Tadej Pogacar wins Vuelta opening time trial in Monaco by 0.09 seconds

Narrow victory in Monaco

Tadej Pogacar won the opening stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Saturday, completing the 9.4-kilometer individual time trial in Monaco with a time of 10 minutes and 57 seconds. The 27-year-old Slovenian rider for UAE Team Emirates-XRG finished nine-hundredths of a second ahead of Britain's Ethan Hayter of Soudal Quick-Step, who was chasing his tenth career time trial victory. Britain's Joshua Tarling of Netcompany Ineos took third place, four seconds behind Pogacar, while French riders Christophe Laporte and Leo Bisiaux finished fifth and sixth. The technical route through the streets of the principality, where Pogacar resides, partially followed the Formula 1 street circuit, securing the Slovenian the race leader's red jersey.

Tarling competes after family tragedy

Joshua Tarling took the podium in Monaco eight days after the death of his 19-year-old brother, Finlay Tarling. Finlay died during the eighth stage of the Volta a Portugal on the preceding Friday following a high-speed collision with a van that had strayed onto the race course. The 22-year-old Netcompany Ineos rider decided to enter the three-week Grand Tour despite the tragedy, delivering a strong performance on the tight Monegasque streets.

Pursuit of the Grand Tour triple

Pogacar entered the 2026 Vuelta, which runs from 22 August to 13 September, seeking the only Grand Tour missing from his palmares. After securing his fifth Tour de France victory earlier in 2026 to become a co-record holder, and winning the Giro d'Italia in 2024, victory in Spain would make him the ninth rider in cycling history to win all three Grand Tours. Jonas Vingegaard became the first active rider to complete the triple after winning the Giro on his debut in May. Pogacar had previously competed in the Vuelta once before, in 2019, when he won three stages and finished third overall in his Grand Tour debut.

Calendar adjustments and preparation

Following his 2024 Giro-Tour double, Pogacar did not attempt the Vuelta due to physical exhaustion, remarking at a criterium in Komenda that he was counting down the years to retirement before resting. For the 2026 season, Pogacar and his team modified his calendar to maintain mental and physical freshness, resuming competition three weeks later, skipping the UAE Tour, Amstel Gold Race, and Fleche Wallonne, while adding the Tour de Romandie after Liege-Bastogne-Liege. UAE Team Emirates-XRG performance director Jeroen Swart explained the approach to CyclingNews:

His physical preparation was focused on the month of July, as it should be, and the Vuelta is simply an addition. It was not necessarily an element that dictated preparation before the Tour. But the race calendar was designed to allow him to maintain the mental freshness needed to compete in the Vuelta if he definitively decided to do so once the Tour was over.

The adjusted schedule supports his attempt at a Tour-Vuelta double in the same year, a feat achieved only once since the Vuelta moved to late summer in 1995, by Chris Froome in 2017.

Stage two route to Manosque

Pogacar will wear the leader's red jersey for the first time in his career during Sunday's second stage. The peloton will travel from Monaco to Manosque, with race distance reports ranging between 204 kilometers and 241 kilometers. The stage profile features two third-category climbs before an uphill finish.