Chasing Red from Monaco to Granada
Mark your calendars for the 2026 Vuelta a España!
On Saturday, 22nd August 2026, the final Grand Tour of the season returns for its 81st edition. La Vuelta a España opens with a 9.4 km individual time trial in Monaco, the third foreign start in a row for the race, before the peloton heads through southern France and Andorra on its way into Spain.
From there the race runs 21 stages in total, finishing on Sunday, 13th September 2026 in Granada, where the final circuit passes the Alhambra. Granada becomes only the eighth city ever to crown a Vuelta champion.
First held in 1935, La Vuelta has always been the Grand Tour with the sharpest edges: short stages, brutal gradients, late-summer heat, and a habit of rewarding riders who attack rather than calculate. Three weeks of it, in the hottest corner of Europe, decided almost entirely in the mountains.
The Team to Watch: UAE Team Emirates XRG
The Emirati squad arrives in Monaco with the biggest story of the race: Tadej Pogačar is riding La Vuelta for the first time since 2019, and Spain is the one Grand Tour missing from his palmarès. He won three stages and the young rider classification on his debut here seven years ago. Those were the first Grand Tour wins of his career.
Around him is a squad built for climbing. João Almeida finished second overall at last year's Vuelta and starts as the team's second GC card. Jay Vine and Pavel Sivakov bring mountain support, Pablo Torres makes his Grand Tour debut after a strong 2026, and Kevin Vermaerke, Domen Novak and Ivo Oliveira complete the eight.
"The motivation is high to finish off the year in a good way," Pogačar said when the squad was announced, calling the Vuelta a major target for him.
It will not be a formality. Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard is not expected to start after his Tour de France ended early, but the field still holds Enric Mas, Felix Gall, Mattias Skjelmose, Carlos Rodríguez, Mikel Landa and Primož Roglič, a four-time winner here whose participation has been in doubt since he was struck by a car in training. Add Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen hunting stages and the green jersey, and there is a race on every single day, whatever happens on GC.
Watch Every Stage Live at Wolfi's
We are just as excited as you are, which is why we will be showing La Vuelta a España in-store through the full three weeks.
Come and watch the racing with the rest of Dubai's cycling community: the summit finishes, the Jerez time trial, the Sierra Nevada showdown, and every ambush the Vuelta is famous for.
Connect with the community. Meet other fans, argue about tactics, and celebrate the stage results together.
Let's ride with the best. Whether you are backing UAE Team Emirates XRG for the red jersey or you simply love the chaos of a Spanish Grand Tour, La Vuelta 2026 has three weeks of it. There is no better place to follow it than with us.
Fanzone Locations:
- Wolfi's Flagship Dubai
- Colnago Caffè, Abu Dhabi
- The Service Course, Abu Dhabi
THE LA VUELTA JERSEYS
Maillot Rojo, the Red Jersey:
Worn by the leader of the general classification. La Roja is the one everything else is measured against, awarded to the rider with the lowest accumulated time.
Maillot Verde, the Green Jersey:
For the points classification. Sprint finishes and intermediate sprints decide it, which is why it usually goes to the fastest and most consistent finisher in the race.
Maillot de Lunares, the Polka Dot Jersey:
The King of the Mountains classification, earned on the summits. At La Vuelta the jersey is white with blue dots rather than the red dots of the Tour.
Maillot Blanco, the White Jersey:
The best young rider, meaning the highest placed rider in the general classification who is under 26. Pogačar won it here on his Grand Tour debut in 2019.
THE ROUTE
The 2026 Vuelta a España starts in Monaco, which becomes the first city to have hosted the opening stage of all three Grand Tours. After a technical 9.4 km time trial around the principality, the race crosses southern France and Andorra before entering Spain on stage 5.
From there the route runs almost entirely down the Mediterranean side of the country and into Andalusia, which hosts the final ten stages. There is no Asturias, no Pyrenean second week, and no Madrid finale. Instead the race ends with a queen stage in the Sierra Nevada and a circuit finish past the Alhambra in Granada.
Total Distance: 3,275 km
Stages: 21
Summit and uphill finishes: 7 (Font Romeu, Aramón Valdelinares, Alto de Aitana, Calar Alto, Sierra de La Pandera, Peñas Blancas, Collado del Alguacil)
Time Trials: 2 individual time trials, 41 km of racing against the clock in total
Total elevation gain: over 58,000 m
Rest Days: 2 (31 August and 7 September)
THE VUELTA STAGES
The official breakdown is 4 flat stages, 4 hilly stages, 1 hilly stage with an uphill finish, 4 medium mountain stages, 6 mountain stages and 2 individual time trials. The climbing starts on day three and barely stops.
