Vuelta a España Vuelta 2026 route rumours

[ice&fire]

Had the Canary Islands stages gone ahead, they would have finished at 2390m ASL only.

El Teide ya estaba listo para La Vuelta

La etapa tenía permisos de medio ambiente y acababa a 2.390 metros. Tenerife no quiere que este proyecto caiga en saco roto y ya trabaja en recuperarlo.

as.com

 

[Red Rick]

I can't believe how hard they're overselling Teide. It's not Roque de las Muchuchos

 

[ice&fire]

I can't believe how hard they're overselling Teide. It's not Roque de las Muchuchos

Welcome to Cycling for Instagram 101

They just need an iconic podium background after the hotel parking this year. If it can't be Teide it will be the Alhambra in Granada.

 

[ice&fire]

The ITT in the province of Cádiz seems confirmed. I'm surprised at the lack of stages in northern Spain. Looks like after the cancellation of the Canary Islands they're just having more stages in central, eastern and southern Spain.

Roberto Gómez destaca la gran novedad: "Habrá una contrarreloj en Cádiz y es clave en la nueva Vuelta"

El periodista subraya en La Tribu la importancia del paso por la provincia gaditana en una edición histórica que no terminará en Madrid.

www.marca.com

 

[gavia88]

The ITT in the province of Cádiz seems confirmed. I'm surprised at the lack of stages in northern Spain. Looks like after the cancellation of the Canary Islands they're just having more stages in central, eastern and southern Spain.

Roberto Gómez destaca la gran novedad: "Habrá una contrarreloj en Cádiz y es clave en la nueva Vuelta"

El periodista subraya en La Tribu la importancia del paso por la provincia gaditana en una edición histórica que no terminará en Madrid.

www.marca.com

well, some years there is only nothern Spain in the route, so I don't mind a bit of variation

 

[Red Rick]

well, some years there is only nothern Spain in the route, so I don't mind a bit of variation

thing is the northern regions have better climbs to work with.

Like how does a Giro without the Alps or a Tour without the Alps/Pyrenees sound?

 

[gavia88]

thing is the northern regions have better climbs to work with.

Like how does a Giro without the Alps or a Tour without the Alps/Pyrenees sound?

sure, I agree, however, the organization didn't use many of the good combo's possible in the north. So, if it is all about _____/ I prefer at least some variation.

 

[vappaxbipmv]

The ITT in the province of Cádiz seems confirmed. I'm surprised at the lack of stages in northern Spain. Looks like after the cancellation of the Canary Islands they're just having more stages in central, eastern and southern Spain.

Roberto Gómez destaca la gran novedad: "Habrá una contrarreloj en Cádiz y es clave en la nueva Vuelta"

El periodista subraya en La Tribu la importancia del paso por la provincia gaditana en una edición histórica que no terminará en Madrid.

www.marca.com

Do we know anything about a length or profile of that TT?

 

[houtdffan]

The ITT in the province of Cádiz seems confirmed. I'm surprised at the lack of stages in northern Spain. Looks like after the cancellation of the Canary Islands they're just having more stages in central, eastern and southern Spain.

Roberto Gómez destaca la gran novedad: "Habrá una contrarreloj en Cádiz y es clave en la nueva Vuelta"

El periodista subraya en La Tribu la importancia del paso por la provincia gaditana en una edición histórica que no terminará en Madrid.

www.marca.com

Is Guillen actually putting together a better route than Gouvenou?

 

[ice&fire]

Do we know anything about a length or profile of that TT?

No, but since the opening stage is also an ITT I'd expect this one to be around 30km short or less.

Is Guillen actually putting together a better route than Gouvenou?

I'm not going to punish myself trying to compare their routes

 

[gavia88]

at least it will be pancake flat around Cadiz

 

[Red Rick]

Look guys, it's the Vuelta. The ITTs will be between 25 and 30km until the morale improves.

 

[ice&fire]

at least it will be pancake flat around Cadiz

They say in the province, not necessarily around the capital city. So there's plenty of hills for them to choose from.

We have stage finishes at La Pandera...

La provincia tendrá protagonismo en la Vuelta Ciclista a España 2026

Andalucía tendrá un protagonismo especial en la Vuelta Ciclista a España de 2026 y, si se cierran los acuerdos con ayuntamientos y diputaciones, las ocho provin...

www.diariojaen.es

...and Córdoba

Palma del Río apunta a acoger la salida de una etapa de la Vuelta a España 2026 con meta en Córdoba

La jornada cordobesa de la ronda ciclista se disputará entre el 4 y el 10 de septiembre y recorrerá íntegramente la provincia

www.diariocordoba.com

Add the two stages in Granada, Peñas Blancas in Málaga and the rumour of another stage in Almería and we have a summer edition of the Vuelta a Andalucía

 

[gavia88]

Well, it seems again, no multi mountain Alpejuras stage with Haza del Lino, but instead a useless Pandera finish, totally not unexpected, but highly disappointing still

 

[OlavEH]

thing is the northern regions have better climbs to work with.

