Skip to content
NewsRace Previews
Calendars & Results
Team IDL
Advertising

2026 Vuelta a España start list & dropouts | 39 dropouts after punishing three weeks

Cycling
by David Bavin-Hobbs
paul double

Follow IDL Pro Cycling on Google

Stay up to date with the best cycling news by making us a preferred source on Google.

Follow us on Google
The 2026 Giro d'Italia and Tour de France have come and gone, which means there is only one Grand Tour left in 2026: the Vuelta a España. The Spanish stage race begins on August 22, and IDL Pro Cycling will be keeping track of the (confirmed) participants throughout the race.
ADVERTISEMENT
While the start lists for the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France are usually announced fairly early, that’s often not the case for the Vuelta. Many riders have already completed a Grand Tour, so it’s often a case of team's making last-minute decisions.
This year, the Vuelta will begin in Monaco on August 22 with an individual time trial. Over the course of the three weeks, riders will, of course, have to tackle the usual elevation gain, though the finish will not be in Madrid this time. Due to the Formula 1 street race in the Spanish capital, Granada will host the final stage.
ADVERTISEMENT
The top favorite is Tadej Pogacar, whose team, UAE Emirates-XRG, was the first to announce its eight-rider roster. The Slovenian, who has a chance to complete his Grand Tour trilogy, will be supported by riders including Joao Almeida, Jay Vine, and Kevin Vermaerke.
In addition to Pogacar, Wout van Aert, Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike), Mads Pedersen, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS), among others, are also expected at the start.

Riders abandon the Vuelta as early as stage 2

ADVERTISEMENT
The Tour of Spain started on Saturday, August 22, with a time trial, in which everyone managed to reach the finish in one piece. The first dropout occurred after a crash on day two: Sergio Chumil, a rider from Gautamala riding for Burgos-BH, hit the asphalt hard and had to abandon the race. Day three saw the second withdrawal: Alex Kirsch of Cofidis.
After finishing stage 4 with a broken ankle and bursting into tears at the line, Cian Uijtdebroeks stepped off his bike before the start of stage 5.
One day later, on stage five, we crossed Roel van Sintmaartensdijk off the list. The Lotto-Intermarché rider crashed and could not continue. The race doctor indicated afterwards that Van Sintmaartensdijk sustained multiple cuts and abrasions.
On day six, we saw Josh Tarling abandon. The Briton from Netcompany INEOS nearly won the opening time trial, a week after the death of his younger brother. His abandonment was therefore entirely understandable. Markel Beloki (EF Education-EasyPost) also called it quits on stage 6.

Stage 8 causes major disruption

ADVERTISEMENT
The eighth stage got off to a dramatic start straight away. Even before the start, there was a major crash, which caused the start to be delayed. Everyone got back on their bikes, but Diego Uriarte was eventually forced to withdraw. The man who had been the first to start the Vuelta a España was now out of the race early. Floris Van Tricht (NSN), making his Grand Tour debut for Belgium, was also forced to withdraw as a result.
Mattia Gaffuri (Picnic PostNL) also withdrew shortly afterwards. The Italian had not been involved in the pre-start crash, but went down an hour later. He was forced to withdraw on his debut. Not long after, the Vuelta’s defining crash occurred: Tadej Pogacar fell and appeared to have broken his collarbone. The red jersey wearer was forced to withdraw from the race.
One day later, UAE Emirates-XRG also lost the young climber Pablo Torres, forcing the team to continue with six riders.

Read also

Tadej Pogačar withdraws after a hard crash on the eighth stage of the Vuelta a EspañaTadej Pogačar withdraws after a hard crash on the eighth stage of the Vuelta a España

First rest day brings more dropouts at the Vuelta

ADVERTISEMENT
After the rest day, we saw another dropout before the tenth stage. George Bennett (NSN) left the race. The New Zealand champion was a last-minute addition to the selection and therefore lasted a week. On behalf of Picnic PostNL, Henri-Francois Haquin decided not to continue for reasons that are still unclear. Ben Turner also called it quits en route.
On stage eleven, we also had to continue without Mads Pedersen, who had been battling illness for several days and decided to call it quits with the World Championships in mind.
A day later, two riders did not appear at the start: Lindsay De Vylder of Alpecin-Premier Tech and David Gonzalez of Pinarello - Q36.5. Ben Tulett (Visma | Lease a Bike) abandoned due to the consequences of his crash in stage eight; Hamish McKenzie (Jayco AlUla) also said goodbye to the race after a crash.