- 21 stages
- 3,275 km total distance
- 7 summit and uphill finishes
- 2 individual time trials
- Over 58,000 m of climbing
- Rest days: 31 August and 7 September
Stage 1
Monaco → Monaco (9.4 km, Individual Time Trial)
The race opens beside the casino in Monte Carlo with a short, technical time trial finishing where the Formula 1 Grand Prix traditionally ends. Nine kilometres is not long enough to build a lead, but it is more than long enough to lose one.
Stage 2
Monaco → Manosque (214.3 km, Hilly)
The longest day of the race heads into Provence. Only two classified climbs, but more than 3,000 metres of elevation gain along the way, which makes it a lot harder than the profile suggests.
Stage 3
Gruissan → Font Romeu (174 km, hilly)
The first genuinely demanding stage. Around 2,600 metres of climbing, most of it packed into the final 35 kilometres, with the finish high in the French Pyrenees. GC riders will already be showing their hand.
Stage 4
Andorra La Vella → Andorra La Vella (104.8 km, Mountain)
Short and vicious. Just over 100 kilometres with four climbs and a downhill finish into Andorra la Vella. The kind of stage where the Vuelta traditionally blows the race apart in week one.
Stage 5
Falset → Roquetes (173 km, hilly)
Into Spain at last, through the Costa Daurada and down to Terres de l'Ebre. A day for the breakaway or a reduced sprint.
Stage 6
Alcossebre → Castelló (177 km, hilly)
A first in Vuelta history: this stage includes roughly 3.5 kilometres of unpaved road. Positioning and nerve will matter more than pure climbing legs.
Stage 7
Vall d'Alba → Aramón Valdelinares (150 km, mountain)
The first proper summit finish in Spain, climbing to the ski station at Valdelinares in Teruel. A long, steady ascent that suits the strongest climbers rather than the punchiest.
Stage 8
Puçol → Xeraco (171 km, Flat)
A rare gift for the sprinters along the Valencian coast, and one of very few clean opportunities in this route.
Stage 9
La Vila Joiosa → Alto de Aitana (187 km, mountain)
The last day before the first rest day finishes at the highest point in the province of Alicante. A serious GC test at the end of a hard opening week.
Rest Day – August 31
Stage 10
Alcaraz → Elche de la Sierra (187.7 km, Hilly)
A rolling day through Castilla-La Mancha coming out of the rest day. Breakaway territory.
Stage 11
Cartagena → Lorca (151.3 KM, FLAT)
Short and fast through Murcia. Another sprint chance, if the sprinters' teams still have the numbers to control it.
Stage 12
Vera → Calar Alto (166.6 KM, Mountain)
The race hits Andalusia and climbs to the observatory at Calar Alto in the Sierra de los Filabres. Long, exposed and hot, with nowhere to hide.
Stage 13
Almuñécar → Loja (192.8 km, Hilly)
From the Costa Tropical inland to Loja. Constant up and down, and a profile that suits a strong breakaway.
Stage 14
Jaén → Sierra de la Pandera (154.3 KM, MOUNTAIN)
La Pandera is one of the hardest finishes in Spanish cycling, a narrow road with brutally steep ramps near the top. Historically it produces big gaps.
Stage 15
Palma del Río → Córdoba (189.7 KM, Hilly)
The last stage before the second rest day, finishing in Córdoba. Punchy rather than mountainous, and a day the sprinters will not survive.
Rest Day – September 7
Stage 16
Cortegana → La Rábida, Palos de la Frontera (181.1 km, Hilly)
Through the Huelva province to the coast. On paper a calmer day, though coastal wind can turn it into anything.
Stage 17
Dos Hermanas → Sevilla (185 km, FLAT)
The sprinters' last big chance, finishing in the streets of Seville. Dos Hermanas hosts a Vuelta stage start for the first time.
Stage 18
El Puerto de Santa María → Jerez de la Frontera (32 km, Individual Time Trial)
The decisive time trial. At 32 kilometres in the third week, with the general classification largely settled, this is where the specialists can rewrite the standings.
Stage 19
Vélez-Málaga → Peñas Blancas, Estepona (210 KM, Hilly)
The longest stage of the final week ends with the long drag up to Peñas Blancas above Estepona. A hard day disguised as a transitional one.
Stage 20
La Calahorra → Collado del Alguacil (186.8 KM, Mountain)
The queen stage, in the Sierra Nevada. The route climbs the Alto de El Purche twice before the Puerto de El Duque and the final ascent to Collado del Alguacil. If the red jersey is still in play, it is decided here.
Stage 21
Granada → Granada (99.4km, Flat)
A short closing circuit in Granada, passing the Alhambra. The overall winner is crowned in a city hosting the finish of La Vuelta for the first time.
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Three Weeks of Cycling Magic
La Vuelta is the Grand Tour that refuses to be predictable. Short mountain stages, savage gradients, heat, and a route that saves its hardest day for the second-to-last. Whether you have followed the sport for decades or you are watching your first Grand Tour, the best way to experience it is alongside people who care about it just as much.
See you in-store, and let's ride with the best. Vamos UAE Team Emirates XRG!
