With the start of the 2026 Vuelta a España, the spotlight of professional cycling returns to Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian superstar will attempt to win his seventh Grand Tour in his career following the 5 victories he achieved at the Tour de France and the triumph he celebrated at the 2024 Giro d'Italia. In case of a final victory, he would become the ninth rider to complete the triple crown, after the Frenchmen Anquetil and Hinault, the Italians Gimondi and Nibali, the Belgian Merckx, the Spaniard Contador, the Briton Froome and the Dane Vingegaard.

Pogacar would also become the fourth in history to win both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España in the same calendar year. So far, only Anquetil in 1963, Hinault in 1978 and Froome in 2017 have managed this feat. In his career at the Grand Tours, Tadej has won 35 stages so far and worn the leader's jersey for 91 days. Numbers that he will certainly want to increase, just as he will his World Tour victories this season, currently at 19.

Italy with 13 riders at the starting line will be the fourth most represented nation among the 29 present at the 2026 Vuelta, behind Spain (30), France (23) and Belgium (18). However, this is the lowest number recorded in the last six editions: Italian riders numbered 14 in 2021 and 2022, 17 in 2023, 16 in 2024 and 17 in 2025.

Italian riders have won the Iberian race 6 times out of the 80 editions held, but they have not finished on the final podium since Nibali's 2nd place finish in 2017. Since 2000, Italian cycling has collected 81 stage victories, 5 of which came in the 118 individual stages that have been raced from 2020 to 2025.

Source www.ciclopico.it - full article and other statistical curiosities at the link https://ciclopico.it/grandi-giri/la-vuelta/vuelta-di-spagna-2026-pre/