Esaña 2026 start list

Alpecin-Premier Tech
Ramses Debruyne (Bel, 23)
Kaden Groves (Aus, 27)
Michael Gogl (Aut, 31)
Francesco Busatto (Ita, 23)
Sente Sentjens (Bel, 20)
Lindsay De Vylder (Bel, 31)
Gal Glivar (Svn, 24)
Hugo Houle (Can, 35)

Bahrain Victorious
Pello Bilbao (Esp, 36)
Santiago Buitrago (Col, 26)
Roman Ermakov (Svn, 21)
Pau Miquel (Esp, 25)
Matevž Govekar (Svn, 26)
Jakob Omrzel (Svn, 20)
Mathijs Paasschens (Ned, 30)
Attila Valter (Hun, 28)

Decathlon CMA CGM
Léo Bisiaux (Fra, 21)
Oscar Chamberlain (Aus, 21)
Sander De Pestel (Bel, 27)
Felix Gall (Aut, 28)
Jordan Labrosse (Fra, 23)
Gregor Mühlberger (Aut, 32)
Matthew Riccitello (USA, 24)
Callum Scotson (Aus, 30)

EF Education-EasyPost
Richard Carapaz (Ecu, 33)
James Shaw (Gbr, 30)
Vincenzo Albanese (Ita, 29)
Markel Beloki (Esp, 21)
Alastair Mackellar (Aus, 25)
Darren Rafferty (Irl, 23)
Georg Steinhauser (Ger, 25)
Juan Felipe Rodriguez (Col, 25)

Groupama-FDJ United
Guillaume Martin (Fra, 33)
Olivier Le Gac (Fra, 33)
Rudy Molard (Fra, 36)
Clément Berthet (Fra, 29)
Bastien Tronchon (Fra, 24)
Enzo Paleni (Fra, 23)
Valentin Madouas (Fra, 29)
Rémy Rochas (Fra, 30)

Jayco-AlUla
Paul Double (Gbr, 30)
Finlay Pickering (Gbr, 22)
Alessandro Covi (Ita, 27)
Asbjørn Hellemose (Den, 27)
Jasha Sütterlin (Ger, 33)
Hamish McKenzie (Nzl, 21)
Koen Bouwman (Ned, 32)
Rudy Porter (Aus, 25)

Lidl-Trek
Mattias Skjelmose (Den, 25)
Mads Pedersen (Den, 30)
Thibau Nys (Bel, 23)
Julien Bernard (Fra, 34)
Lennard Kämna (Ger, 29)
Patrick Konrad (Aut, 34)
Jacopo Mosca (Ita, 33)
Mathias Norsgaard (Den, 29)

Lotto-Intermarché
Jarno Widar (Bel, 20)
Lars Craps (Bel, 23)
Luca Van Boven (Bel, 26)
Vito Braet (Bel, 25)
Steffen De Schuyteneer (Bel, 21)
Lorenzo Rota (Ita, 31)
Roel Van Sintmaartensdijk (Ned, 25)
Reuben Thompson (Nzl, 25)

Movistar
Orluis Aular (Ven, 29)
Enric Mas (Esp, 31)
Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel, 23)
Iván Romeo (Esp, 23)
Carlos Canal (Esp, 25)
Jorge Arcas (Esp, 34)
Raúl García Pierna (Esp, 25)
Pablo Castrillo (Esp, 25)

Netcompany-Ineos
Jack Haig (Aus, 32)
Lucas Hamilton (Aus, 30)
Axel Laurance (Fra, 25)
Oscar Onley (Gbr, 23)
Carlos Rodríguez (Esp, 25)
Embret Svestad-Bardseng (Nor, 23)
Josh Tarling (GBr, 22)
Ben Turner (GBr, 27)

NSN Cycling
George Bennett (Nzl, 36)
Jan Hirt (Cze, 35)
Hugo Hofstetter (Fra, 32)
Moritz Kretschy (Ger, 23)
Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz, 33)
Pau Martí (Esp, 21)
Nick Schultz (Aus, 32)
Floris Van Tricht (Bel, 25)

Picnic PostNL
Guillermo Juan Martinez (Col, 21)
Mattia Gaffuri (Ita, 27)
Chris Hamilton (Aus, 31)
Henri-François Renard-Haquin (Fra, 23)
Timo De Jong (Ned, 27)
Gijs Leemreize (Ned, 26)
Oliver Peace (Gbr, 21)
Timo Roosen (Ned, 33)

Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
Primož Roglič (Slo, 36)
Gianni Vermeersch (Bel, 33)
Luke Tuckwell (Aus, 21)
Finn Fisher-Black (Nzl, 24)
Jordi Meeus (Bel, 27)
Gianni Moscon (Ita, 32)
Callum Thornley (Gbr, 24)
Frederik Wandahl (Den, 24)

Soudal Quick-Step
Fabio Van Den Bossche (Bel, 25)
Steff Cras (Bel, 30)
Alberto Dainese (Ita, 28)
Gianmarco Garofoli (Ita, 23)
Ethan Hayter (Gbr, 27)
Filippo Zana (Ita, 27)
Mikel Landa (Esp, 36)
Valentin Paret-Peintre (Fra, 25)

UAE Team Emirates-XRG
Tadej Pogačar (Slo, 27)
João Almeida (Por, 28)
Jay Vine (Aus, 30)
Pavel Sivakov (Fra, 29)
Pablo Torres (Esp, 20)
Kevin Vermaerke (USA, 25)
Ivo Oliveira (Por, 29)
Domen Novak (Slo, 31)

