Pogacar returns to La Vuelta seven years later

 The Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) will compete in La Vuelta, which will be held from August 22 to September 13, seven years after his last participation, in 2019, and after winning his fifth Tour de France last July.

As the team progressed, Pogacar will compete in La Vuelta again, a round he had not raced since 2019, an edition in which he debuted in a ‘Grande’ with a third place and three stage victories. The Spanish round is the Grand Tour that is missing from the record of the Slovenian, who will seek to achieve his second double, as he already achieved in 2024, when he won the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France.

“I am excited to announce that I am returning to La Vuelta. It was my first Grand Tour in 2019 and an incredible experience. Spain is a country that I love to visit and where I like to compete, and I think it is the right time to return,” Pogacar said in the statement. “The motivation is high to finish the year in the best way and La Vuelta will be an important objective. The team is strong and we hope to achieve good results,” he concluded.

The Slovenian will be accompanied by the Spaniard Pablo Torres, 20 years old, who will make his debut in a Grand Tour, after finishing third this year in the Spanish Time Trial Championship, in addition to racing the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

In addition, there will be the Portuguese Joao Almeida, runner-up in La Vuelta in 2025; Australian climber Jay Vine, winner of two stages and the mountain classification in 2025; the Russian climber Pavel Sivakov, ninth in the Spanish round in 2024; the American Kevin Vermaerke, who will compete in his second Vuelta a España; the Slovenian Domen Novak and the Portuguese Ivo Oliveira.

The 81st edition of La Vuelta, which will take place from August 22 to September 13, will start with an individual time trial in Monaco before crossing France and Andorra towards Spain. The route will have seven high-altitude finishes, two individual time trials and almost 3,300 kilometers of competition before the final stage in Granada.