{"id":881688,"date":"2026-09-06T04:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T04:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/881688\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T04:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T04:20:12","slug":"2026-vuelta-a-espana-start-list-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/881688\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a start list"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Giro d’Italia and Tour de France<\/a> have come and gone, which means there is only one Grand Tour left in 2026: the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a>. The Spanish stage race begins on August 22, and IDL Pro Cycling will be keeping track of the (confirmed) participants throughout the race.<\/p>\n

While the start lists for the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France are usually announced fairly early, that\u2019s often not the case for the Vuelta. Many riders have already completed a Grand Tour, so it\u2019s often a case of team’s making last-minute decisions.<\/p>\n

This year, the Vuelta will begin in Monaco on August 22 with an individual time trial. Over the course of the three weeks<\/a>, riders will, of course, have to tackle the usual elevation gain, though the finish will not be in Madrid this time. Due to the Formula 1 street race in the Spanish capital, Granada will host the final stage.The top favorite is Tadej Pogacar<\/a>, whose team, UAE Emirates-XRG, was the first to announce its eight-rider roster<\/a>. The Slovenian, who has a chance to complete his Grand Tour trilogy, will be supported by riders including Joao Almeida, Jay Vine, and Kevin Vermaerke.<\/p>\n

In addition to Pogacar, Wout van Aert, Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike), Mads Pedersen, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS), among others, are also expected at the start.<\/p>\n

Riders abandon the Vuelta as early as stage 2<\/p>\n

The Tour of Spain started on Saturday, August 22, with a time trial, in which everyone managed to reach the finish in one piece. The first dropout occurred after a crash on day two: Sergio Chumil, a rider from Gautamala riding for Burgos-BH, hit the asphalt hard and had to abandon the race. Day three saw the second withdrawal: Alex Kirsch of Cofidis.<\/p>\n

After finishing stage 4 with a broken ankle and bursting into tears at the line<\/a>, Cian Uijtdebroeks stepped off his bike before the start of stage 5.<\/p>\n

One day later, on stage five, we crossed Roel van Sintmaartensdijk off the list. The Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9 rider crashed and could not continue. The race doctor indicated afterwards that Van Sintmaartensdijk sustained multiple cuts and abrasions.<\/p>\n

On day six, we saw Josh Tarling abandon. The Briton from Netcompany INEOS nearly won the opening time trial, a week after the death of his younger brother. His abandonment was therefore entirely understandable<\/a>. Markel Beloki (EF Education-EasyPost) also called it quits on stage 6.Stage 8 causes major disruption<\/p>\n

The eighth stage got off to a dramatic start straight away. Even before the start, there was a major crash, which caused the start to be delayed. Everyone got back on their bikes, but Diego Uriarte was eventually forced to withdraw. The man who had been the first to start the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a was now out of the race early. Floris Van Tricht (NSN), making his Grand Tour debut for Belgium, was also forced to withdraw as a result.<\/p>\n

Mattia Gaffuri (Picnic PostNL) also withdrew shortly afterwards. The Italian had not been involved in the pre-start crash, but went down an hour later. He was forced to withdraw on his debut. Not long after, the Vuelta\u2019s defining crash occurred: Tadej Pogacar fell<\/a> and appeared to have broken his collarbone. The red jersey wearer was forced to withdraw from the race.<\/p>\n

One day later, UAE Emirates-XRG also lost the young climber Pablo Torres, forcing the team to continue with six riders.<\/p>\n

First rest day brings more dropouts at the Vuelta<\/p>\n

After the rest day, we saw another dropout before the tenth stage. George Bennett (NSN) left the race. The New Zealand champion was a last-minute addition to the selection and therefore lasted a week. On behalf of Picnic PostNL, Henri-Francois Haquin decided not to continue for reasons that are still unclear. Ben Turner also called it quits en route.<\/p>\n

On stage eleven, we also had to continue without Mads Pedersen, who had been battling illness for several days and decided to call it quits<\/a> with the World Championships in mind.<\/p>\n

A day later, two riders did not appear at the start: Lindsay De Vylder of Alpecin-Premier Tech and David Gonzalez of Pinarello – Q36.5. Ben Tulett (Visma | Lease a Bike) abandoned due to the consequences of his crash in stage eight; Hamish McKenzie (Jayco AlUla) also said goodbye to the race after a crash.<\/p>\n

