The 2026 Vuelta a España was a three-week cycling race taking place in Monaco, France, Andorra and Spain. It started on 22 August in Monaco and finished on 13 September in Granada. It is the 81st edition of the Vuelta a España and the third and final grand tour of the 2026 men's road cycling season.
The general classification was won by Enric Mas of . Although Tadej Pogačar () was widely expected to win the GC, and won three of the first six stages, he was injured in a crash on the eighth stage and forced to withdraw from the race. Mas, who was in second place when Pogačar crashed, inherited the red jersey, won the ninth stage, and defended his lead until the end of the Vuelta.
The points classification was won by Wout van Aert (}, who also won two stages and the overall combativity award. Van Aert's teammate Matthew Brennan won five stages, more than any other competitor. Santiago Buitrago () won the mountains classification, and Oscar Onley (), placing sixth in the overall GC standings, won the young rider classification.
Teams
Twenty-three teams took part in the race. All eighteen UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited. They were joined by five UCI ProTeams; the three highest ranked UCI ProTeams in 2025 (, and ), along with two other Spanish teams ( and ). The teams were announced on 30 January 2026. UCI WorldTeams
UCI ProTeams
Pre-race favourites Five-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) arrived to the Vuelta regarded as the presumptive winner of the race, but retired from the race after crashing during the eighth stage. The Slovenian held a big lead in the race but got caught in a crash near the end of the stage. He tried to rejoin the race but was unable to due to severe injuries to his clavicle and spine, and was taken by ambulance to hospital. Race organizers confirmed he pulled out of the race.Cycling News report on Pogačar Other contenders for the general classification included Felix Gall and Richard Carapaz, as well as 4-time winner Primož Roglič, despite having been hit by a car during training just 3 weeks before the start.https://www.cyclingstage.com/vuelta-2026-vuelta-2026-favourites/contenders-spain-2026/ In the competition for the green jersey, Mads Pedersen and Wout van Aert were considered the favourites.
Route and stages The official route was announced on 17 December 2025 in Monaco. + Stage characteristics and winners Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner 1 22 August Monaco to Monaco Individual time trial 2 23 August Monaco to Manosque (France) Hilly stage 3 24 August Gruissan (France) to Font Romeu (France) Medium-mountain stage Stage cancelled https://www.cyclingnews.com/pro-cycling/racing/tadej-pogacar-pulls-over-peloton-as-hailstorm-neutralises-vuelta-a-espana-stage-3/ 4 25 August Andorra la Vella (Andorra) to Andorra la Vella (Andorra) Mountain stage 5 26 August Falset to Roquetes Hilly stage 6 27 August Alcossebre to Castellón Medium-mountain stage 7 28 August Vall d'Alba to Aramón Valdelinares Mountain stage 8 29 August Puçol to Xeraco Flat stage 9 30 August Villajoyosa to Alto de Aitana Mountain stage 31 August Rest day 10 1 September Alcaraz to Elche de la Sierra Hilly stage 11 2 September Cartagena to Lorca Flat stage 12 3 September Vera to Calar Alto Mountain stage 13 4 September Almuñécar to Loja Medium-mountain stage 14 5 September Jaén to Sierra de la Pandera Mountain stage 15 6 September Palma del Río to CórdobaShortened from 181.2km because of extreme heat Medium-mountain stage 7 September Rest day 16 8 September Cortegana to Palos de la Frontera Flat stage 17 9 September Dos Hermanas to Seville Flat stage 18 10 September El Puerto de Santa María to Jerez de la Frontera Individual time trial 19 11 September Vélez-Málaga to Peñas Blancas Hilly stage 20 12 September La Calahorra to Collado del Alguacil Mountain stage 21 13 September Granada to Granada Flat stage Total
Race overview