Read also

Mads Pedersen quits the Vuelta a España after significant doubts: 'Turns out to be an infection, so antibiotics needed'Mads Pedersen quits the Vuelta a España after significant doubts: 'Turns out to be an infection, so antibiotics needed'

UAE and Decathlon lose key domestiques on stages 12 and 13

At the end of the twelfth stage, it emerged that two more riders had failed to reach the finish. Jay Vine (UAE Emirates-XRG) withdrew from the race, as he was no longer feeling well. Arthur Kluckers, riding for Tudor, was found to have suffered heatstroke, forcing him to withdraw. Fortunately, the Luxembourger had recovered by the evening following various tests.
For stage 13, Alexey Lutsenko did not line up at the start. This was surprising, as he had finished fourth just the day before. However, the Kazakh rider from NSN had fallen ill. Early in the stage, Gregor Mühlberger (Decathlon CMA CGM) took a heavy fall. The Austrian, lead-out man for third-placed Felix Gall, was ninth in the general classification himself, but was unable to continue.
Later in the day, Sente Sentjens and Francesco Busatto were also forced to abandon the race. With the departure of these two riders, Alpecin-Premier Tech lost two riders in one fell swoop: Sentjens was suffering from the heat, whilst Busatto was still feeling the after-effects of a crash. Pavel Sivakov (UAE Emirates-XRG) also threw in the towel, leaving his team with just four riders remaining.

Christophe Laporte's withdrawal a major blow for Visma

Before the start of stage fourteen, there was another withdrawal: Motiz Kretschky, an Grand Tour debutant for NSN, pulled out after developing a fever during the night. Along the way, Oliver Peace (PicnicPostNL), Hugo Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Christophe Laporte (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon CMA CGM) joined them in the Spanish heat of over 40 degrees.
‘At the start, it wasn’t too bad. It was humid, but we’re used to that. The last two hours, on the other hand… Every descent we took felt like we were riding into a whole new kind of sauna. It was absolutely mad,’ Sander De Pestel told Sporza. ‘More riders have been taken to hospital, so something needs to be done.’

Read also

Visma loses crucial domestique Christophe Laporte at Vuelta a Espana: 'Riding into a whole new kind of sauna'Visma loses crucial domestique Christophe Laporte at Vuelta a Espana: 'Riding into a whole new kind of sauna'
'At the start it wasn't too bad. It was damp, but we're used to that. The last two hours, on the other hand... Every descent we did felt like we were driving into a new brand of saunas. It was really crazy,' Sander De Pestel said about it to Sporza. 'Riders have been taken to the hospital again, so something needs to be done.'
It was still hot after the final rest day. That was not the reason Timo Roosen (Picnic PostNL) called it quits: his knee was bothering him too much to get through the two sprint stages. Once those were over, Cofidis lead-out Alex Renard also stopped.

Stefan Küng wins Vuelta time trial before immediately leaving the race

It remained hot after the final rest day. That was not why Timo Roosen of Picnic PostNL called it quits, however: his knee was giving him too much trouble to make it through the two sprint stages. Once those stages had been completed, Cofidis lead-out rider Alexis Renard also decided not to continue. Renard's Cofidis update
The time trial that followed was won by Stefan Küng. With the World Time Trial Championships in Canada approaching, however, the Tudor rider decided to leave the Vuelta immediately afterwards. XDS Astana's Yevgeniy Fedorov also did not return to the start. During stage nineteen, Jayco AlUla's Paul Double, who had effectively been fighting his way through the entire Vuelta, finally called it a day.

Confirmed team and leaders for the 2026 Vuelta a España

TeamLeader(s)
UAE Emirates XRG Tadej Pogačar and Joao Almeida
Red Bull BORA-hansgrohePrimož Roglič
Visma | Lease a BikeWout van Aert, Jørgen Nordhagen and Matthew Brennan
Netcompany INEOSOscar Onley
Decathlon CMA CGMFelix Gall and Matthew Riccitello
Lidl-TrekMattias Skjelmose and Mads Pedersen
Uno-XTobias Halland Johannessen and Magnus Cort
Jayco AlUlaPaul Double
CofidisBryan Coquard
Lotto IntermarchéJarno Widar
XDS AstanaChristian Rodriguez
MovistarEnric Mas and Cian Uijtdebroeks
Tudor Pro CyclingStefan Küng and Marco Brenner
Burgos Burpellet BHJesús Herrada and César Macías
Picnic PostNLJuan Guillermo Martinez en Gijs Leemreize
Bahrain VictoriousSantiago Buitrago
Soudal Quick-StepMikel Landa and Alberto Dainese
NSN CyclingHugo Hofstetter and George Bennett
Pinarello Q36.5Eddie Dunbar en Milan Vader
Netcompany INEOSOscar Onley and Ben Turner