Uno-X Mobility
Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor, 26)
Andreas Kron (Den, 28)
Fredrik Dversnes (Nor, 29)
Rasmus Tiller (Nor, 30)
Magnus Cort (Den, 33)
Simon Dalby (Den, 25)
Martin Tjøtta (Nor, 25)
Andreas Leknessund (Nor, 27)

Visma-Lease a Bike
Wout Van Aert (Bel, 31)
Matthew Brennan (Gbr, 21)
Jørgen Nordhagen (Nor, 21)
Ben Tulett (Gbr, 24)
Steven Kruijswijk (Ned, 39)
Christophe Laporte (Fra, 33)
Bruno Armirail (Fra, 32)
Sepp Kuss (USA, 31)

XDS-Astana
Henok Mulubrhan (Eri, 26)
Harold Tejada (Col, 29)
Cristián Rodríguez (Esp, 31)
Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita, 30)
Victor Langellotti (Mco, 31)
Darren Van Bekkum (Ned, 24)
Yevgeniy Fedorov (Kaz, 26)
Alessandro Romele (Ita, 22)

Cofidis
Bryan Coquard (Fra, 34)
Emanuel Buchmann (Ger, 33)
Alexis Renard (Fra, 27)
Alex Kirsch (Lux, 34)
Sylvain Moniquet (Bel, 28)
Paul Ourselin (Fra, 32)
Louis Rouland (Fra, 23)
Sergio Samitier (Esp, 30)

Burgos Burpellet
Jesús Herrada (Esp, 36)
José Manuel Díaz (Esp, 31)
Sergio Geovani Chumil (Gua, 25)
José Luis Faura (Esp, 25)
Mario Aparicio (Esp, 26)
Sinuhé Fernández (Esp, 26)
Clément Alleno (Fra, 25)
César Macías (Mex, 27)

Kern Pharma
Iván Cobo (Esp, 25)
Urko Berrade (Esp, 31)
Marc Brustenga (Esp, 27)
Iñigo Elosegui (Esp, 27)
Ibon Ruiz (Esp, 30)
Iván Ramiro Sosa (Col, 28)
Diego Uriarte (Esp, 23)
Mats Wenzel (Lux, 23)

Pinarello Q36.5
Xabier Mikel Azparren (Esp, 27)
Walter Calzoni (Ita, 25)
Marcel Camprubí (Esp, 24)
David de la Cruz (Esp, 37)
Eddie Dunbar (Ire, 29)
Tom Gloag (GBr, 24)
David González (Esp, 30)
Milan Vader (Ned, 30)

Tudor Pro Cycling
Marco Brenner (Deu, 23)
Stefan Küng (Che, 32)
Will Barta (USA, 30)
Arthur Kluckers (Lux, 26)
Roland Thalmann (Che, 33)
Larry Warbasse (USA, 36)
Fabian Weiss (Che, 24)
Hannes Wilksch (Deu, 24)

Tadej Pogačar will race the 2026 Vuelta a España, UAE Team Emirates-XRG confirmed on Monday morning, as he seeks to complete the Grand Tour triple.

The 27-year-old, who won his fifth Tour de France title last month, will be on the start line of the Spanish Grand Tour for the first time since 2019, when he finished third. Just three riders have won the Tour and Vuelta in the same year previously: Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Chris Froome.

In a post on social media UAE wrote: "It’s true - he’s coming back. Tadej Pogačar to La Vuelta, confirmed.

"The former podium finisher returns to the Vuelta for the first time in seven years, leading a stellar lineup for our final Grand Tour of the season."

The Slovenian will be joined by João Almeida, Domen Novak, Ivo Oliveira, Pavel Sivakov, Pablo Torres, Kevin Vermaerke and Jay Vine in Spain.

The race begins on Saturday 22 August in Monaco, before a three weeks which is mostly spent in the south of Spain in Andalusia, with a finale in Granada.

"I’m excited to say I’m going back to La Vuelta. It was my first ever Grand Tour back in 2019 and an amazing experience. Spain is a country I love to visit and race in and I think the time is right to go back," Pogačar said on the team's website.

"The motivation is high to finish off the year in a good way and the Vuelta will be a big target. The team is strong and we hope to do good things."

Pogačar will be the overwhelming favourite for the race. It will be just the second time in his career that he has raced two Grand Tours in one year, after he won both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in 2024. He is then expected to target a third World Championships title in Canada after the Vuelta.

Last week, the Vuelta's race director, Javier Guillén, said: "The stages are very suitable for him to put on the show he's known for. And besides, coming to the Vuelta to win it is also a great springboard for him to repeat his victory as world champion in Canada. Therefore, this is the best year for Tadej to come."

Free-to-air highlights of the Tour de France are to be shown on 5 in the UK this July, it was announced on Wednesday, after an agreement with TNT Sports.

The terrestrial channel, formerly Channel 5, has signed a deal until 2028 to show daily coverage of Tour, as well as highlights of the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, presented by Rebecca Charlton. The station will also show live coverage of the UK Grands Départs of the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in 2027. Highlights will be on 5 at 7pm every evening, starting Saturday 4 July in Barcelona. Daily highlights of the 2027 Tour de France Femmes will also be available on 5.

This season will be the first season in decades that the Tour will not be shown live, in full, on television for free. In 2025, it was revealed that ITV would no longer televise the Tour, the exclusive UK rights having been sold to Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), the parent company of TNT Sports.