Classification leadership +Classification leadership by stage Stage Winner General classification Points classification Mountains classification Young rider classification Team classification Combativity award 1 Tadej Pogačar Tadej Pogačar Callum Thornley Joshua Tarling no award 2 Matthew Brennan Koen Bouwman Matthew Brennan Ethan Hayter 3 Stage cancelled no award 4 Tadej Pogačar Tadej Pogačar Oscar Onley Tadej Pogačar 5 Matthew Brennan Ethan Hayter 6 Tadej Pogačar Tadej Pogačar 7 Andreas Leknessund Wout van Aert 8 Bryan Coquard Enric Mas Andreas Leknessund Sinuhé Fernández 9 Enric Mas Santiago Buitrago Pavel Sivakov 10 Bastien Tronchon Michael Gogl 11 Matthew Brennan Ethan Hayter 12 Jakob Omrzel Wout van Aert 13 Wout van Aert Andreas Kron 14 Marco Brenner Kevin Vermaerke 15 Wout van Aert Andreas Leknessund 16 Matthew Brennan Kevin Vermaerke 17 Matthew Brennan Enzo Paleni 18 Stefan Küng no award 19 Eddie Dunbar Eddie Dunbar 20 Mikel Landa Tobias Halland Johannessen 21 Tobias Halland Johannessen no award Final Oscar Onley Wout van Aert
Classification standings Legend Denotes the leader of the general classification Denotes the leader of the young rider classification Denotes the leader of the points classification Denotes the leader of the team classification Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the winner of the combativity award
General classification + Final general classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Time 1 73h 52' 55" 2 + 2' 15" 3 + 2' 44" 4 + 6' 54" 5 + 8' 45" 6 + 9' 28" 7 + 10' 38" 8 + 11' 41" 9 + 11' 59" 10 + 12' 51" Final general classification (11–142) Rank Rider Team Time 11 + 20' 14" 12 + 25' 03" 13 + 25' 43" 14 + 42' 17" 15 + 43' 20" 16 + 47' 56" 17 + 50' 56" 18 + 58' 44" 19 + 1h 01' 09" 20 + 1h 10' 46" 21 + 1h 14' 26" 22 + 1h 16' 45" 23 + 1h 18' 52" 24 + 1h 21' 35" 25 + 1h 24' 50" 26 + 1h 26' 03" 27 + 1h 26' 27" 28 + 1h 29' 10" 29 + 1h 31' 49" 30 + 1h 36' 39" 31 + 1h 44' 33" 32 + 1h 50' 31" 33 + 1h 54' 02" 34 + 1h 56' 41" 35 + 1h 56' 47" 36 + 1h 57' 52" 37 + 2h 00' 41" 38 + 2h 03' 02" 39 + 2h 07' 42" 40 + 2h 08' 19" 41 + 2h 10' 02" 42 + 2h 13' 01" 43 + 2h 14' 30" 44 + 2h 15' 35" 45 + 2h 18' 39" 46 + 2h 23' 51" 47 + 2h 28' 23" 48 + 2h 28' 27" 49 + 2h 29' 13" 50 + 2h 29' 27" 51 + 2h 33' 24" 52 + 2h 36' 23" 53 + 2h 37' 12" 54 + 2h 37' 27" 55 + 2h 38' 35" 56 + 2h 38' 50" 57 + 2h 38' 55" 58 + 2h 39' 25" 59 + 2h 40' 08" 60 + 2h 40' 33" 61 + 2h 43' 07" 62 + 2h 44' 58" 63 + 2h 46' 19" 64 + 2h 46' 32" 65 + 2h 50' 55" 66 + 2h 51' 03" 67 + 2h 53' 29" 68 + 2h 54' 03" 69 + 2h 55' 00" 70 + 2h 56' 58" 71 + 2h 57' 47" 72 + 2h 59' 24" 73 + 3h 01' 28" 74 + 3h 01' 55" 75 + 3h 03' 31" 76 + 3h 03' 47" 77 + 3h 05' 08" 78 + 3h 08' 26" 79 + 3h 08' 32" 80 + 3h 13' 33" 81 + 3h 14' 39" 82 + 3h 16' 53" 83 + 3h 19' 12" 84 + 3h 20' 41" 85 + 3h 21' 29" 86 + 3h 22' 35" 87 + 3h 24' 24" 88 + 3h 29' 09" 89 + 3h 29' 12" 90 + 3h 30' 08" 91 + 3h 30' 16" 92 + 3h 31' 07" 93 + 3h 37' 51" 94 + 3h 40' 20" 95 + 3h 43' 18" 96 + 3h 44' 17" 97 + 3h 45' 26" 98 + 3h 46' 27" 99 + 3h 46' 43" 100 + 3h 48' 44" 101 + 3h 48' 45" 102 + 3h 48' 51" 103 + 3h 50' 54" 104 + 3h 55' 15" 105 + 3h 57' 34" 106 + 3h 58' 30" 107 + 3h 58' 53" 108 + 4h 00' 02" 109 + 4h 00' 30" 110 + 4h 00' 31" 111 + 4h 01' 08" 112 + 4h 06' 27" 113 + 4h 08' 21" 114 + 4h 08' 22" 115 + 4h 11' 57" 116 + 4h 14' 13" 117 + 4h 15' 29" 118 + 4h 16' 16" 119 + 4h 16' 27" 120 + 4h 21' 01" 121 + 4h 24' 15" 122 + 4h 25' 11" 123 + 4h 26' 34" 124 + 4h 26' 39" 125 + 4h 29' 00" 126 + 4h 29' 51" 127 + 4h 32' 17" 128 + 4h 32' 20" 129 + 4h 34' 08" 130 + 4h 38' 17" 131 + 4h 41' 40" 132 + 4h 48' 14" 133 + 4h 48' 46" 134 + 4h 55' 04" 135 + 4h 56' 43" 136 + 4h 58' 26" 137 + 5h 01' 15" 138 + 5h 13' 22" 139 + 5h 17' 18" 140 + 5h 22' 08" 141 + 5h 24' 31" 142 + 6h 15' 51"
Points classification + Final points classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Points 1 326 2 273 3 216 4 141 5 116 6 115 7 115 8 106 9 104 10 103
Mountains classification + Final mountains classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Points 1 78 2 62 3 36 4 30 5 28 6 24 7 23 8 21 9 19 10 14
Young rider classification + Final young rider classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Time 1 74h 02' 23" 2 + 1' 10" 3 + 15' 35" 4 + 38' 28" 5 + 1h 01' 18" 6 + 1h 07' 17" 7 + 1h 09' 24" 8 + 1h 19' 42" 9 + 1h 41' 03" 10 + 1h 47' 13"
Team classification + Final team classification (1–10) Rank Team Time 1 222h 25' 14" 2 + 38' 00" 3 + 54' 46" 4 + 1h 01' 28" 5 + 1h 25' 12" 6 + 1h 48' 16" 7 + 1h 56' 38" 8 + 2h 00' 07" 9 + 2h 13' 27" 10 + 2h 54' 18"
References
External links