The stars of La Vuelta 26 were introduced on Thursday to the crowds in Monaco, starting with the world’s number 1 rider Tadej Pogacar, who lives in the Principality. “It has been a dream for a few years”, he says as he aims to add the Spanish Grand Tour to his unique record. Pogacar will notably face his Slovenian compatriot Primoz Roglic, a four-time winner of La Vuelta. Richard Carapaz, Felix Gall and Mattias Skjelmose also expressed their GC ambitions two days before the Gran Salida. Stage hunters such as Mads Pedersen, Wout van Aert and Kaden Groves are also set to animate the three weeks from Monaco to Granada with their power and versatility.
Pogacar comes to fulfil "a dream"
La Vuelta was the first Grand Tour Tadej Pogacar rode, finishing 3rd in 2019 before his 21st birthday, and it remains the last one missing from his winning record, after five triumphs in the Tour de France and one in the Giro d’Italia. Three weeks from now, will he be the ninth rider to have won the three Grand Tours? “It has been a dream for a few years now”, the Slovenian says as he prepares to start from Monaco, where he lives, and to chase victory en route to Granada, where he is used to training.
“I wanted to do La Vuelta for a long time”, Pogacar developed. “We sat down in December and spoke about it. I really wanted to do it, also because the start is in Monaco. This year was the right time to do both the Tour de France and La Vuelta. It was quite a short time but I think it was enough to recover.” Since La Vuelta has been organised at the end of the summer, only Chris Froome was able to win the French and Spanish Grand Tours the same year (2017).
“I hope my legs are good”, Pogacar says while being touted as the absolute favourite. “We have amazing talents on the start line and it’s gonna be a very tough race, so it’s gonna be a hard Vuelta. I expect everybody who is here to be in shape. There are very good riders and it’s never easy.”
Roglic: “Instead of preparation, I did rehabilitation”
While Tadej Pogacar is embarked on a quest that may make him the greatest rider ever, there’s no doubt as to who has the best record at La Vuelta at the start of the 2026 edition: his compatriot Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), making his return to the event two years after claiming his fourth overall triumph (along with 15 stage wins and 2 wins in the points classification). His first victory, in 2019, coincided with Pogacar’s debut in Grand Tours. “Maybe it was the last time I beat him”, Roglic said with a laugh as he gets ready to pin a race number for the first time since the Slovenian national championships at the end of June.
“Instead of preparation, I did rehabilitation”, explained Roglic, who was hit by a car while training at the end of July. “Putting on my socks was the hardest thing to do three weeks ago. I still can’t lay on the right side, but I’m good enough to start the Vuelta.” The Slovenian star is used to bouncing back in spectacular fashion after the most painful setbacks, notably winning La Vuelta a few weeks after abandoning the Tour in 2021 and 2024. “In the end, I managed to do some training”, he says with his usual sens of self derision. “For the ten kilometres in Monaco, it should be fine, but then I’ll see day by day how it goes. I didn’t do any Grand Tour this year, so it will be nice to race a bit longer.”
All against Pogacar? "He is human, but he is Tadej"
Among the riders who participated in some of the most thrilling battles against Primoz Roglic in recent editions of La Vuelta, Richard Carapaz was second in 2020. Fresh off a spectacular Tour de France, where he took two stage wins and the polka dot jersey through long range attacks in the mountains, the Ecuadorian comes with his mind set on the highest ambitions: “We have a clear goal and that is to go for the overall standings”, EF Education-EasyPost’s leader said on Thursday. “We know we have a good opportunity and we don’t want to miss it. Of course, Tadej Pogacar is the best rider in the world and I have a lot of respect for him. I have never been in a position to battle against him for a Grand Tour GC, so I think it will quite emotional for me. I’ll give it my best. If we win, great, and if we finish second or third, that’s not too bad either, right?”
Carapaz is set to shake the race in the mountains, and the same goes with Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM). “I’m obviously very happy with the preparation an the win in [the Vuelta a] Burgos”, says the Austrian climber, aiming for another Grand Tour podium after finishing second of the Giro d’Italia earlier this year. “It gave me a lot of confidence and high expectations. With Tadej here, it’s gonna be difficult to fight for the win. I suspect he’s gonna be tired after the Tour. He is human, but he is Tadej. In the end, all I can do is focus on myself and do my best. Another podium would be amazing. There are quite a few good riders aiming for the podium with Carapaz, Onley, Skjelmose, Roglic, Mas…”
Stage hunters gear up: “Always a pleasure to race against Wout”
A few weeks after he conquered the green jersey of the Tour de France, thus completing his set of Grand Tour points standings triumphs, Mads Pedersen is back for more at La Vuelta, where he already ruled in 2022 and 2025. “I would say that we can aim for five to seven stage wins”, Lidl-Trek’s Danish leader says ahead of his third participation (3 stage wins in 2022, 1 in 2025). “It will be difficult but we believe it’s a possibility, otherwise it would make no sense being there. In some, I’ll need to find the climbing legs I had in the Tour.”
Pedersen is looking forward to battling with a fellow Classics expert in Wout van Aert: “For me, it’s always a pleasure to race against a rider of that level.” The Belgian impressed in his first La Vuelta participation (2024), winning three stages on different terrain and wearing La Roja and the green jersey, before he had to withdraw due to a crash on stage 16. “My goal, and the goal of the team, is to be as successful as possible, to win as many stages as possible”, the Belgian star claimed, explaining Visma-Lease a Bike are “here more for stage wins than for a clear GC goal”, which doesn’t prevent him from eyeing La Roja early in the race: “The time trial and stage 2 should be my opportunity. It would be a dream to wear it again.”
Gifted with a similar set of skills, Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech) has won seven stages, as well as the points standings in 2023 and 2024. “La Vuelta is always a super hard Grand Tour, but it suits my characteristics”, the Australian sprinter analyses.
Spanish figures look for sensations: "I just want to race"
At 36 years old, Mikel Landa is going through what may well be his toughest season since he turned professional in 2011, a year before his first La Vuelta participation. “I’m not enjoying anything”, admits the Basque icon, whose crash in the Itzulia Basque Country prevented riding the Giro d’Italia and then the Tour de France. He is now set for a final Grand Tour with Soudal Quick-Step before racing with the orange jersey of Euskaltel-Euskadi the next couple of years: “I’ve come such a long way, I’ll be happy with anything. Let’s survive the first week and then we’ll see what kind of proper goals we can set for this Vuelta. I just want to race and leave it all behind me.” What version of Landa we’ll see in La Vuelta 26 remains unknown, but he’s already looking further ahead: “I want to participate again with a better preparation and better conditions.”
Aged 31, Enric Mas is younger and has been a staple on the podium of La Vuelta (2nd in 2018, 2021, 2022, 3rd in 2024), but he’s also faced recent challenges that leave question marks around his ability to carry Spain’s hopes to take the fore of the GC battle. “La Vuelta is where I’ve had my best results”, Movistar’s climber says ahead of his eighth participation. “We’re coming with a strong team, with riders for any kind of terrain, for flat stages, for the TTs… And then there’s Cian [Uijtdebroeks] and I. I will take things differently, because it’s been two years since I last fought for a GC. I’ll go day by day to really understand how I feel and hopefully find myself in a better position at the end of La Vuelta."