Live coverage in the UK will remain on TNT Sports and HBO Max, with contracts costing £30.99 a month, although it can be purchased for £25.99 a month on a 12-month contract.

Last month, Scott Young, EVP at Warner Bros Discovery Sports Europe, said: "I think you need to have a free-to-air product. And there will be a free-to-air product."

The announcement followed a "competitive tender process", according to a press release. The deal for Tour and Vuelta highlights lasts until 2028, with the Giro deal going to 2029.

"The Grand Tours are the most prestigious cycling events in the world, watched and adored by millions, and we are delighted that 5 will be their new free-to-air home in the UK," Reemah Sakaan, the president of 5, said. "Our daily highlights show for the Tour de France will be available to everyone at 7pm each evening this July and we’ll also have daily highlights through both the Vuelta a España and the Giro d’Italia for the next three years, plus next year we’ll have live coverage of the Tour de France’s historic return to the UK.

"The Tour de France kicks off an incredible summer of sport on 5, adding to the rapidly expanding range of premium sport we have for people to watch, including the best of the action from the Commonwealth Games this summer. This new deal with TNT Sports reflects our long-term commitment to bringing brilliant coverage of the world’s best sporting events to millions of viewers and providing access to premium audiences for advertisers."

"By combining a strong free-to-air highlights offering with our comprehensive live coverage, we are delivering unprecedented access to the sport across every platform," Young said. "Cycling is one of the most compelling sports in the world, featuring extraordinary athletes and unforgettable moments, and it's important that those stories are shared with the widest possible audience.

"Expanding reach and engaging new audiences across our rights portfolio remains a key strategic priority, and partnerships such as this play an important role in achieving that ambition."

Charlton added: "It’s an absolute dream to have the opportunity to bring the racing to life for all of the cycling fans out there as well as guiding some new viewers along for the ride. We’ll be bringing highlights of all of the action as well as telling the stories around the racing and I for one, cannot wait!"

The 2026 Tour de France begins on Saturday 4 July, running until Sunday 26 July.

Jonas Vingegaard's victory at the 2026 Giro d’Italia sees him join an exclusive group of riders who have won all three Grand Tours. And the cherry on top of this achievement will be the fact that he has beaten his rival Tadej Pogačar to getting his name on that list. If, in fact, the Slovenian ever will.

Sealing the GC in Rome means the Dane becomes the eighth male rider to have won all three Grand Tours in his career. This after winning the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023 and the Vuelta a España in 2025.

The first rider to land all three titles was Jacques Anquetil, the Frenchman who conquered all through the late 50s and early 60s had to wait until 1963 to win the Vuelta - ten years into his pro career. However, comparisons are made more difficult by the fact the Vuelta was a 15-day race at that time.

By the time Felice Gimondi won the Vuelta in 1968 to become the second rider to win all three, the Spanish tour had increased to 18 stages (two of them split stages). Even by the time Bernard Hinault added himself to the list, the Vuelta was just 19 days long. Two short of a now-standard 21-stage Grand Tour.

Spaniard Alberto Contador was the first to win three, 21-stage Grand Tours after winning the 2008 Giro d’Italia and Vuelta, having previously won the Tour in 2007. The only five-time winner of the Tour de France not to appear on the list is Miguel Indurain. The Spaniard won the Tour five times in a row between 1991 and 1995, and in two of those years, won the Giro when it was still possible to use the Italian Grand Tour in preparation for the Tour.

Much to the frustration of the Spanish fans and organisers, Indurain never mounted a serious challenge for the Vuelta, often cutting his season short after the Tour unless there was a world or Olympic title in his sights.

• All the riders who have won the Giro / Tour double

No rider has ever won all three Grand Tours in the same year, although three of them have held all three titles concurrently, split over two calendar years.

Eddy Merckx won the 1972 Giro and Tour, then won the 1973 Vuelta, which started in late April

Bernard Hinault held all three titles, starting with the Giro and Tour double in 1982, and then taking the springtime Vuelta in 1983

Chris Froome achieved the feat across the 2017 and 2018 seasons, first winning the Tour and Vuelta (by now in it’s late summer spot on the calendar) and the Giro in the spring of 2018. That was to be his final Grand Tour win after teammate Geraint Thomas beat him to the 2018 Tour title before a career-defining crash at the 2019 Criterium du Dauphine put an end to Froome’s time as a GC contender.

Demi Vollering became the second female rider to have won all three Grand Tours with her victory in the 2026 Giro d'Italia Women. Taking advantage of the race's new calendar slot of late May, early June, the Dutch woman sealed the overall victory on the final climb of the final stage, gaining the time needed over Anna van der Breggen.

Annemiek van Vleuten reamins the only rider, male or female, to win all three races i one season. The Dutchwoman did the treble in 2022 starting with victory at the Giro Donne in early July, and followed that up by taking the inaugural Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift at the end of the month.

In September she then won the five-stage Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta. There is debate whether or not this was a genuine Grand Tour due to it’s length. The race is now seven stages long. Female riders have had far few opportunities to win the treble, with the Tour de France Femmes only returning in 2022 after a 13-year hiatus and the Vuelta starting as a one-day race in 2015 and gradually growing from there.

You could hear Wout van Aert coming before you saw him at Visma-Lease a Bike’s team presentation on Tuesday afternoon. He clomped around in a grey protective boot, resting his fractured right ankle on a cushion during the ceremony.

Here we go again, he must have thought after his 2 January crash in Zilvermeercross. It was the latest setback in a misfortune-strewn two years, following a fractured collarbone, rib and sternum at the 2024 Dwars door Vlaanderen and a 2024 Vuelta knee injury which still bears a gruesome scar.