Participants and bib numbers for the 2026 Vuelta a España

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe

1 Primož Roglič
2 Finn Fisher-Black
3 Jordi Meeus
4 Gianni Moscon
5 Callum Thornley
6 Luke Tuckwell
7 Gianni Vermeersch
8 Frederik Wandahl

UAE Emirates-XRG

11 Tadej Pogacar
12 Joao Almeida
13 Domen Novak
14 Ivo Oliveira
15 Pavel Sivakov
16 Pablo Torres
17 Kevin Vermaerke
18 Jay Vine

Movistar

21 Enric Mas
22 Jorge Arcas
23 Orluis Aular
24 Carlos Canal
25 Pablo Castrillo
26 Raul Garcia
27 Ivan Romeo
28 Cian Uijtdebroeks

Visma | Lease a Bike

31 Wout van Aert
32 Bruno Armirail
33 Matthew Brennan
34 Steven Kruijswijk
35 Sepp Kuss
36 Christophe Laporte
37 Jørgen Nordhagen
38 Ben Tulett

Decathlon CMA CGM

41 Félix Gall
42 Léo Bisiaux
43 Oscar Chamberlain
44 Sander De Pestel
45 Jordan Labrosse
46 Gregor Mühlberger
47 Matthew Riccitello
48 Callum Scotson

Pinarello - Q36.5

51 David de la Cruz
52 Xabier Azparren
53 Walter Calzoni
54 Marcel Camprubi
55 Edward Dunbar
56 Thomas Gloag
57 David Gonzalez Lopez
58 Milan Vader

Netcompany INEOS

61. Oscar Onley
62. Jack Haig
63. Lucas Hamilton
64. Axel Laurance
65. Carlos Rodriguez
66. Embret Svestad-Bardseng
67. Joshua Tarling
68. Ben Turner

Bahrain Victorious

71 Pello Bilbao
72 Santiago Buitrago
73 Roman Ermakov
74 Matevž Govekar
75 Pau Miquel
76 Jakob Omrzel
77 Mathijs Paasschens
78 Attila Valter

Lidl-Trek

81 Mattias Skjelmose
82 Julien Bernard
83 Lennard Kämna
84 Patrick Konrad
85 Jacopo Mosca
86 Mathias Norsgaard
87 Thibau Nys
88 Mads Pedersen

Groupama-FDJ

91 Clément Berthet
92 Olivier Le Gac
93 Valentin Madouas
94 Guillaume Martin Guyonnet
95 Rudy Molard
96 Enzo Paleni
97 Rémy Rochas
98 Bastien Tronchon

Alpecin-Premier Tech

101 Kaden Groves
102 Francesco Busatto
103 Lindsay De Vylder
104 Ramses Debruyne
105 Gal Glivar
106 Michael Gogl
107 Hugo Houle
108 Sente Sentjens

NSN

111 Alexey Lutsenko
112 George Bennett
113 Jan Hirt
114 Hugo Hofstetter
115 Moritz Kretschy
116 Pau Marti
117 Nicholas Schultz
118 Floris van Tricht

Soudal Quick-Step

121 Mikel Landa
122 Alberto Dainese
123 Gianmarco Garofoli
124 Ethan Hayter
125 Valentin Paret Peintre
126 Fabio van den Bossche
127 Mauri Vansevenant
128 Filippo Zana

Uno-X

131 Magnus Cort Nielsen
132 Simon Dalby
133 Fredrik Dversnes
134 Tobias Johannessen
135 Andreas Kron
136 Andreas Leknessund
137 Rasmus Tiller
138 Martin Tjøtta

Cofidis

141 Emanuel Buchmann
142 Bryan Coquard
143 Alex Kirsch
144 Sylvain Moniquet
145 Paul Ourselin
146 Alexis Renard
147 Louis Rouland
148 Sergio Samitier Samitier

Jayco AlUla

151 Alessandro Covi
152 Koen Bouwman
153 Paul Double
154 Asbjørn Hellemose
155 Hamish McKenzie
156 Finlay Pickering
157 Rudy Porter
158 Jasha Sütterlin

EF Education-EasyPost

161 Richard Carapaz
162 Vincenzo Albanese
163 Markel Beloki
164 Alastair MacKellar
165 Darren Rafferty
166 Juan Rodriguez
167 James Shaw
168 Georg Steinhauser

