Vuelta a España 2026 misses three major talents as Del Grosso, Ciccone and Pellizzari choose other goals

The 2026 Vuelta a España can count on Tadej Pogačar being on the start line, but beyond the Slovenian superstar, the provisional start list still leaves something to be desired. There will be plenty of outstanding climbers in Spain, but there are also several notable names who have deliberately chosen to skip the third Grand Tour of the season. Here, we take a look at a few of them.

There will be no Grand Tour debut just yet for Alpecin-Premier Tech's 23-year-old Dutchman. Tibor Del Grosso is now in his second full road season with the WorldTour team, but just as in 2025, a three-week stage race is not yet part of his program. The versatile Dutch talent has increasingly begun mixing it with some of the biggest names in the Classics, but his Grand Tour introduction will have to wait a little longer.

After a demanding spring campaign, Del Grosso returned at the Baloise Belgium Tour in June, raced the Tour of Austria in July and lined up at the Tour of Denmark at the start of August. The Vuelta a España could certainly have fitted into his schedule, but for now the Deutschland Tour is next on his program, running from August 19 through August 23.

We would certainly have liked to see the 31-year-old Italian in action at the Vuelta, but Giulio Ciccone is sitting out the Spanish Grand Tour as well. Ciccone has made a strong autumn campaign one of his major objectives for 2026, and the Vuelta simply does not fit into those plans. Instead, he is targeting the one-day races and, above all, wants to be at his best for the World Championships in Canada and Il Lombardia. His decision follows a season in which his schedule has increasingly been built around arriving fresh for those late-season goals.

The Giro d'Italia mountains classification winner would certainly not have looked out of place on the Vuelta's punchy route, whether targeting stage victories or even pursuing a strong overall classification. Lidl-Trek already has two Danish leaders in Mattias Skjelmose and Mads Pedersen, however, which would have made it more difficult for Ciccone to have complete freedom in Spain.

Another Italian we would have enjoyed watching at the Vuelta is Giulio Pellizzari, although much the same reasoning applies to the youngster as it does to Ciccone: everything is geared toward the autumn. The 22-year-old climber recently won the final stage of the Tour of Burgos, where he finished fourth overall. That performance certainly bodes well for the series of one-day races now awaiting him, particularly on home roads in Italy. Pellizzari had already confirmed earlier this summer that he would not ride another Grand Tour in 2026.

For Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, Pellizzari's decision could nevertheless prove unfortunate. Primož Roglič crashed in training and remains highly uncertain for the Vuelta, meaning the always-ambitious Red Bull project risks starting the race without one of its major GC leaders. Remco Evenepoel is focusing on the World Championships, Jai Hindley has already raced both the Giro and Tour, while Florian Lipowitz is still recovering after his crash at the Tour de France. Roglič's Vuelta participation was recently described as roughly 50-50 following his training accident.