Victor Langellotti gets dream Vuelta a España home start in Monaco: ‘Incredible’

The Vuelta a España starts in Monaco on Saturday. For many riders, the Principality is home, but for one rider in particular the Grand Départ will be especially meaningful. Victor Langellotti will line up for the Vuelta as Monaco’s national champion, racing in his country of birth as the only Monegasque rider in the entire peloton.

Langellotti spent years riding for club team UC Monaco and did not make the step up to the ProContinental ranks with Burgos-BH until 2018, when he was 23. Ahead of the 2025 season, he suddenly earned a move to the big time with INEOS, before leaving the British team again on August 1 this year to join XDS Astana, with participation in the Vuelta a España very much in mind. The fact that he knows Alexandr Vinokurov, who also lives in Monaco, did not hurt either.

It is quite a remarkable story. Monaco covers an area of only around 2.03 square kilometres and has a population of almost 39,000, of whom only around 25 percent are actually Monegasque. That is perhaps less surprising when you consider how many foreign professional cyclists alone live there: Tadej Pogačar, Primož Roglič, Dylan van Baarle, Bauke Mollema and many others have made the Principality their home.

Langellotti, now 31, is one of the genuine Monegasques. His father, Umberto Langellotti, is a well-known figure in Monaco’s sporting community and has for many years served as president of both the Monegasque Cycling Federation and UC Monaco — the club where his son made his breakthrough as a rider.

The Tour de France started in Monaco in 2009, and the then 14-year-old Victor was there as well. As a young local cyclist, he was given the chance to accompany Alberto Contador’s Astana team during the official team presentation. Seventeen years later, the circumstances could hardly be more remarkable. “Now, riding with them and being able to start La Vuelta at home is incredible,” Langellotti said proudly, adding that it was something he could never have imagined at the time.

His move to the Kazakh team on August 1 therefore carried an added personal significance. “Now, 17 years later, I am joining this team as a professional,” Langellotti said when his transfer was announced. He described the way things had come full circle as incredible, calling it both a great honour and a particularly special moment in his career.

And there is another special detail: Langellotti will start the Vuelta wearing the Monaco national champion’s jersey, which he earned in highly unusual circumstances. Because of the Principality’s tiny population, Langellotti took part in the Spanish national road race as Monaco’s only entrant, with one essential objective: finish the race. By simply making it to the line in 47th place, he secured the Monegasque national title — a jersey he will now have the chance to show off in front of his home crowd as the Vuelta begins on Monaco’s streets.