Having been ready and raring to go for the forthcoming season, the shoe is literally on the other foot for Van Aert. It would be understandable for him to be frustrated.

“Sometimes you get really tired of it and it’s also okay to be done with it for a few days,” Van Aert told the media in a round-table chat on Tuesday in La Nucia, Spain. “But there’s still a lot to win and there’s also even moments, just a few weeks [ago], riding between amazing crowds and meeting a lot of your fans: it still motivates you. It’s more natural to look ahead of me and what’s still possible than to get down.”

While Van Aert remarked that he was “not as consistent as he wanted” in 2025, he has had thrills to go with the spills. Last year, he showed his quality and sense of occasion with a barnstorming ride to Giro d’Italia stage victory in Siena and success through the Montmartre fever pitch in the Tour de France's swan song.

“Those wins really helped me to believe, even when not everything is going well. For example, now I’m still one of the best bike riders in the world and there will be moments where I can show it,” he said.

Van Aert’s race against time 

Although the ankle fracture is locked with a screw, Van Aert can ride his bike. However, he cannot build intensity in training until he is pain-free. It leaves him in a race against time to be fully fit and on-form for a busy spring calendar, culminating in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. His debut is expected to be at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on February 28. 

“I’m not fully confident [the ankle won’t be a problem], of course not,” he said. “It’s a complicated injury, a fracture and also ripped-off ligaments. If I was a runner or anything else, I would be out for months. Hopefully as a cyclist, it will still be good enough.”

Calling the injury blow that forced him to curtail his cyclo-cross season “mentally quite significant”, Van Aert was comforted by how quickly he could get back on the bike without losing fitness. The 31-year-old went for a gentle road ride on Monday, a mere ten days after his crash.

2026 brings his eye-catching return to Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo for the first time in five and three years, respectively. “These are really beautiful races that I don’t want to miss for the rest of my career,” the 2020 winner of ‘La Primavera’ said. “Always in my head, even the moment when I was choosing to do differently, I knew it would raise my inspiration again.”

A return to the spring’s Monuments will also bring him head-to-head again with his long-time sparring partner, Mathieu van der Poel. “There’s still a rivalry between us, but the rivalry has always been bigger for you guys, for the outside than for us, for the outside,” Van Aert said, adding moments later: “It’s still there but of course Mathieu’s palmarès is a bit bigger than mine.”

He has won three successive editions of Paris-Roubaix. The race still casts a magic spell on Van Aert, even if he has suffered misfortune there, perhaps no more so than a heartbreaking puncture on the Carrefour de l’Arbre sector in 2023, which saw his Dutch adversary ride away to his first victory there. 

“It’s probably the only race where you wake up the next day feeling completely broken and get up on Tuesday still feeling the same,” Van Aert says. “There’s so much impact on your body going over these cobbles. The last hour of this race is more like survival than a real race. So much can happen, bad luck and stuff like that, it’s a race where you really have your head full. Arguably, it’s the best race in the calendar.”

A Swiss army knife of a rider, comfortable on cobbles and hors catégorie climbs, Van Aert is not short of goals. The Tour de France’s opening 19.7 km team time trial around Barcelona is another big objective for the Belgian and the squad. “In my head, I’m also dreaming of wearing yellow,” he says.

He is also set to go line up at August’s Vuelta a España as part of a stage-hunting Visma-Lease a Bike line-up, with British super-talent Matthew Brennan expected to make his grand tour debut alongside him. 

Van Aert had kind words for the 20-year-old super-talent while discussing how they will divide their ambitions: “Matthew is for sure faster in the other completely flat sprints. Even when the stage is hard, the sprint is probably more suitable for him. And there is the fact it will be his first grand tour so nobody knows how he will go after ten days. So we should not put pressure on him and let him experience it.”

“The most important thing is we go really well together and we understand each other. I’m even proud that he’s showing that he learns from me, that’s pretty cool.”

Matthew Brennan will take aim at the “big Classics” and make his Grand Tour debut in 2026, he and his Visma-Lease a Bike team have announced.

The 20-year-old, who won a staggering 14 times in his first pro season last year, is down to ride three Monuments this year – Milan San-Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix – before starting the Vuelta a España in August.

Brennan was one of the standout talents of 2025, and earned Cycling Weekly’s Male Rider of the Year award. His win tally was bettered by just four other male pros: Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step), and the world champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

“I hope to reach the same level as last season, and ideally push even higher,” Brennan said in a Visma-Lease a Bike press release announcing his race calendar. “From there, I hope to make my mark more and more in the bigger races, where I can hopefully play a meaningful role.

“This year I’m focusing on the big classics, such as Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix, and the Tour of Flanders. I hope to play a significant role in these races and gain experience in such big events.”

Brennan made his WorldTour Classics debut at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad last year, a race that is once again on his calendar in 2026. He was also called up late to ride Paris-Roubaix in his first pro season, and impressed on the cobbles, riding in the company of Mathieu van der Poel and Pogačar at the front of the race.

“It would be nice to go a little bit further than last year, hopefully into the velodrome with the front group,” he said.

The Brit will have to wait until August for his Grand Tour debut, planned for the Vuelta a España. “I’m really looking forward to it and curious to see how I’ll handle it,” he said.

“It’s amazing to start in several major classics, but I’m especially looking forward to La Vuelta. Riding three weeks of stages will be tough, and I don’t yet know how my body will respond, but with good preparation and a strong team, I hope to achieve a lot.”