Like how does a Giro without the Alps or a Tour without the Alps/Pyrenees sound?

If they had used the Canaries, I actually think it could have been quite fine without the Northwestern part of Spain. Andorra + south + Canaries could have been a pretty good version.

 

[ice&fire]

thing is the northern regions have better climbs to work with.

Like how does a Giro without the Alps or a Tour without the Alps/Pyrenees sound?

There are still a few unexplored combinations of Calar Alto + Velefique (and their western neighbour Escúllar) that deserve a chance before having another go to the Cobertoria + San Lorenzo combo.

Then, there's the many sides of Haza del Lino and the climbs in Sierra de Contraviesa.

But I won't complain if they go for something like Mirador de la Cabra, Purche, Hazallanas and Alguacil.

Meanwhile, Huelva joins the summer edition of the Vuelta a Andalucía, with a stage starting in the hilly interior and finishing near the sea. That's one for the sprinters.

https://www.diphuelva.es/prensa/La-Vuelta-Ciclista-a-Espana-recorrera-de-norte-a-sur-la-provincia-de-Huelva-en-una-etapa-historica-entre-Cortegana-y-La-Rabida/

 

[gavia88]

There are also the Alpejuras, very good combi's possible there. And you can add Puerto de Escúllar/Padilla + Enix to the Calar Alto region. So, in that case Pandera is very disappointing

 

[ice&fire]

According to Unipublic's official bootlicker, this will be the hardest route of the last decade, visiting four countries and six of the eastern and southern regions of mainland Spain. I guess that's Catalunya, Aragón, Valencia, Castilla la Mancha, Murcia and Andalucía, with all its 8 provinces hosting stages. There will be between 7 and 9 MTFs, only one of them unprecedented, and stages with more than 4000m of accumulated climbing (!)

Las claves de La Vuelta 2026: la más dura de la década y en cuatro países

La 81ª edición, que se presenta en una semana en Mónaco, el punto de partida, tendrá la zona mediterránea y el sur de protagonistas. Desenlace en Granada.

as.com

 

[gavia88]

Sound like a lot of medium mountain stages, with a hard climb to finish the stage. Aitana will be very typical for this, probably a few 2nd category climbs, but impossible to force something before the final mountain finish. They can do if they want the same with Los Reales, Laguna de Neila, ect. Medium mountain, easily surpassing 3000 meters of altitude, but impossible to have long range attacks.

The only changes left for real mountain stages are Andorra (but very early in the race), Almeria (Ventana, Calor Alto) and/or Granada.

 

[ice&fire]

They don't want long range attacks. Their target audience is the casual viewer and their goal is to pretend that something can happen almost every day but keep the race close until the end. They were still mad about Fuente Dé when O'Connor happened.

 

[staubsauger]

They don't want long range attacks. Their target audience is the casual viewer and their goal is to pretend that something can happen almost every day but keep the race close until the end. They were still mad about Fuente Dé when O'Connor happened.

Hence why it would be ideal to have the Vuelta a Espana switch to May so you can revive the Ardnennes puncheurs with a block of classics & Vuelta __/ stages next to the big mountain stages in the Pyrenees & Picos de Europa!

Giro d'Italia to September then where you get riders coming from the Tour de France or after having abandoned it!

 

[Red Rick]

Hence why it would be ideal to have the Vuelta a Espana switch to May so you can revive the Ardnennes puncheurs with a block of classics & Vuelta __/ stages next to the big mountain stages in the Pyrenees & Picos de Europa!

Giro d'Italia to September then where you get riders coming from the Tour de France or after having abandoned it!

Is there anything that normies don't ruin?

 

[Unchained]

Is there anything that normies don't ruin?

Short answer, no.

 

[staubsauger]

Is there anything that normies don't ruin?

I mean you still have that exact type of stages currently at the Vuelta a Espana. You just don't have the true puncheurs anymore since a few years.

And yes, I found those uphill sprints at Ans, the Cauberg & Mur de Huy where you only need to watch the final 5 minutes of a race boring too. But cycling needs variety and if a whole rider type dissappears that's not good.

So that definitely is an additional argument for me to give the puncheurs a block of race finishes they can succeed on by putting the Vuelta next to the Ardennes classics.

These almost 40 degrees dawdling stages at the Vuelta a Espana in August ain't no good for anybody and it's only getting worse!

 

[ice&fire]

Neither the Giro nor the Vuelta want to change dates. Who is it then? Pogacar and some of the so-called fans that represent a small minority of the target market for the organisers?

Let me look for the old man yelling at cloud meme.