Vuelta 2026: Route and stages
Tadej Pogacar won the 1st stage of the Vuelta and is, obviously, the first GC leader. In the next stage, the riders head through the hills of Provence towards a false-flat finish, while Monday’s stage finishes uphill in the ski resort of Font-Romeu. On Tuesday, a compact mountain stage through Andorra awaits, after which the Vuelta enters Spain. The bulk of the rest of the route takes place in the scorching south, before the Vuelta concludes in Granada on Sunday 13 September.
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Vuelta 2026: Pogacar outpowers Hayter by 9/100ths of a second.
Tadej Pogacar wins the opening ITT of the Vuelta by just 9/100ths of a second ahead of Ethan Hayter, while Joshua Tarling sets the third-fastest time. Pogacar is, of course, also the first rider to wear the red jersey.
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Vuelta 2026: Route
La Vuelta a España packs 57,079 metres of elevation gain into a 3,298.5-kilometre route. The race starts in Monaco before gradually heading south towards the finish in Granada. Along the way, the riders face several brutal summit finishes, including Alto de Aitana, Calar Alto, Peñas Blancas and the monstrous Collado del Alguacil in the Sierra Nevada.
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Vuelta 2026 Route stage 2: Monaco – Manosque
Sunday 23 August - Stage 2 of La Vuelta covers 204 kilometres between Monaco and Manosque. Although the riders tackle only two classified climbs along the way, the route still features 2,630 metres of elevation gain. The finish is uphill.
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Vuelta 2026 Favourites stage 2: Tough sprinters in hilly race
En route from Monaco to Manosque, the road is constantly going either up or down. None of the uphill sections are particularly tough, but with more than 2,600 metres of elevation gain, the route is on the demanding side for pure sprinters. Then again, there are no real pure sprinters in the Vuelta anyway - although the likes of Mads Pedersen and Wout van Aert are very much in the mix.
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Vuelta 2026 Route stage 3: Gruisan – Font Romeu
Monday 24 August – Stage 3 of the Vuelta takes the riders over 174 kilometres from Gruisan to Font Romeu. The route features 2,676 metres of elevation gain, almost all of which comes in the final 35 kilometres.
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Vuelta 2026 Favourites stage 3: Attackers on uphill finish
Even though the riders are still racing on French roads, the third day serves up a classic Vuelta-style stage. After dozens of flat kilometres, all the climbing is packed into the finale. It is not an overly gruelling day in the saddle, but tough enough to set up an exciting finish. We are tipping the breakaway to take the spoils.
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