Visma-Lease a Bike won the Vuelta through Jonas Vingegaard last year. The Dane will not defend his title in 2026, and will turn his attention instead to the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France.

Brennan will open his season next week at the Tour Down Under in Australia, the first WorldTour event of the calendar.

When pro-Palestine protestors forced the early abandonment of the Vuelta a España’s final stage in September – the fourth stage of the race to be curtailed – it triggered a chain reaction. In the weeks that followed, Israel-Premier Tech, the focus of the protests, backtracked on earlier assurances and announced a new name and nationality, accepting that their future in the sport was untenable without change. The immediate consequence, however, was the cancellation of the podium ceremony for the GC top-three and the jersey winners.

Race victor Jonas Vingegaard was understandably peeved. “Yeah, it’s shit to end it like this,” he muttered inside a Visma-Lease a Bike car, in footage later shown in the team’s post-race documentary. It seemed as though everyone would simply drift away – an anticlimactic conclusion to 21 tense, turbulent days.

That was until Tom Pidcock’s mum, Sonja, stepped in with other ideas, laying the groundwork for what became the most spontaneous and intimate Grand Tour celebration in history – or, as social media later declared it, the best podium ceremony of all time.

Sonja and her husband Giles were in Madrid ready to celebrate their son’s third-placed finish in the race. When it became apparent that that wouldn’t be happening as planned, Sonja spoke with Q36.5’s billionaire owner Ivan Glasenberg at the team’s hotel. “I said to Ivan, ‘This isn’t fair – these young men have put all this effort in and have been robbed of their glory’,” Sonja, who organises the Otley Cycle Races, recounts to Cycling Weekly. “I told him we should organise a podium.”

Glasenberg nodded along, but wasn’t following what Sonja was suggesting. “Ivan said that they were all going to dinner that night and that everyone was invited including us. I said to him again, ‘But, Ivan, let’s invite all the teams and make a podium together’. Then he got it and said, ‘That’s a great idea!’ I said to him, ‘I’ll organise it for you, but I don’t have a good contact list except [photographer] Russ Ellis’s phone number’.”

The Q36.5 boss now fully on board with Sonja’s plans, he rang Visma’s manager Richard Plugge, who was immediately enthusiastic. Within minutes, Plugge had set up a WhatsApp group comprising all the relevant teams, and convened a hotel car park meeting with his team’s staff who took on responsibility as ceremony organisers. “If it works, it’s a good conclusion for everyone, and a picture for history,” Plugge said, as recorded in the aforementioned documentary. “And if not, then we tried.”

While Plugge was busy organising the guest list, Visma’s chief business officer Jasper Saeijs was put in charge of logistics. “I said, if we do this, we have to do it right,” Saeijs recalls to Cycling Weekly. “We were never going to have the same quality as the real celebration, but everyone who had made the Vuelta special deserved some kind of celebration.” The first thing he had to do was to tell a downcast Vingegaard that he would get the chance to celebrate. “Jonas was already in his normal clothes, and I told him he had to change into his cycling clothing and prepare for a ceremony.”

Phone calls were made to the race organisers, who confirmed that someone was on their way with the trophies, jerseys and podium backdrop – and were promptly snarled up in congestion in the centre of Madrid. “They didn’t know if they’d be able to make it past the protesters and get to us in time,” Saeijs says. Pidcock’s mum came up with a contingency plan. “If the Vuelta organisers couldn’t make it, I suggested we go to the hotel kitchen and make trophies out of tinfoil!”

Thankfully the podium essentials arrived and Saeijs and his team then set about creating the scene. “We needed the backdrop in place, so we attached it to a rental minivan,” Saeijs says. Only one problem: it wasn’t tall enough. “We needed it to be higher, so I asked one of the mechanics what he thought. We were brainstorming a few ideas and then he said, ‘We have some poles that we can put on top of the car.” According to Sonja, these were in fact traffic cones. “They attached the backdrop to traffic cones on top of a van,” she laughs. “It was a bit wonky, but they straightened it out and in the end it looked amazing.”

As for the podium steps, Visma coolboxes of varying heights took on a new function. “We wrote one, two and three on them using a black Sharpie pen,” recounts Saeijs. Those scribbled letters later became the most-talked about aspect of the ceremony on social media.

With the stage set but darkness descending, attention focused on lighting the rushed-together spectacle. “We parked three of our team cars in front of the podium with their headlights on, but too many people were in the way, so we couldn’t see the podium,” Saeijs says.

Sonja, watching on in admiration as her idea took shape in an hour, policed the crowd, which was swelling with riders and staff from other teams. “I put my bossy race organiser head on and was saying to people, ‘Excuse me, stand over there!’” Relief arrived in the form of TV Denmark, whose crew – glued to Vingegaard throughout the race – offered something far better than car headlights. “They follow Jonas everywhere, and they let us use their stage lights,” Saeijs says.

But the atmosphere still needed one final ingredient. “You need music to lighten up any party,” Saeijs insists. Enter Thijs Roelen, Visma press officer turned impromptu DJ. “He decided on Eye of the Tiger for the entrance of the riders,” Saeijs confirms.

There was also the small matter of playing the right anthem for Vingegaard, although even that proved surprisingly complicated. “Denmark has two types of national anthems, and in the morning the race organisers had asked us to help them in choosing the right anthem to play,” Saeijs says. “Thankfully we had researched it before so we already knew which one was the correct one and we downloaded it.”

