2026 Vuelta

With La Vuelta starting today here is a breakdown of which teams or riders are aiming for which jerseys or other aims..

The fight for the red jersey and overall honors is very likely going to go to Tadej Pogacar and UAE team emirates but with Primoz Roglic looking to win for the 5th year it could be all to play for, will Pogacar complete the grand tour set or will Roglic become the first rider to win it 5 times. There is nothing to prevent both of them crashing out or being forced to abandon which would open it up to the rest of the field including the likes of Felix Gall.

Oscar Onley (INEOS) is one of the main contenders in the youth classification alongside Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar), both of whom will also be aiming to get a high place overall in the GC battle. Domestiques from other teams may find themselves well placed during the race.

The points classification may end up going to Mads Pedersen and the Lidl Trek power train that had success at the Tour earlier on in the year but Visma are sending both Matthew Brennan and Wout Van Aert. Both riders could become a threat to the aims of Lidl Trek unless Visma decide to go for stage wins instead which is likely.

Richard Carapaz may be going for the KOM classification and stage wins after a successful Tour as well but smaller teams may take the jersey as their aim and stage hunters may start to rack up the points. That is unless the GC contenders take the big points while fighting for time and distance from each other in the high mountains.

Everything has 3 weeks to play out over and there are going to be crashes, abandons and suffering, but it starts with a 9.4km ITT in Monaco.