Vuelta a Espana

The Vuelta a España 2026, the 81st edition of the race, is the final Grand Tour of the season, with the race following the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in the WorldTour calendar.

The route for the 2026 edition looks tailor-made for a climber, like Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) who won in 2025, although it is still the only Grand Tour missing from UAE Team Emirates-XRG Tadej Pogačar's trophy cabinet, so perhaps he could be tempted. Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) will be going for a record fifth title.

With just one fully flat stage, seven summit finishes, and multiple ascents of brutal climbs until the penultimate, this is another one for the hardiest of climbers and one to miss for the sprinters.

The Vuelta will take a jaunt across Europe before settling down in Spain. After beginning in Monaco, the race will pay a visit to France and Andorra on the way to the Iberian peninsula. Once there, it will spend most of its time in the south, with many stages in Andalusia.

It's an extremely northern edition of the race, with the traditional closing stage in Madrid marking its furthest venture south. There are two individual time trials, and seven summit finishes, in 21 days.

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.

Here's all you need to know about the last Grand Tour of the season.

• 2026 Vuelta a España route

Vuelta a España 2026: Key details

Vuelta a España 2026: Stage-by-stage

Vuelta a España: The jerseys

The red jersey of the Vuelta's general classification leader is now well established (it was previously gold, but changed in 2010). The leader of the mountains classification wears a polka-dot jersey, but its large blue spots mean it's very different to the one that riders in the Tour de France wear. The points leader's green jersey is lime green, while the jersey for best young rider (born after 1 January 1998), is white – familiar from the Tour de France.

There are other awards on offer as well, including the teams classification and a daily combativity award. Embellished jersey numbers, rather than jerseys, are on offer for this.

Vuelta a España 2026: The teams

There are 24 teams riding the 2024 Vuelta a España, including all 18 WorldTour teams and five second-tier ProTeams.

Vuelta a España: Past winners

2025: Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike
2024: Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
2023: Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma
2022: Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl
2021: Primož Roglič (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma
2020: Primož Roglič (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma
2019: Primož Roglič (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma
2018: Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton–Scott
2017: Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky
2016: Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
2015: Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana
2014: Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff–Saxo