Everything set, the moment then came for the car park ceremony to begin. Visma sourced some champagne and spectators handed round beer and pizza – but then, yet another delay. “UAE won the team prize but they were apparently reluctant to join in at first,” Sonja says.

“When they found that Mads Pedersen [green jersey] and Matthew Riccitello [white jersey] were coming, they realised they couldn’t turn it down. They still turned up 30 minutes late, mind you.” When UAE finally arrived – their star rider João Almeida had finished second on GC – the party finally got underway.

“Also funny was that the race organiser who’d brought the backdrop, jerseys and trophies didn’t know the protocol of the ceremony, so we had to be creative with how we did it,” Saeijs remembers. “We said that the GC would go first, then the team prize, and then the jerseys. It was really improvised, and in five minutes we’d decided on the order.” Master of ceremonies was selected almost at random, Sonja remembers: “He was a guy who wasn't used to commentating, and he was naming all the riders quietly without any microphone.”

The moment was captured on smartphones by the hundred or so people gathered, a uniquely improvised celebration pulled together at speed and destined to linger in the memory of everyone who witnessed it. At one point, Sonja noticed Vingegaard looking straight at her. “I’d never met Jonas before, but when he got off the Visma bus in his kit, he was looking across the car park smiling at me. I pointed him out to Giles, and I realised that Jonas was probably the only mum-minded person there. Richard must have told him that it was Tom’s mum’s idea and he was saying thank you to me. It was really lovely, really sweet.”

Balanced on an upturned coolbox, Vingegaard beamed with amused delight. “At first I was disappointed not to get the celebration in Madrid, but fortunately we could make our own celebration and it was a really nice moment, really special,” he said in his team’s documentary. “It shows how, in cycling, even though we’re competitors, we can still get everyone together and celebrate in a nice way.”

The Vuelta’s organisers hope the whole episode remains a one-off, with a return next year to a full-scale finale of spotlights and fireworks in front of thousands of fans. If not, Sonja Pidcock stands ready to help again. “I’d like to do it again for my own benefit but I’m not sure it’ll wash,” she laughs.

“All I wanted to do was to applaud and give my son a hug, but in the end everyone created a fabulous moment. If it was in Madrid, it would have been immense, but they would have celebrated in front of thousands of strangers, and we wouldn’t have got a look-in. As it happened, the riders got to celebrate with the people most important to them, and you could tell by the smiles on their faces that they were so delighted.”

This feature originally appeared in Cycling Weekly magazine on 18 December 2025. Subscribe now and never miss an issue.

No racing season retrospective would be complete without pausing to contemplate the doings and undoings of our overlords at the Union Cyclists Internationale. From their lofty perch in Switzerland they have issued edicts ranging from the ingenious to the hilarious.

Ruling over races big and small, from the Tour de France to your local crit, they have made decisions that explored the boundaries of ethics, logic and even physics. It’s time to cast an eye over a few highlights of the UCI’s year.

MISS: Wider bars to slow us down

On the assumption that one of the things making road racing progressively more dangerous is speed, the UCI has decided it’s time to make everyone a bit less quick. From January 2027, bars will need to be at least 40cm wide, with limits on the amount of flare between the tops and the drops and for the turn-in of the brake hoods.

The idea is that if they make everyone less aerodynamic with a wider arm position, they’ll be slower – which is not in itself a daft idea. In recent years, many pros have moved to narrower bars, typically 36-38cm. Shifting to 40cm, a pretty wide bar by modern standards, is a little difficult, especially if you’re a smaller female rider.

It’s also going to slow down small riders more than big riders (think about the body proportions), although maybe anything we can do to keep a lid on Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel is welcome. The other problem with it is that it’s not going to slow things down very much.

MISS: GPS trackers for rider safety

Another safety initiative is the introduction of GPS trackers on bikes so that officials are better able to keep track of where riders are, and above all, ensure there’s never a repeat of the fatal incident at the 2024 Worlds where Swiss rider Muriel Furrer crashed unnoticed and wasn’t found for more than 45 minutes.

Unfortunately an attempt to trial the technology at the Tour de Romandie Féminin turned to farce. Five of the teams said they hadn’t been consulted about the trackers, and pointed out that despite trackers being fitted by the UCI, any incidents or injuries they might cause would be deemed the fault of the team, and refused to nominate a rider for the trial.

The UCI retaliated by rather sulkily saying the teams were only reacting like that because they had commercial interests in a different GPS tracking solution.

The upshot? A standoff culminated in the five teams being thrown off the race, a solution that pleased no one. (Except weirdly obsessed UCI-watchers, obviously.)

MISS: Losing track of time in Spain

At the Spanish time trial championships, the timing went seriously awry. Forty minutes after the race finished, riders were still standing around at the line trying to find out the results. Eventually the commissaires issued some times, then changed some of them, then declared Caja Rural-Seguros’s Abel Balderstone the winner with a time that may, or may not, have been firmly rooted in reality.

On the upside, at least it gave Spain’s least Spanish-sounding pro rider the biggest win of his career to date.

MISS: Miscounted Madison points

If you’ve ever watched a Madison race and wondered how on Earth the commissaires keep track of the chaos, well, they don’t always. At the World Championships in October, the German pair of Roger Kluge and Moritz Augenstein let the Danish team escape to take 10 points at the final sprint, on the basis that, as the Germans could clearly see on the stadium scoreboard, they were comfortably ahead of the Danes for the bronze medal.