Tudor

171 Marco Brenner
172 William Barta
173 Arthur Kluckers
174 Stefan Küng
175 Roland Thalmann
176 Lawrence Warbasse
177 Fabian Weiss
178 Hannes Wilksch

XDS-Astana

181 Harold Tejada
182 Yevgeniy Fedorov
183 Lorenzo Fortunato
184 Victor Langellotti
185 Henok Mulubrhan
186 Cristian Rodriguez
187 Alessandro Romele
188 Darren van Bekkum

Burgos-BH

191 Jesus Herrada
192 Clement Alleno
193 Mario Aparicio Muñoz
194 Sergio Geovani Chumil (DNF Stage 2, crash)
195 Jose Manuel Diaz
196 Jose Luis Faura Asensio
197 Sinuhe Fernandez Rodriguez
198 Cesar Macias

Lotto-Intermarché

201 Jarno Widar
202 Vito Braet
203 Lars Craps
204 Steffen De Schuyteneer
205 Lorenzo Rota
206 Reuben Thompson
207 Luca van Boven
208 Roel van Sintmaartensdijk

Picnic PostNL

211 Christopher Hamilton
212 Timo de Jong
213 Mattia Gaffuri
214 Gijs Leemreize
215 Guillermo Juan Martinez
216 Oliver Peace
217 Henri François Renard Haquin
218 Timo Roosen

Equipo Kern Pharma

221 Urko Berrade
222 Marc Brustenga
223 Ivan Cobo
224 Iñigo Elosegui
225 Ibon Ruiz
226 Ivan Sosa
227 Diego Uriarte
228 Mats Wenzel

Read also

João Almeida's nightmare 2026 continues with Tour de Pologne withdrawal ahead of Vuelta a EspañaJoão Almeida's nightmare 2026 continues with Tour de Pologne withdrawal ahead of Vuelta a España
Pogačar beware: Vuelta a España queen stage changed but remains monstrousPogačar beware: Vuelta a España queen stage changed but remains monstrous
Primoz Roglic's participation in the Vuelta a España '50-50' after training crashPrimoz Roglic's participation in the Vuelta a España '50-50' after training crash
PreviewsTadej PogacarVuelta a España 2027UAE Team Emirates - XRG
David Bavin-HobbsChief Editor
David has been working in the sports & cycling industry for 16 years. Covering racing, business and technology, he has worked in communications for cycling companies, teams, and as a journalist. His proudest achievement is winning the first bike race he ever entered. He hasn't won a race since.   
David Bavin-Hobbs | LinkedIn | Email
See author's posts

IDL-productions

celia-gery

Celia Gery won the European cyclocross championship while awaiting surgery: 'It'll be a new beginning'

schreiber-brand-alvarado-ek

Dutch team coach De Knegt annoyed by European Cyclocross Championships dispute: "A bit of a let down"

cameron mason 656b4608f32a4

Glasgow set to shine as World Cup demand outstrips expectations and Mason eyes first home cyclocross race

tadej-pogacar

Pogačar, Vingegaard and Van Aert went faster again in 2026... except when they didn't

harrie lavreysen

Team GB dominate, China on the rise, Lavreysen the best ever? Five takeaways from the 2026 Track World Championships

Latest Cycling News

primoz-roglic

Eddie Dunbar wins Vuelta stage as Pinarello-Q36.5 put three riders in top five and Roglič attacks

tom-pidcock-2

Tom Pidcock ends 2026 fifth in the world, with Ciccone and Hayter arriving at Pinarello for 2027

tom-pidcock-2

Picnic PostNL's WorldTour uncertainty has five rival teams, and Tom Pidcock, watching the UCI closely

ceylin-alvarado-6af1eea2e0581

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado's injury isn't as bad as feared, but she may not line up for a while

xefi

TotalEnergies rescued from collapse, but rider recruitment remains a problem before 27th Tour de France appearance

Popular Cycling News

nys-brand

Sven Nys spoke with Lucinda Brand straight after European Championship drama: 'Is that enough to ultimately relegate someone'

ceylin-del-carmen-alvarado

Fears of serious injury to Alvarado, bronze medalist, after the European Cyclocross Championships

marie-schreiber

Disqualified Schreiber skips European Championship podium: 'I’m very grateful that she said that'

tom-pidcock-2

Picnic PostNL's WorldTour uncertainty has five rival teams, and Tom Pidcock, watching the UCI closely

tadej-pogacar

Tadej Pogačar reveals his insane training data in new HBO film: 'I think that's what works best'

Latest Comments

Loading