Running from Saturday 22 August to Sunday 13 September 2026, La Vuelta 26 will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,275 kilometers.
4 hilly stages
1 hilly, uphill finale stage
4 flat stages
4 medium mountains stages
6 mountain stages
2 individual time trial stages
2 rest days
LA VUELTA ESPAÑA 2026: KEY DETAILS
22 August 2026 to 13 September 2026
Total distance = 3275km|
Number of stages = 21|
Start location in Monaco
Finish location in Granada, Spain
UCI Ranking: WorldTour
Edition: 81st
Total climbing TBC
2025 winner: Jonas Vingegaard
TV coverage (UK) TNT Sports, Discovery+
TV coverage (US) Peacock
Stage 1: Sat 22 August / Monaco - Monaco 9km ITT (4:17pm-7:30pm)
Stage 2: Sun 23 August / Monaco - Manosque (France) 215km Hilly
Stage 3: Mon 24 August / Gruissan - Font Romeu 174km Med mountains
Stage 4: Tue 25 August / Andorra La Vella - Andorra La Vella 105km Mountains
Stage 5: Wed 26 August / Falset (Spain) - Roquetes 173km Hilly
Stage 6: Thu 27 August / Alcossebre - Castelló 177km Med mountains
Stage 7: Fri 28 August / Vall d’Alba - Aramón Valdenlinares 150km Mountains
Stage 8: Sat 29 August / Puçol - Xeraco 171km Flat
Stage 9: Sun 30 August / La Vila Joiosa - Alto de Aitana 187km Mountains
Rest-day Monday 31st August
Stage 10: Tue 1 September / Alcaraz - Elche de la Sierra 185km Hilly
Stage 11: Wed 2 September / Cartagena - Lorca 151km Flat
Stage 12: Thu 3 September / Vera - Calar Alto 166km Mountains
Stage 13: Fri 4 September / Almuñécar - Loja 193km Medium mountains
Stage 14: Sat 5 September / Jaén - Sierra de la Pandera 154km Mountains
Stage 15: Sun 6 September / Palma del Río - Córdoba 190km Medium mountains
Rest-day - Monday 7th September
Stage 16; Tue 8 September Cortegana - La Rabída 181km Hilly
Stage 17: Wed 9 September / Dos Hermanas - Sevilla 185km Flat
Stage 18: Thu 10 Sept / El Puerto de Santa María - Jerez de la Frontera 32km ITT
Stage 19: Fri 11 September / Vélez-Málaga - Peñas Blancas 210km Medium mountains
Stage 20: Sat 12 September /La Calahorra - Collado delAlguacil 187km Mountains
Stage 21: Sun 13 September / Carrefour Granada - Granada 112km Hilly
I hope there will be no extremes of weather due to climate change,
no demonstrators getting in the way (or throwing down tacks, …Los bastardos),
and no serious accidents
Just a good clean fight-out with lots of race action and may the best Lidl-Trek rider win
Totally concur about your Pog Fest comments.
I sighed when I saw that he was riding the Vuelta after the TDF.
As you just know baring a crash or illness that he’s going to totally dominate and it’s just going to be a fight for 2 other podium spots.
I know he is always tests clean but personally I just think theirs something not right
I used to believe and be in awe of Lance Armstrong like Tadej a rider of his generation.But after win number 4.In the TDF I had my doubts.And they were right.
I really want to believe in Tadej but his domination of Grand Tours and the same of the classics when he started riding them has made races for me predictable.
I have no doubts that he will win this years Vuelta.
A long slog of a stage today and hilly all the way, however the next two days are considerably harder so the GC contenders may choose to pace it carefully, however this won’t stop the attacks and a breakaway going up ahead with an opportunity for a stage hunter.
I understand your feelings on this. It’s a discussion we have here at home but try hard to assume the best. It must also be dispiriting for others in the peloton. We have to hope there are a lot of stage hunters out there who may upset the apple cart and keep us engaged with the race.
Pogacar is so dominant. The excitement comes from stage hunters and not from the GC anymore. I enjoyed the Tour Femmes much more this year. But still I am hoping for some great battles in the Vuelta stages.
Today’s terrain is classic Tadej Pogačar natural stage winning habitat, however a couple of things complicate this expectation, one is a determined breakaway that with luck actually scores a home run, the other is tomorrow’s stage being harder than today and which will play on the minds of the serious GC contenders.
Current temperature 30ºc with 27 kph tail wind at start of race.
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Jersey wearers on Stage 2:
Tadej Pogačar UAE Team Emirates-XRG Ethan Hayter Soudal-QuickStep (2nd in Class) + combative race bibs Koen Bouwman Team Jayco AlUla Matthew Brennan Team Visma Lease a Bike
A totally unexpected end to the stage. Tadej was right to get the other riders to take shelter, though some out the back of the peloton had already taken shelter. Riding downhill on roads covered in hailstones would have been horrendously dangerous. The organisers were correct to pause the stage initially and then abandon it. Safety has to come first. A shame, as it was shaping up to be an enthralling final climb of today’s stage. Looking forward to a stage with more usual weather for the time of year tomorrow.
It would seem even the mid-race sprint results have been nullified causing a disappointment for Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) the first rider to cross the line to collect 20 pts, and which would have got him 1st in the Green jersey, …although had the race continued and finished in normal circumstances it’s probable that Tadej would have monstered the final summit climb to the finish and won it back again
I hope the weather is okay tomorrow, lots of fast descending on the way…
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Tuesday 25th August 2026
Stage 4 : Andorra la Vella - Andorra la Vella (104.8km)
Despite the trio of 1st category climbs this is a very compact distance of only 104.8km (65 miles) so should, weather permitting, be explosive with action, stage hunters galore, and with the GC times being so close those guys will not want them to get away
UAE Team Emirates-XRG in 10:57
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 1
YOUTH CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 1
Netcompany-Ineos, in 11.01
Ethan Hayter 
Callum Thornley 
Burgos Burpellet BH (abandoned after crash injury)
Team Jayco AlUla, 6 pts
TEAM CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 2