UAE and Decathlon lose key domestiques on stages 12 and 13<\/p>\n

At the end of the twelfth stage, it emerged that two more riders had failed to reach the finish. Jay Vine (UAE Emirates-XRG) withdrew from the race, as he was no longer feeling well. Arthur Kluckers, riding for Tudor, was found to have suffered heatstroke, forcing him to withdraw. Fortunately, the Luxembourger had recovered by the evening following various tests.<\/p>\n

For stage 13, Alexey Lutsenko did not line up at the start. This was surprising, as he had finished fourth just the day before. However, the Kazakh rider from NSN had fallen ill. Early in the stage, Gregor M\u00fchlberger (Decathlon CMA CGM) took a heavy fall. The Austrian, lead-out man for third-placed Felix Gall, was ninth in the general classification himself, but was unable to continue.<\/p>\n

Later in the day, Sente Sentjens and Francesco Busatto were also forced to abandon the race. With the departure of these two riders, Alpecin-Premier Tech lost two riders in one fell swoop: Sentjens was suffering from the heat, whilst Busatto was still feeling the after-effects of a crash. Pavel Sivakov (UAE Emirates-XRG) also threw in the towel, leaving his team with just four riders remaining.<\/p>\n

Christophe Laporte’s withdrawal a major blow for Visma<\/p>\n

Before the start of stage fourteen, there was another withdrawal: Motiz Kretschky, an Grand Tour debutant for NSN, pulled out after developing a fever during the night. Along the way, Oliver Peace (PicnicPostNL), Hugo Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Christophe Laporte (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon CMA CGM) joined them in the Spanish heat of over 40 degrees.<\/p>\n

\u2018At the start, it wasn\u2019t too bad. It was humid, but we\u2019re used to that. The last two hours, on the other hand\u2026 Every descent we took felt like we were riding into a whole new kind of sauna. It was absolutely mad,\u2019 Sander De Pestel told Sporza<\/a>. \u2018More riders have been taken to hospital, so something needs to be done.\u2019Confirmed team and leaders for the 2026 Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a Participants and bib numbers for the 2026 Vuelta a Espa\u00f1aRed Bull-BORA-hansgrohe<\/p>\n

1 Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d
2 Finn Fisher-Black
3 Jordi Meeus
4 Gianni Moscon
5 Callum Thornley
6 Luke Tuckwell
7 Gianni Vermeersch
8 Frederik Wandahl<\/p>\n

UAE Emirates-XRG<\/p>\n

11 Tadej Pogacar
12 Joao Almeida
13 Domen Novak
14 Ivo Oliveira
15 Pavel Sivakov
16 Pablo Torres
17 Kevin Vermaerke
18 Jay Vine<\/p>\n

Movistar<\/p>\n

21 Enric Mas
22 Jorge Arcas
23 Orluis Aular
24 Carlos Canal
25 Pablo Castrillo
26 Raul Garcia
27 Ivan Romeo
28 Cian Uijtdebroeks<\/p>\n

Visma | Lease a Bike<\/p>\n

31 Wout van Aert
32 Bruno Armirail
33 Matthew Brennan
34 Steven Kruijswijk
35 Sepp Kuss
36 Christophe Laporte
37 J\u00f8rgen Nordhagen
38 Ben Tulett<\/p>\n

Decathlon CMA CGM<\/p>\n

41 F\u00e9lix Gall
42 L\u00e9o Bisiaux
43 Oscar Chamberlain
44 Sander De Pestel
45 Jordan Labrosse
46 Gregor M\u00fchlberger
47 Matthew Riccitello
48 Callum Scotson<\/p>\n

Pinarello – Q36.5<\/p>\n

51 David de la Cruz
52 Xabier Azparren
53 Walter Calzoni
54 Marcel Camprubi
55 Edward Dunbar
56 Thomas Gloag
57 David Gonzalez Lopez
58 Milan Vader<\/p>\n

Netcompany INEOS<\/p>\n

61. Oscar Onley
62. Jack Haig
63. Lucas Hamilton
64. Axel Laurance
65. Carlos Rodriguez
66. Embret Svestad-Bardseng
67. Joshua Tarling
68. Ben Turner<\/p>\n

Bahrain Victorious<\/p>\n

71 Pello Bilbao
72 Santiago Buitrago
73 Roman Ermakov
74 Matev\u017e Govekar
75 Pau Miquel
76 Jakob Omrzel
77 Mathijs Paasschens
78 Attila Valter<\/p>\n

Lidl-Trek<\/p>\n

81 Mattias Skjelmose
82 Julien Bernard
83 Lennard K\u00e4mna
84 Patrick Konrad
85 Jacopo Mosca
86 Mathias Norsgaard
87 Thibau Nys
88 Mads Pedersen<\/p>\n

