2026 Vuelta a España fantasy cycling tips| Top tips to help you win your fantasy cycling league

For every Grand Tour fantasy cycling league, it’s the same story when it comes to the list of riders in the mix: the search for dark horses. Especially in the Vuelta a España—arguably the most unpredictable Grand Tour of the year—these riders can make all the difference in the end. To help you top your fantasy league, IDL Pro Cycling highlights a few riders to watch, with good reason.

Watch now or coming soon on In de Leiderstrui:
- Preview of the 2026 Vuelta a España
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- Favourites for the points classification
- Favourites for the Mountains Classification
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Anyone looking at the Visma | Lease a Bike roster will likely focus first and foremost on Wout van Aert and Matthew Brennan. However, we’d like to add a third choice—in addition to the team’s general classification contenders—in the form of Christophe Laporte. The Frenchman has faced his share of challenges over the past year and a half, but when he’s racing...

... he’s in it to win it. This season he’s only had 20 race days, but in those races he finished in the top 10 a total of 14 times. And while it may not be widely discussed, Laporte is also a serious contender for the first red jersey in Monaco. And not just because he’s from La-Seyne-sur-Mer, not far from Monaco. On a similar course in Copenhagen during the 2022 Tour, he was even on his way to claiming the first yellow jersey until he crashed on the wet, technical circuit.

If Visma | Lease a Bike, with either Wout van Aert or Matthew Brennan, sets its sights on the green jersey, Laporte could also be called upon to help in that effort. The Frenchman, who missed the Tour due to a quadriceps tear, has often been used in the past to snatch points from competitors at intermediate sprints and finishes, thereby securing the points classification as quickly as possible.

The general expectation is that this will be a Vuelta with plenty of opportunities for breakaway riders. Whereas riders like Vingegaard or Pogacar typically aim for five or six stage wins in the Tour de France, that level of dominance is often somewhat less pronounced in the Vuelta a España. And that opens up opportunities for the many attackers lining up at the start.

At Movistar, the first thing that catches the eye might be the quality of top talent Ivan Romeo, who recently finished third in Poland, but on the other hand, there’s also the sheer volume of talent provided by Raul Garcia Pierna. The Spaniard, who joined Movistar last season after the defunct Arkeá team folded, has been on the attack in all kinds of races all season long. In the Tour de France—which wasn’t exactly breakaway-friendly—he was part of the breakaway group in 7 of the 19 stages.

In June, he was part of a decisive breakaway four times in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, earning him three top-5 finishes and second place in the points classification. He’s already given it a shot in the Basque Country (4 out of 5 stages), Valencia (2 out of 4), and several one-day races, so we can expect to see this strong time-trialist again in the Vuelta. Will he be the Andreas Leknessund (Giro) of this Vuelta?

We’ve already mentioned that there are plenty of opportunities for breakaway riders, but on the other hand, there are also opportunities for the riders who are actually aiming for a top spot in the general classification. In the peloton, the value of finishing low in the top ten does decrease somewhat, but in the various strategies that can be employed, the payoff remains the same.

That is precisely why a rider like Cristian Rodriguez (XDS-Astana) could be an interesting prospect. The Spaniard finished 13th in the Vuelta in 2023 and 2024 and is eager to break into the top ten. The fact that he—just like the aforementioned Garcia Pierna—has moved from the somewhat lackluster Arkea to a better team could help him achieve that goal.

Rodriguez already finished second in the Tour of Oman this season and, in June at the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, was able to hold his own against Tour contenders like Skjelmose, Ayuso, Johannesen, and Seixas during the final weekend. If he’s in good enough shape, a solid finish is definitely within reach.

Last year, we already included Ivo Oliveira in our picks, and that turned out well at the time. The Portuguese rider was part of UAE’s winning TTT team and finished fifth himself in the shortened time trial in Valladolid during the final week. In 2026, he’ll be back, but this time as a teammate of the top favorite, Tadej Pogacar.

Oliveira is usually considered the rider tasked with protecting Pogacar on the flat, a role he also took on this season in the Tour de Romandie. If the team leader is safe, the Portuguese rider might just get a chance of his own in a sprint, or the peloton could ride safely to the finish if a breakaway group has formed.

In any case, the team from the Emirates has great confidence in the Oliveiras, who are normally expected to receive a three-year contract extension. It’s possible that this could be sealed with a small—collective—success in the Vuelta.

As good as Oliveira’s tip was last year, Leo Bisiaux’s was just as lackluster. Still, we’re sticking with the Frenchman again this year. In 2025, he finished third in Burgos, but didn’t make an impact in the Vuelta. This year, he guided Felix Gall to the overall victory and finished seventh himself, having previously secured top-three finishes in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Clásica de San Sebastián, and numerous podium finishes in France.

