Tadej Pogacar confirms Vuelta a España participation with Grand Tour history in mind

Tadej Pogačar will ride the 2026 Vuelta a España in a bid to complete a full set of Grand Tour victories. 

The world champion’s return to the Vuelta was widely touted in the aftermath of his record-equalling fifth Tour de France victory, and UAE Team Emirates-XRG confirmed the news in a statement.

Pogačar last raced the Vuelta as a neo-professional in 2019, when he won three stages en route to third place overall in a race won by his compatriot Primoz Roglic. It remains Pogačar’s lowest-ever overall finish at a Grand Tour. 

Pogačar will be supported in Spain by João Almeida, Jay Vine, Pavel Sivakov, Pablo Torres, Kevin Vermaerke, Domen Novak and Ivo Oliveira.

Speaking of his return to the Vuelta, Pogačar highlighted his motivation to eclipse his Grand Tour debut performance. 

"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," he said in an official statement.

“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.”

Twelve months ago, Pogačar was also heavily linked with a return to the Vuelta, but he ruled out his participation after struggling with a knee injury and fatigue in the final part of the Tour. He preferred to focus on one-day racing in the latter part of the 2025 season, and he won a second successive world title with an astonishing solo raid in Kigali.

Pogačar’s 2026 racing programme appeared to be drawn up expressly to keep the Vuelta in play as an option, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG carefully dosing his race days early in the year.

The Slovenian began his season with five Classics outings, winning Strade Bianche, Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège and placing second at Paris-Roubaix.

He didn’t line up at a stage race until the Tour de Romandie in late April, when he won four stages and the overall title. He proceeded to win the revamped, five-day Tour de Suisse in June as his final warm-up for the Tour de France.

It meant that Pogačar reached the end of the Tour with 37 race days completed in 2026, compared with 43 at the same point last year. But above all, Pogačar appeared considerably fresher and lighter of mood as the Tour reached Paris, a contrast with the more jaded figure at the same time in 2025.

Crucially, Pogačar declined to close the door on Vuelta participation when speaking to reporters on the final day of the Tour, and La Gazzetta dello Sport reported the following day that he would line up in the race, which starts in his adopted home of Monaco on August 22.

UAE’s confirmation of Pogačar’s participation means that the Vuelta has one overwhelming favourite for victory. His opponents will include Roglič, who claimed the maillot rojo seven years ago and is now chasing a fifth overall victory, which would give him the outright record.

This will mark only the second time in Pogačar’s career that he has raced two Grand Tours in one season after he claimed the Giro-Tour double in 2024. 

He is seeking to become only the fourth male rider in history to win the Tour-Vuelta double after Jacques Anquetil (1963), Bernard Hinault (1978) and Chris Froome (2017). Froome is the only man to achieve the feat since the Vuelta moved to its current slot on the calendar.

Pogačar is also seeking to become the ninth male rider to complete the full set of Grand Tour victories. His rival Jonas Vingegaard was the latest to achieve the feat after following victory at last year’s Vuelta with an emphatic triumph at the recent Giro d’Italia.