Groupama-FDJ<\/p>\n

91 Cl\u00e9ment Berthet
92 Olivier Le Gac
93 Valentin Madouas
94 Guillaume Martin Guyonnet
95 Rudy Molard
96 Enzo Paleni
97 R\u00e9my Rochas
98 Bastien Tronchon<\/p>\n

Alpecin-Premier Tech<\/p>\n

101 Kaden Groves
102 Francesco Busatto
103 Lindsay De Vylder
104 Ramses Debruyne
105 Gal Glivar
106 Michael Gogl
107 Hugo Houle
108 Sente Sentjens<\/p>\n

NSN<\/p>\n

111 Alexey Lutsenko
112 George Bennett
113 Jan Hirt
114 Hugo Hofstetter
115 Moritz Kretschy
116 Pau Marti
117 Nicholas Schultz
118 Floris van Tricht<\/p>\n

Soudal Quick-Step<\/p>\n

121 Mikel Landa
122 Alberto Dainese
123 Gianmarco Garofoli
124 Ethan Hayter
125 Valentin Paret Peintre
126 Fabio van den Bossche
127 Mauri Vansevenant
128 Filippo Zana<\/p>\n

Uno-X<\/p>\n

131 Magnus Cort Nielsen
132 Simon Dalby
133 Fredrik Dversnes
134 Tobias Johannessen
135 Andreas Kron
136 Andreas Leknessund
137 Rasmus Tiller
138 Martin Tj\u00f8tta<\/p>\n

Cofidis<\/p>\n

141 Emanuel Buchmann
142 Bryan Coquard
143 Alex Kirsch
144 Sylvain Moniquet
145 Paul Ourselin
146 Alexis Renard
147 Louis Rouland
148 Sergio Samitier Samitier<\/p>\n

Jayco AlUla<\/p>\n

151 Alessandro Covi
152 Koen Bouwman
153 Paul Double
154 Asbj\u00f8rn Hellemose
155 Hamish McKenzie
156 Finlay Pickering
157 Rudy Porter
158 Jasha S\u00fctterlin<\/p>\n

EF Education-EasyPost<\/p>\n

161 Richard Carapaz
162 Vincenzo Albanese
163 Markel Beloki
164 Alastair MacKellar
165 Darren Rafferty
166 Juan Rodriguez
167 James Shaw
168 Georg Steinhauser<\/p>\n

Tudor<\/p>\n

171 Marco Brenner
172 William Barta
173 Arthur Kluckers
174 Stefan K\u00fcng
175 Roland Thalmann
176 Lawrence Warbasse
177 Fabian Weiss
178 Hannes Wilksch<\/p>\n

XDS-Astana<\/p>\n

181 Harold Tejada
182 Yevgeniy Fedorov
183 Lorenzo Fortunato
184 Victor Langellotti
185 Henok Mulubrhan
186 Cristian Rodriguez
187 Alessandro Romele
188 Darren van Bekkum<\/p>\n

Burgos-BH<\/p>\n

191 Jesus Herrada
192 Clement Alleno
193 Mario Aparicio Mu\u00f1oz
194 Sergio Geovani Chumil (DNF Stage 2, crash)
195 Jose Manuel Diaz
196 Jose Luis Faura Asensio
197 Sinuhe Fernandez Rodriguez
198 Cesar Macias<\/p>\n

Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9<\/p>\n

201 Jarno Widar
202 Vito Braet
203 Lars Craps
204 Steffen De Schuyteneer
205 Lorenzo Rota
206 Reuben Thompson
207 Luca van Boven
208 Roel van Sintmaartensdijk<\/p>\n

Picnic PostNL<\/p>\n

211 Christopher Hamilton
212 Timo de Jong
213 Mattia Gaffuri
214 Gijs Leemreize
215 Guillermo Juan Martinez
216 Oliver Peace
217 Henri Fran\u00e7ois Renard Haquin
218 Timo Roosen<\/p>\n

Equipo Kern Pharma<\/p>\n

221 Urko Berrade
222 Marc Brustenga
223 Ivan Cobo
224 I\u00f1igo Elosegui
225 Ibon Ruiz
226 Ivan Sosa
227 Diego Uriarte
228 Mats Wenzel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Giro d’Italia and Tour de France have come and gone, which means there is only one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":881689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,57970,85,6494,19805,432018],"class_list":["post-881688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-previews","tag-sports","tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-uae-team-emirates-xrg","tag-vuelta-a-espana-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}