{"id":749258,"date":"2026-08-25T13:16:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T13:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/749258\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T13:16:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T13:16:28","slug":"vuelta-gran-partida-gallery-from-one-extreme-to-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/749258\/","title":{"rendered":"Vuelta Gran Partida gallery: From one extreme to another"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                        <img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Harry-Talbot-Vuelta-Espana-2026---Stage-1-0710-1.jpg\" alt=\"Vuelta Gran Partida gallery: From one extreme to another\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                        <a class=\"article__category\" href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/tag\/news-and-racing\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">News &amp; Racing<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"article__sub-title\">In just three days, the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a went from the glitzy grandeur of Monaco to the hurried sanctuary of a mountainside hotel.<\/p>\n<p>                                <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kit Nicholson\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"author__photo lazy \" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/profile-pic-KN-150x150.jpg\" width=\"99\" height=\"99\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Gruber Images, Kristof Ramon, Cor Vos<\/p>\n<p>So far, the 2026 Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a has been a race of extremes: from the glitz and glamour of the Casino de Monte-Carlo in Monaco to an overcrowded hotel lobby in the Pyrenees as hailstones pummelled the world outside.<\/p>\n<p>Bike races have been known to start in some weird and wonderful places, including carpeted beachside boardwalks and supermarkets. For the Gran Partida in Monaco, the first stage got underway from perhaps the most glamorous location ever to host a time trial start. The long ramp was constructed to flow seamlessly from the top of the Casino de Monte-Carlo&#8217;s steps, jutting out into the Place du Casino not unlike a fashion runway. There was something very right about the pinnacle of cycling engineering getting an outing at the home of the Monaco Grand Prix, but images from within the casino where the riders waited their turn \u2013 a massive upgrade compared to the more traditional\u00a0staging area in a tent \u2013 revealed a delightful contrast between Monegasque luxury and the individual time trial, i.e. the most aesthetically baffling of all the cycling disciplines.<\/p>\n<p>The scenes that unfolded less than 48 hours later couldn&#8217;t have been more different as all 182 cyclists still in the race poured into a hotel just off the race route, seeking sanctuary from the marble-like hailstones that had left many in the peloton dotted with small welts. The finish line was still 15 km away, but the stage was abandoned.<\/p>\n<p>Despite what the results alone might indicate, it&#8217;s been a dramatic and memorable start to the Vuelta. Here&#8217;s just a small selection of some of the best photos from the first three days by Kristof Ramon, Cor Vos, and Harry Talbot and Russ Ellis shooting for Gruber Images. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kramon_260822_Vuelta_st1_iTT_00278-Enhanced-NR-widar.jpg\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\"  \/>The Casino de Monte-Carlo offered a majestic starting area for the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a. Grand Tour debutant Jarno Widar (Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9) is pictured here contemplating the effort ahead, surrounded by outlandish grandeur.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/cyclingimages-vuelta-26---Stage-1-819991.jpg\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1600\" height=\"2400\"  \/>Tudor&#8217;s Hannes Wilksch, another Grand Tour debutant, prepares to follow fellow first-timer Darren van Bekkum (XDS-Astana) off the ramp and into the afternoon sunlight pooling in the Place du Casino.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kramon_260822_Vuelta_st1_iTT_00301-schultz.jpg\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\"  \/>Nick Schultz (NSN) rolling into the famous Place du Casino for his effort.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kramon_260822_Vuelta_st1_iTT_00316.jpg\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\"  \/>That&#8217;s got to be one of the most magnificent time trial start gates in recent memory.<\/p>\n<p>                This post is for paying subscribers only<br \/>\n            <a class=\"gh-btn\" data-portal=\"signup\" href=\"#\/portal\/signup\" style=\"color:#FF6F42\">Subscribe now<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Already have an account? <a data-portal=\"signin\" href=\"#\/portal\/signin\">Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                Did we do a good job with this story?<\/p>\n<p class=\"reactions\" data-post-id=\"6a8b63c335c6b1715dd995eb\">\n                    \ud83d\udc4dYep<br \/>\n                    \ud83d\udc4eNope\n                <\/p>\n<p class=\"tags\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/tag\/news-and-racing\/\" title=\"News &amp; Racing\" class=\"tag tag-67a677ae0c7ad49bf4f293b3 news-and-racing\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">News &amp; Racing<\/a><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/tag\/vuelta-a-espana\/\" title=\"Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a\" class=\"tag tag-67a677ae0c7ad49bf4f29621 vuelta-a-espana\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a>\n                <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"News &amp; Racing In just three days, the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a went from the glitzy grandeur of Monaco&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-749258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749258","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=749258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}