Vuelta a España Vuelta 2026 route rumours

[houtdffan]

It wasn't even the hardest climb on the stage it was in though

and it was only the 3rd hardest climb of the race

steepest climb does not equal hardest climb

 

[Valv.Piti]

I mean Crostis is basically a cross between Finestre and Zoncolan. Can't really tell whats the hardest of the three, its really close. I think I'd go with Crostis though solely looking at the percentages.

 

[ice&fire]

The race will start in Monaco with a TT using part of the F1 circuit:

La Vuelta 2026 saldrá de Mónaco con una crono: "El circuito de Fórmula 1 abarcará gran parte del recorrido"

La etapa inaugural tendrá una distancia de entre 8 y 12 kilómetros

www.marca.com

 

[McLovin]

I climbed both Zoncolan and Crostis. Crostis is a beauty, Zoncolan a beast. If you find your rithm then Crostis is quite ok as the slopes are constant.
Offtopic, for me personal Joux Plane was harder than both of them.

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

2nd straight year with French stages? Go straight to the Alps Maritimes after stage 1? Similar path to this years first week, hopefully they don’t butcher it incredibly like this year.

 

[houtdffan]

2nd straight year with French stages? Go straight to the Alps Maritimes after stage 1? Similar path to this years first week, hopefully they don’t butcher it incredibly like this year.

It is owned by ASO after all. ASO wants their French stages

 

[Red Rick]

Wonder if they simply follow the coast or if they put themselves in a weird position of having to make a long transfer again. With the race reportedly finishing on the Canary Islands you'd assume they'd want to avoid an unnecessarily long transfer early on in the race.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Wonder if they simply follow the coast or if they put themselves in a weird position of having to make a long transfer again. With the race reportedly finishing on the Canary Islands you'd assume they'd want to avoid an unnecessarily long transfer early on in the race.

They can easily enter either Catalonia or Andorra on stage 4 even with stage 2 also starting in Monaco and short (by Vuelta standards) transfers after stages 2 and 3. Finish someplace like Mont Faron on stage 2 and you have your race start sorted from both a logistical and a sporting perspective.

 

[Red Rick]

They can easily enter either Catalonia or Andorra on stage 4 even with stage 2 also starting in Monaco and short (by Vuelta standards) transfers after stages 2 and 3. Finish someplace like Mont Faron on stage 2 and you have your race start sorted from both a logistical and a sporting perspective.

I personally fancy a finish on Mont St. Claire.

 

[ice&fire]

2nd straight year with French stages? Go straight to the Alps Maritimes after stage 1? Similar path to this years first week, hopefully they don’t butcher it incredibly like this year.

For the hosting cities/regions, Vuelta stages are cheaper that Tour stages. For Unipublic, French cities/regions pay better than Spanish ones. It's a win-win situation!

 

[Netserk]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1963707250792354182

View: https://x.com/cirogazzetta/status/1963707250792354182

 

[Red Rick]

No Teide finish is the best news

 

[ice&fire]

No Teide finish is probably related to restrictions to finish inside the National Park area. As an alternative, they can try at the Observatory, which is outside the National Park and still above 2300m. In any case, I'm not a big fan of those superlong and shallow climbs.

On the other hand... this is one of the most Guillén-style climbs in Tenerife and the area (Masca valley) is overfeatured in Instagram and overcrowded.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Perfect. That means Pico de las Nieves should be the last big MTF, which is good because it's really hard but with the parts that make it really hard pretty far from the summit. Then use the best sides of Retamar and Izaña in a remotely competent way in your final weekend and you have a great finish to the race.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

The actual Guillén option in Tenerife is of course this, just tell him he isn't allowed to use it as a MTF.

 

[OlavEH]

Why dont use this as the last climb on a Tenerife stage? And then descent to Santa Cruz de Tenerife:

https://image.climbfinder.com/preventorio-el-chorrillo.png?v=1600123393

 

[Netserk]

No Teide finish is probably related to restrictions to finish inside the National Park area. As an alternative, they can try at the Observatory, which is outside the National Park and still above 2300m. In any case, I'm not a big fan of those superlong and shallow climbs.

On the other hand... this is one of the most Guillén-style climbs in Tenerife and the area (Masca valley) is overfeatured in Instagram and overcrowded.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1964053202757894233

View: https://x.com/cirogazzetta/status/1964053202757894233

 

[ice&fire]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1964053202757894233

View: https://x.com/cirogazzetta/status/1964053202757894233

Guillén can resist everything except temptation

 

[Libertine Seguros]

No Teide finish is probably related to restrictions to finish inside the National Park area. As an alternative, they can try at the Observatory, which is outside the National Park and still above 2300m. In any case, I'm not a big fan of those superlong and shallow climbs.

Izaña via Alto de Los Loros is perfectly fine. At the first Mirador you can turn right instead of left and descend into Santa Cruz.

 

[Red Rick]

Something like this would be nice

 

[Devil's Elbow]

As I said in the stage 21 thread, I don't see how having Spanish races and having IPT are compatible next year. Proof of concept:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1967604296708677657

 

[Netserk]

Would it be possible for all Spanish races to withdraw from the WT?

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Would it be possible for all Spanish races to withdraw from the WT?

With the WT calendar already confirmed for next year, presumably only if the UCI acquiesce, and I don't think the UCI will want to devaluate the WT if they can avoid it. And with the heightened importance of UCI points in recent years, it's a far more problematic step for the race organisers (who ultimately are caught in the crossfire here) than it was during the spat around 2008.

Edit: and a three-week race is also over the limit for non-WT races, so for the Vuelta specifically a rule change would be required too.

 

[Red Rick]

That's Canary's out of the Vuelta then.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

That's Canary's out of the Vuelta then.

At this point, I am not convinced there are 21 stages worth of potentially interested towns/regions that have no problem with hosting a race that features IPT. Even among those that do not support a ban on IPT, I doubt there will be many who are interesting in paying to host a very obvious target for protests.