Pogacar to ride Vuelta a España in bid for elusive Grand Tour treble
Five-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar will race the Vuelta a España starting August 22, aiming to become the ninth man to win all three Grand Tours.
Return to the Vuelta
Tadej Pogacar will line up at the Vuelta a España for the first time since his Grand Tour debut in 2019, his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad confirmed on Monday. The 27-year-old Slovenian, fresh from a record-equalling fifth Tour de France victory, last rode the Spanish race seven years ago, finishing third overall behind compatriot Primoz Roglic and Alejandro Valverde while winning three mountain stages. The team announcement ended weeks of speculation, posting on social media: "It's true, he's back. Tadej Pogacar confirmed for the Vuelta." Pogacar himself had stayed silent, even during his Pogi Challenge event in Slovenia last weekend, before the confirmation.
I'm excited to say I'm going back to La Vuelta. It was my first ever Grand Tour back in 2019 and an amazing experience. Spain is a country I love to visit and race in and I think the time is right to go back.
Chasing the triple crown
The Vuelta is the only Grand Tour missing from Pogacar's palmarès. He has won the Tour de France five times (2020, 2021, 2024, 2025, 2026) and the Giro d'Italia in 2024, and would become the ninth male rider in history to complete the set of all three three-week races. He is also bidding to join Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Chris Froome as the fourth man to win the Tour and Vuelta in the same calendar year. Pogacar's 2026 season has been dominant: six wins from seven World Tour starts, including the Tour by more than six minutes over Remco Evenepoel, and a second place at Paris-Roubaix.
- Debut Vuelta a España, finishes third overall with three stage wins
- Wins first Tour de France
- Wins second Tour de France
- Wins Giro d'Italia, third Tour de France and first world road race title
- Wins fourth Tour de France and second world road race title
- Wins fifth Tour de France, equalling the all-time record
- Vuelta a España starts in Monaco
The 2026 route and contenders
The 81st edition of the Vuelta starts on 22 August with an individual time trial in Monaco, where Pogacar lives, and finishes in Granada on 13 September after nearly 3,300 kilometres. The route hugs the Spanish coast into Andalusia, bypassing Madrid. Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard will not ride after crashing at the Tour; his Visma-Lease a Bike team will back Ben Tulett and Jørgen Nordhagen. Four-time winner Primoz Roglic, three-time runner-up Enric Mas, Mattias Skjelmose and Felix Gall are the main rivals. Pogacar's UAE squad includes João Almeida, last year's Vuelta runner-up, who will now work as a mountain support rider, alongside Jay Vine, Pavel Sivakov, Pablo Torres, Kevin Vermaerke, Domen Novak and Ivo Oliveira.
The motivation is high to finish off the year in a good way and the Vuelta will be a big target. The team is strong and we hope to do good things.
Pogacar's dominance
Since that 2019 Vuelta debut, Pogacar has accumulated five Tour titles, a Giro crown, two world championship rainbow jerseys (2024, 2025), and monuments including the Tour of Flanders (three times), Liège-Bastogne-Liège (four times), Il Lombardia (five times) and Milan-San Remo. He is expected to defend his world title in Montreal a week after the Vuelta concludes. With Vingegaard absent and his own form showing no signs of fatigue, Pogacar enters the race as the overwhelming favourite to claim the red jersey and complete the Grand Tour set.
