{"id":225749,"date":"2025-10-26T02:52:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T02:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/225749\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T02:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T02:52:10","slug":"a-dream-come-true-vuelta-a-espana-confirms-2026-grand-depart-with-glamorous-monaco-time-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/225749\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;A dream come true&#8221; \u2013 Vuelta a Espana confirms 2026 Grand D\u00e9part with glamorous Monaco time trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Just days after the unveiling of the 2026 Tour de France route, the organisers of the <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/vuelta-a-espana\" title=\"Vuelta a Espana\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Vuelta a Espana<\/a> have officially confirmed that next year\u2019s edition will begin in Monaco, marking yet another foreign start for Spain\u2019s Grand Tour.<\/p>\n<p>The 81st edition of the race will open with a 9.6km individual time trial around the Principality on 22 August 2026, bringing a touch of glamour and spectacle to La Vuelta\u2019s Grand D\u00e9part. The announcement was made in Monte Carlo, with race director Javier Guillen joined by Prince Albert II of Monaco and the Principality\u2019s Minister of State Christophe Mirmand.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nA growing international tradition<\/p>\n<p>Monaco will become the latest overseas host city to open La Vuelta, following previous departures in Turin (2025), Lisbon (2024) and Utrecht (2022) \u2014 underlining the race\u2019s growing ambition to reach international audiences.<\/p>\n<p>While the full route will not be revealed until 17 December, organisers expect the first two road stages to take place in France before the race crosses the Pyrenees and enters Spanish territory.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMonaco gives us the opportunity to make history\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to Marca, Guillen said: \u201cMonaco gives us the opportunity to make a dream come true and to make La Vuelta part of history. Starting from Piedmont this year and from Monaco next year helps reaffirm La Vuelta as one of the most important sporting events in the world. Cycling is a wonderful sport that not only brings joy to those who watch or practise it, but also connects territories and unites two nations with a rich history through the bicycle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prince Albert added that the project carries both pride and prestige for the Principality: \u201cWe wanted to create a small \u2018Tour of Monaco\u2019 before heading into France. We\u2019re going to become the only city to have hosted the start of all three Grand Tours \u2014 it\u2019s a great satisfaction, an honour, and also a responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 2026 Vuelta a Espana is expected to continue the event\u2019s growing globalisation, with its Monaco start offering one of the most scenic and prestigious openings in the race\u2019s history. More details on the early stages and full route will follow in December.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just days after the unveiling of the 2026 Tour de France route, the organisers of the Vuelta a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-225749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}