The reason we have confidence in this barely 21-year-old Frenchman again this year lies in the plan that he and his team have been following. Bisiaux has known since the start of the season that he needs to peak for the Vuelta a España.

The fact that Gall is a podium contender on the team isn’t necessarily a disadvantage. Gregor Mühlberger and Callum Scotson have been designated as versatile support riders, while Matthew Riccitello is certainly capable of securing a good overall classification as well. The fast and strong climber Bisiaux, just like Jordan Labrosse, will have opportunities to go for his own victory.

When it comes to Spanish Pro-Continental teams, you often have to look hard to find potential gems. For this Vuelta, Cesar Macias could fall into that category. Macias is a young Mexican rider; ever since Isaac del Toro’s performances, Mexico has also caught the cycling bug. While Del Toro excels on the climbs, Macias shines more on the flats.

Macias rode his last races in China, where he won a stage at Qinghai Lake, and in the Dominican Republic. Prior to that, the Central American rider—who is a reasonably strong climber—competed in the entire Flemish spring season, during which he still managed to secure a few podium finishes in the Scheldeprijs, the Tour of Limburg, and the Scheldeprijs.

However, the 22-year-old rider’s greatest achievements came in 2025, when he nearly won a stage twice in the most famous U23 race of them all—the Tour de l’Avenir. In the flatter stages, Macias held his own among top talents like Noah Hobbs and Davide Donati, who are likely to be among the fastest riders in the world within a few years.

If there’s one rider in the Vuelta peloton who’s had high expectations placed on him for years, it’s Jarno Widar. The Belgian, barely 20 years old, finished second in last year’s Tour de l’Avenir, behind... Paul Seixas. In fact, Widar won two mountain stages ahead of the Frenchman, as well as Jorgen Nordhagen of Visma | Lease a Bike—who is also competing in this Vuelta—and U23 world champion Lorenzo Finn of Red Bull.

At Lotto-Intermarché, they’re taking a cautious approach with Widar, who’s already had his share of bad luck this season. For now, the punchy rider will focus on stage wins. “Jarno is a winner, and he’s heading to Monaco with that mindset. We’re aiming for a stage win. Although he—and we as a team—would also be very proud if he manages a top-five finish in the coming three weeks.”

"We’re deliberately choosing not to set a specific general classification goal," team manager Mario Aerts explained further. "The most important thing is for him to gain experience, without any pressure. We’ll take the Vuelta day by day and see where that takes us along the way." The question is to what extent the highly motivated Widar can go along with that himself. But the potential is there, as we also saw this year in the Algarve, Switzerland, and Burgos.

Due to a crash, Primoz Roglic’s form is not entirely guaranteed for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, so the primary objective has shifted from the overall classification to winning stages. One of the designated riders—alongside sprinter Jordi Meeus—is New Zealander Finn Fisher-Black.

Kiwi is only 24, but has already ridden for Visma, UAE, and now Red Bull. This season, he has already finished second in four different WorldTour races—the Tour Down Under, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the Tour de Romandie, and most recently the Tour of Poland—but that first WorldTour victory is still elusive. That’s the goal for the upcoming Vuelta.

"We want Finn to race aggressively, create opportunities, and seize them when they arise," said team director Sven Vanthourenhout. Fisher-Black added, “I feel like I’m in good shape heading into the race, and I’m eager to win some stages.”

Speaking of talent: Slovenian Jakob Omrzel also falls into the same category as Widar and Nordhagen. The 20-year-old rider won last year’s Giro Next Gen and is now preparing for his first Grand Tour, but his team is keeping expectations in check. “This is his first Grand Tour, and he’s here to learn a lot. Having Pello by his side will be especially valuable.”

Still, Omrzel managed to make his mark again this year in the few races he competed in. In the Tour of the Alps and the Tour of Hungary, he finished in the top ten; in his home country’s tour, he came in third; and in the Clásica San Sebastián, he was also in the leading group.

He’s certainly a good cyclist, and he’ll only get better in the future, but will it happen in time for this Vuelta a España?

The last name on our list is a fairly well-known one: Stefan Küng of Tudor. This is partly a gesture of support, which you’ll understand after watching his rehab video. After a serious crash in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad at the end of February, Küng did everything he could to ensure he’d still be able to race in 2026.

So it’s understandable that he recently let his tears flow freely in the Tour of Poland after winning the final time trial. The next stop for the Swiss team is Monaco, where the Vuelta will also kick off with a time trial.

Two years ago, Küng already had a strong showing in the Vuelta a España on behalf of Groupama-FDJ, competing in the sprints and winning the final time trial. In the absence of a sprinter and a true general classification contender—unless you want to count Marco Brenner—he can now seize his opportunities, which was already a major ambition of his during his rehabilitation (see video below).