The 184 riders of La Vuelta 26 are ready to get the action going on Saturday with a historical Gran Salida. “Monaco becomes the only city in the world to have hosted the start of all three Grand Tours”, H.S.H. Prince Albert II rejoices. The event is particularly special for Victor Langellotti, Monaco’s national champion, and many other contenders are familiar with the Principality as they live here: Tadej Pogacar, Richard Carapaz, Mads Pedersen… TT experts also rejoice ahead of the opening stage, a 9.4 km individual effort with a course set to favour experts of the discipline on roads dear to motorsports enthusiasts.
Welcome to Monaco: “It is the turn of La Vuelta to discover our Principality”
For the seventh time in its long history, and the fourth time in five years, La Vuelta is setting off from outside Spain. After Lisbon (1997 and 2024), Assen (2009), Nîmes (2017), Utrecht (2022) and Venaria Reale (2025), it is now Monaco’s turn, as the Principality opens up its streets and monuments to the Spanish Grand Tour, marking a historic occasion for both the race and the Principality.
“It is a real pleasure and a great honour for us,” said H.S.H. Prince Albert II. “Following the Giro and the Tour de France, it is now the turn of La Vuelta to wind its way through the streets of our Principality and discover its most iconic and emblematic landmarks. Monaco thus becomes the only city in the world to have hosted the start of all three Grand Tours. ”
On 18 May 1966, the Giro d’Italia celebrated Monte Carlo’s centenary by launching the 49th edition of the Corsa Rosa from the Principality. On 4 July 2009, an individual time trial in Monaco saw Fabian Cancellara become the race’s first leader. The start was given by the Prince, and the riders quickly passed the Monte Carlo Casino, which on Thursday hosted the team presentation for La Vuelta 26 and will be the venue for Saturday’s time trial start.
Following the tracks of Formula 1 legends
“A very urban, very technical route, with plenty of speed and changes of pace”: this is how Kiko Garcia, technical director of La Vuelta 26, describes the route of the first stage. “It’s a time trial that obviously won’t decide the winner of La Vuelta, but it will show who is best equipped in terms of technique, explosive power and the ability to manoeuvre on a city circuit.”
The route will be relatively flat, with an elevation gain of 59 metres over a total distance of 9.4 kilometres. An intermediate point at the 5.6-kilometre mark will allow spectators to get a first glimpse at the hierarchy. The first of the 184 riders to set off, Mats Wenzel (Kern Pharma), will start at 4.17 pm. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) will roll at 7.20 pm, with an estimated finish time ten minutes later.
Motorsport enthusiasts will recognise the Monaco Grand Prix circuit, which forms a significant part of the route. The riders will pass through the Place du Casino, the famous Fairmont bend and the Louis II tunnel before arriving on Boulevard Albert 1er, where the victory cries of drivers such as Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli still echo.
Who will claim the first Roja?
The route to Granada features nearly 57,500 metres of climbing, but it’s up to the rouleurs to kick off La Vuelta 26. The time trial specialists have a golden opportunity to claim the first Roja and follow in the footsteps of Brandon McNulty, winner of the opening time trial in Lisbon in 2024, and Primoz Roglic, who triumphed in Burgos in 2021.
“I’ve trained more [for the time trial] because there’s something to be won,” says Wout van Aert, a four-time Belgian time trial champion, an ITT winner at the Tour de France, and a declared contender for the leader’s red jersey. “I have great memories of La Vuelta and the time trial I won in Madrid [2024],” smiles Stefan Küng (Tudor). “The course suits me well this year too.”
The Belgian and the Swiss will face other specialists along the way, including two Britons: Ethan Hayter, a four-time national champion (2021, 2022, 2025, 2026), and Josh Tarling, a two-time British champion (2023, 2024) and European champion (2023). The general classification contenders also have their first chance to size each other up. “There are fast, technical riders who will be very strong on this route,” predicts Pogacar. “I don’t think this first stage will favour me.”
The many Monegasque figures of the peloton: Langellotti, Pogacar, Roglic…
The start in Monaco features a very special participant: Monegasque rider Victor Langelloti (XDS Astana), the only rider from the Principality in the current professional peloton, who will begin his third appearance in La Vuelta on home soil, following his participation in the 2022 and 2025 editions with Burgos-BH. “As a Monegasque, it is an honour to be able to ride La Vuelta at home and a source of pride to be able to wear this jersey”, says Langellotti, who won both the road race and the ITT at the national championships. “In 2009, when the Tour de France started from here, as a local cyclist I was able to accompany Alberto Contador’s Astana team at the team presentation. Now, riding with them and being able to start La Vuelta at home is incredible – something I could never have imagined.”
Although Langelloti is the only rider from Monaco in the current professional peloton, there are many cyclists who are normally based in the Principality, and several of them will be taking part in this opening time trial. The list begins with Tadej Pogacar, who made no secret the Gran Salida in Monaco was a key factor for him to participate, and goes on with Richard Carapaz, Mads Pedersen, Hugo Houle, Oscar Chamberlain, Alessandro Covi, Steven Kruijswijk, Tobias Johanessen, Ed Dunbar… “It’s quite simple: Monaco is the perfect place to ride the bike”, Primoz Roglic explains. “I travelled a bit around the world, I think there is no place like this where you can combine so many climbs and different rides. You just start from zero and you can ride also in the winter because there is no snow, and it’s pretty amazing in terms of the roads.”
29 nationalities and two former winners
184 riders from 23 teams are set to line up at the start of La Vuelta after being presented to fans at the Monte Carlo Casino on Thursday. They will tackle a 3,299.2-kilometre route divided into 21 stages, crossing four countries (Monaco, France, Andorra and Spain).
In total, 29 nationalities are represented. The Spaniards have the largest contingent with 30 riders competing, compared with 23 French and 18 Belgian riders. Steven Kruijswijk (Visma-Lease a Bike), who will be 39 years and 76 days old on Saturday, is the oldest rider in the peloton, followed by the Spaniard David de la Cruz (Pinarello-Q36.5, aged 37), who is lining up for the 12th time – the highest number among the entrants. The Slovenian Jakub Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) is the youngest at 20 years and 154 days, the only rider born in 2006. He is closely followed by other debutants born in 2005, such as Jarno Widar (Lotto Intermarché) and Pablo Torres (UAE Emirates XRG).
Ten former winners of a distinctive jersey are on the start line, including two winners of La Roja: Primož Roglič (2019, 2020, 2021, 2024) and Sepp Kuss (2023). Roglic is also one of three former winners of the green jersey, which he claimed in 2019 and 2020. The other two are Mads Pedersen (2022, 2025) and Kaden Groves (2023, 2024). There are also three former winners of the mountains classification: Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet (2020), Richard Carapaz (2022) and Jay Vine (2024, 2025). Finally, three former best young rider winners are in contention: Enric Mas (2018, 2020), Tadej Pogacar (2019) and Mattias Skjelmose (2024). They can’t lay claim to the white jersey, which will therefore have a new winner.
