Vuelta a España 2026 starts Aug. 22 with record 58,156m climbing

The 2026 Vuelta a España, cycling's final Grand Tour of the season, is set to begin with a short individual time trial in Monaco on Saturday, August 22. The 21-stage race will conclude in Granada on September 13, after traversing a route heavily weighted toward climbing through France, Andorra, and Spain. World champion Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates enters as the overwhelming favorite to claim his first Vuelta title and complete a career Grand Tour hat trick.

The route is among the most demanding in modern cycling, featuring a staggering 58,156 meters of vertical climbing, the equivalent of ascending Mount Everest nearly seven times. Organizers have delivered seven major summit finishes, with a particular concentration of brutal stages in the race's final week through southern Spain's Andalucía region. Race director Javier Guillén described the parcours as "a Vuelta with major mountain attractions," designed to favor climbers.

Pogačar, 27, returns to La Vuelta for the first time since 2019, when he announced his arrival by finishing third overall and winning three stages. He has since won the past four Grand Tours he entered. His primary historical target is to become only...