Except that the Danes had taken a lap mid race, collecting 20 points that somehow the commissaires didn’t get round to adding to the scoreboard until after the finish, putting the Danes on the podium and the Germans in a state of high dudgeon.

MISS: Gear restrictions to slow us down

Another safety initiative dreamed up in 2025 was a maximum gear size for road races. The idea being that if the biggest gear a rider could use was limited to 54x11, it would prevent some of the higher speeds seen in sprints and on descents.

There were a number of problems with this idea. The first was the possibility that the sneaky, sneaky bike riders would circumvent the restriction by pedalling a little faster. The second was the already very limited amount of time riders spend using their highest gear. The third was that the laws of physics mean that even if you ignore all of that, the reduction in speed is still very small.

The fourth problem was a predictable restraint-of-trade lawsuit from SRAM, whose top-tier groupset has been effectively outlawed by the proposed regulation. This saw the rule overturned by a Belgian court before we even got the chance to see it in action and say, “We told you so.”

MISS: Managing protests

The situation in Gaza produced numerous protests around bike races all season, mainly focussed on the presence of the Israel-Premier Tech team. The protests were most prominent at the Vuelta a España in August and September.

With officials unwilling or unable to change the race route or provide increased security, and equally unwilling to eject Israel-Premier Tech from the event as demanded by both the protesters and Spanish politicians, the result was a badly compromised race of abandoned stages, neutralised racing, and risks to riders of all teams from protesters on the course.

The race did at least culminate with a strangely wonderful podium ceremony. After the official finish of the final stage was abandoned, Tom Pidcock’s mum suggested building a podium in a hotel carpark using some team drinks-coolers and a hastily strung-up backdrop. It was probably the most memorable prize presentation in the race’s history.

MISS: Ambiguity over ketones

Ketone esters are made by the human liver when the body is starved of glycogen, and is used as an alternative fuel source. For some time now there’s been a debate about whether taking ketones in a drink would make you faster. The anecdotal reports from bike riders who’ve tried it range from “No difference at all” to “Even better than doping”. Scientific studies have tended very much towards the former.

The UCI took its time to weigh in. After several seasons of deliberation, it finally announced that it wasn’t planning to propose a ban on ketones on the basis that firstly they’re not dangerous, and secondly there’s no evidence they work anyway.

Strangely it then went on to say, “The UCI does not recommend the inclusion of such supplements in riders’ nutritional plans.” You might like to think of ketones as the first item on the “slightly looked down upon” list. You can use them if you want, but the UCI will judge you for it.

MISS: The DQ of Jan-Willem van Schip

The UCI has a history of taking innovations badly, and doubly so with matters of riding positions. When serial UCI penalty-magnet Jan-Willem van Schip of the Park Hotel Valkenberg team clipped off the front of the bunch on stage one of the Tour of Holland, his radical bike attracted a lot of attention. With a very long, upward sloping stem and minimum width bars, he was able to drop into almost a time-trial position with his head tucked behind his hands.

Van Schip had been using the bike and position for some time, and the commissaires at the race didn’t even blink. But word came from UCI officials in Switzerland who’d been watching the coverage, and they didn’t like it. Van Schip was disqualified from the race.

Strangely, it took nearly 24 hours for anyone to clearly explain why. When they did, it had nothing to do with the riding position, which was unconventional but it turned out didn’t actually break any rules. (We’re guessing they looked very, very closely.) It was because his bike’s seat post hadn’t been correctly registered with the UCI technical committee. Which, from the UCI’s point of view, was possibly a bit lucky.

MISS: Tardy bike-checking

Commissaires carry out dimension checks on time trial bikes immediately before every race. At the Vuelta Femenina, when Movistar arrived a few minutes late at the pre-start check for the team time trial, the whole system descended into chaos.

As the sole official on duty tried to get seven Movistar bike through the check before their start time, other teams started to queue up. Movistar just about beat the start clock to get down the ramp on time, with a couple of riders starting late and chasing on.

All of Uno-X Mobility started seven seconds late after waiting to get their bikes returned. Visma-Lease a Bike only just made it to the start with five riders, with two late starters including Imogen Wolff, who joined the course from the barriers before time trialling through the race vehicles as she attempted (and failed) to catch her teammates.

The UCI acknowledged that “mistakes had been made”, fined Movistar €1,600, and declined to offer any respite to the affected teams and riders. Wolff lost over a minute, but maybe the commissaires felt she wasn’t going to win the Vuelta anyway.

Hits of the year

Sadly there isn’t space to cover the UCI’s (no doubt numerous) hits of the year, nor the various race motos that caused crashes, nor the non-race vehicles that blundered onto the course, nor the unpredictable delights of the new yellow-card system, nor time trial helmets in road races, nor indeed the stage of Itzula Basque where Romain Gregoire was awarded second place, then first, then second again.

But rest assured there’ll be plenty more of the same sort of thing in 2026. It’s perhaps the only thing about the coming season that we can be sure of.

This feature originally appeared in Cycling Weekly magazine on 18 December 2025. Subscribe now and never miss an issue.

You might have noticed something missing from the Vuelta a España route presentation on Wednesday. A few things, actually.

As the course unravelled on the big screen, the stage lines made their way from Monaco, down Spain’s east coast, and into the country’s south – where they stayed. There will be no Madrid finish, it was announced, and no stages in the north.

I wasn’t in Madrid for the presentation, although I imagine there were a lot of perplexed faces in the room. What about the Angliru? Lagos de Covadonga? These climbs have become staples of the Vuelta over the years, and now the mountains of Asturias have been snubbed altogether? Surely something’s up.

