The 2026 Tour arrives with a luxury poster with the mountain as the main protagonist
Del Toro, Ayuso, Lipowitz, Roglic, Mikel Landa and Ion Izagirre, among others, will have to overcome 809 kilometres of travel, 29 punctual ports and 16,000 metres of unlevel.
On Monday the Tour will start with a remarkable competition between the Spanish Juan Ayuso and the Mexican ISaac del Toro , the great favorite. The race will consist of 6 stages with 29 punctual ports and more than 16,000 meters of disparity.
Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegard won't be here this year, but on the list of registered cyclists are the most significant of today.
From 6 to 11this month, from Monday to Saturday, there will be no rest. There will be 4first-class ports, 7 second-class ports and 18 third-class ports to replace the Portuguese Joao Almeida.
Isaac del Toro (UAE) and Juan Ayuso (Lidl Trek) will be the great favorites of the race. The 22-year-old Mexican arrives at a great time with excellent numbers: 5 wins in the season, including the UAE Tour general, and the Adriatic Tyrant.
On the other hand, Ayuso, winner of the 2024 edition, will share a leading role with the Danish Mattias Skjelmose in the Lidl Trek.
Roglic, Lipowitz, Landa, and Seixas
Red Bull has presented Slovenian Primoz Roglic and Lipowitz in the general. The Slovenian Eslovenian is not in 2018 and may be surprised at the same time as he won the Tour in 2021. The German, on the other hand, has gone up, as he has shown with his third place in the Volta to Catalunya.
On the other hand, there has been great interest in the presence of the new jewel and hope of French cycling: Paul Seixas (Decathlon), at 19, was second in the Algarve, won Faun Ardeche, and was beaten only by Strade Bianchen Pogacar.
Basque delegation
Among the Basque cyclists stand out Mikel Landa (Soudal Quisck Step), Pello Bilbao, Ion Izagirre (winner of the 2019 Lap, and last Saturday the Indurain Grand Prix) and Alex Aranburu .
Tour
The tour starts in Bilbao with a 13.9-kilometer clock.
The second day will be played in Navarreand the third in Bizkaia; in Basauri and Galdakao respectively.
On Friday the queen stage will be played at Eibar. The toughest day will have a journey of 176 kilometers.
The final will be on Saturday in Bergara, with a short stage of 113 kilometers.
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Roglic, Ayuso, Del Toro, Aranburu, Landa, Pello Bilbao and Izagirre will be at the 2026 Return to the Basque Country
The race, which will be held from 6 to 11 April, has been officially presented on Thursday and will consist of six stages, with a total of 29 qualifying ports to be promoted by cyclists.
The tour will have more seconds at stake in the online stages
The Red Bull Kilometer will offer six, four and two seconds each day for the first three riders crossing under its banner; the other special sprint gives three, two and one second and targets ten, six and four.
Profile and tour of the 6th stage of the Return to the Basque Country 2026: Goizper-Antzuola-Bergara (135.4 km)
"The final stage will not be a formality," the organizers of the Vuelta warn, analyzing what the sixth and final day of the competition can bring. Asentzio, Elosua and Azkarate will go up two times, and in total three climbs will be level 2: "If the overall classification is tight," said Itzulia, "there will be continuous markings; there may also be a chance of a final attack from afar."
Profile and tour of the 4th stage of the Return to the Basque Country 2026: Galdakao-Galdakao (167.2 km)
Cyclists will have to climb seven punctual climbs on the fourth day of the 65th Round; one of the ports, the last of which is Legina, will be left behind when less than ten kilometers to finish, and it is hard considering it has an average slope of 8%.
Profile and tour of the third stage of the Return to the Basque Country 2026: Basauri-Basauri (152.8 km)
65. On the third day of the Return to the Basque Country, cyclists must climb three punctual ports, two of the 2nd and one of the 3rd; the organizers believe that on this day "there may be attacks from afar if the overall classification is very tight".