Something is, indeed, up: innovation. 2026 will mark the first time in five years the race has finished outside of Madrid, opting instead for Granada. Even more momentously, it will be the first edition in 17 years in which the peloton hasn’t visited the country’s verdant north. Seventeen years. When that happened in 2009, the race’s latest champion, Jonas Vingegaard, was barely 11 years old.

So why do I think this is a good thing? I should probably start by declaring a bias.

When I was studying Spanish at university, I spent six months living in Andalucía, Spain’s southernmost region. In my view, the region is the country’s cultural heart; it’s home to flamenco, Moorish heritage, and so much sun you only ever eat al fresco, mostly beside a beach.

Granada, where next year’s Vuelta will finish, is perhaps Spain’s most stunning city. The Alhambra fortress that dominates the skyline is touted as the eighth wonder of the world. The local beer is also excellent.

Still, you didn’t come here to hear me canvass for the tourist board. What I like about the Vuelta route is the organisers’ brave decision to do something different, ditch the tried and tested mountains of the north, and head south.

In recent editions, they’ve been quick to palm off Andalucía. Since 2009, the last time the north was snubbed, Spain’s south has been absent from the route five times (2012, 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2025). In fact, three of those five editions didn’t even venture below Madrid. It’s time the south got some love again.

Does this mean that there won’t be any of those gruelling climbs we’ve come to love watching at the Vuelta? Don’t fret: the organisers have still plotted seven major summit finishes. They've also thrown in a hilly final-day circuit in Granada to keep the fun going right until the end. That stage starts at an enormous, out-of-town Carrefour supermarket – what more could you want?

I’ll admit, I do have one concern about this Vuelta route. Being so far south, Andalucía is Spain’s hottest region – you can get a ferry to Morocco in around an hour. In cities like Sevilla, Córdoba and Granada, all of which the Vuelta will visit, temperatures can reach 40°C in September.

It’s why I, a Brit accustomed to grey skies and single digits on the thermometer, timed my stay in Andalucía to end before the summer. I’m sure the teams at the Vuelta will be better prepared – they’re in for a scenic, trend-bucking route.

The 2026 Vuelta a España will feature seven summit finishes, two individual time trials, and many climbing days, starting on 22 August.

The Spanish Grand Tour begins in Monaco, with a start against the clock in the city state, before heading into France, then Andorra, before entering Spain on stage five.

The 81st edition ends on 13 September in Granada, after a tough race with very few flat days. Yet again, it appears tailor made for climbers, like 2025, when Jonas Vingegaard won. There will be a maximum of five bunch finishes.

Notably, it spends most of the race in southern Spain, with no visit to traditional Vuelta hotspots like the Basque Country, Galicia and Asturias.

The key climbs in the 2026 race are likely to be Font Romeu in the Pyrenees on stage three, Alto de Aitana in Valencia on stage nine, and then Calar Alto, Sierra de la Pandera, and the Collado del Alguacil in Andalusia in the final two weeks. The Algaucil comes on the penultimate day.

Vuelta a España 2026 stage table

Vuelta a España 2026 full route map

Vuelta a España 2026 race guide

The race begins with a 9km individual time trial in Monaco, followed by a hilly day to Manosque in France on stage two, before the first summit finish, at Font Romeu on the third day. The final climb is only a category-two climb, but it follows the Col de Mont-Louis, a first category peak.

There then follows a day in Andorra, complete with three first category climbs: the Port d’Envalira, the Collada de Beixalís and the Coll de Ordino, before the third cat La Comella. Stage four should sort out the general classification.

Stage five should provide the first bunch sprint, but nothing is definite, before the following day sees a return to the mountains. The category-one climb of Bartolo has 3km of dirt roads to add to the excitement.

However, that is nothing compared to stage seven, with the second-highest altitude finish of the 2026 race after the climb up to Aramón Valdelinare. Stage eight should be the second bunch sprint of the race.

It's another summit finish on stage nine, to bring the first week to a close, after over 5,000 metres of altitude. There are six categorised climbs, including the toughest of Alto de Aitana.

The second week begins with a hilly day that finishes in Castile-La Mancha, but it is nothing compared to the tougher tests to come. Mark this down as one for the breakaway. Stage 11 could be the third bunch sprint of the day, but the organisers have again not made it easy for the fast men, with a climb 30km out.

A return to the mountains comes on stage 12, as the race enters Andalusia. Calar Alto will be the next summit finish, after the Velefique is also tackled. The next day, stage 13, is one for punchy riders, before another summit finish on stage 14. This time, Sierra de la Pandera is summited. This race does not let up. The second week ends with a breakaway day on stage 15 to Córdoba.

The final six days begins with the a sprint opportunity, on stage 16, before the last flat road race on stage 17. That is a maximum of five bunch sprints across the three weeks. Simple.

There is the return of the time trial on stage 18, a fairly flat 32km effort, but one where the wind could play an important role. The mountains come into view again the next day, with three categorised climbs before the final ascent to Peñas Blancas.

It is the penultimate day, however, that should be kept in mind throughout, with over 5,000m of climbing again. The Alto de Hazallanas is summited twice, with the Puerto de El Purche in between, before Collado del Aguacil (8.3km at 9.8%). It won't be the final test, though.

Rather than Madrid, the 2026 Vuelta will end in Granada, with a punchy stage around the Andalusian gem. Five ascents of the Alhambra does not necessarily mean a GC shootout, but it is unlikely to be a bunch sprint.