Can Kern Pharma repeat 2024 Vuelta a España heroics? Spanish team announce line-up for return to race
CyclingTuesday, 18 August 2026 at 19:30
Equipo Kern Pharma has confirmed its eight for the Vuelta a España 2026, a particularly significant edition for a structure heading into its third appearance in the Spanish Grand Tour with two clear aims: fight for a stage win and help secure the continuity of a project that will lose its main sponsor at the end of the season.
The presentation took place on Tuesday at the Casa del Deporte in the Navarra Arena, attended by the Regional Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism of the Government of Navarra, Rebeca Esnaola, and the team’s general manager, Juanjo Oroz. The event reaffirmed the roots of a setup closely linked to Navarrese cycling and the Asociación Deportiva Galibier, founded in 1993 by Manolo Azcona.
Three decades on from those origins, the team has consolidated itself as one of the main development platforms in Spanish cycling. Under Oroz’s leadership, the structure stepped up to the professional ranks in 2020 with the backing of Kern Pharma, starting a seven-season cycle that will conclude at the end of 2026.
La Vuelta is also a race full of memories for the pharmaceutical squad. After debuting in 2022, the team enjoyed a breakout 2024 edition with three stage wins. Pablo Castrillo triumphed at Estación de Manzaneda and Cuitu Negru, while Urko Berrade capped the historic haul with victory in Maestu.
Urko Berrade, cornerstone for La Vuelta
Berrade will be one of the leaders of this year’s eight. The Navarrese rider, developed in the team’s own academy, will front a line-up that once again puts grassroots work centre stage. Alongside him will be four more riders from AD Galibier: Cantabrian Iván Cobo, Biscayan Iñigo Elosegui, Alavese Ibon Ruiz, and fellow Navarrese Diego Uriarte.
The block is completed by Marc Brustenga, a fast finisher, Luxembourg’s Mats Wenzel, and Colombia’s Iván Sosa, forming a balanced team mixing youth, breakaway prowess, speed, and climbing.
Oroz has set the target without ambiguity: “to guarantee the survival of the project and take a stage win.” The team arrives at La Vuelta with six victories this season and several riders who have opened their professional accounts.
Standing out among them is Ibon Ruiz, winner of the Mercan’Tour Classic Alpes Maritimes and part of a one-two with Sosa in that race. It will also be a first experience for Diego Uriarte, who will tackle three consecutive weeks of racing for the first time. The Navarrese rider, one of the team’s most combative, has already announced his intention to target breakaways and seize winning chances.
With Berrade as the main reference and the academy as its identity, Kern Pharma faces a Vuelta where raising their arms again would mean far more than a sporting success: it would be another argument to keep alive a project built over more than three decades around young talent.
Kern Pharma
Equipo Kern Pharma at the Vuelta a Espana
| Riders |
| Marc Brustenga |
| Iván Cobo |
| Iñigo Elosegui |
| Ibon Ruiz |
| Urko Berrade |
| Diego Uriarte |
| Iván Sosa |
| Mats Wenzel |
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- UAE man..These guys just insanemiguel18-08-2026
- this is about the most idiotic comment on here - to wish for war to serve one's nation. We're talking about bike racing. which is in part my point about Jonas. it is a bike, you get paid 5 million euro to ride it. You are lucky, go with it.mij18-08-2026
- I am giving my opinion, I think it is an honor to ride for one's nation. My opinion is that if my countrymen asked me to help him win, I would do so. The fact is as a 3x champion, Peter Sagan rode a course he knew he would get crushed on, because he felt it was an honor to ride for his country. And, I'm not the only one that feels this way. Mark Cavendish, Yves Lampaert, Jai Hindlay and more have all said they would never say "no" to their country and the honor of riding for their nation. Jai Hindlay is not a one day racer, he was never going to win last year. But, he said, “To race for your country, there's nothing better . . . it never gets old.” Jai said Worlds was one of the best weeks of his year and said he was “super proud to race for the green and gold.” And again, he is NOT a one day racer, like Jonas. Unlike Jonas, he would never say "no" to represent his country. So, I like Jai better. Maybe it is YOUR opinion that it is not an honor, and you would say no. I don't know Jonas, I'm sure he is a great guy. But I personally don't have respect for a man that complains about making 5 million euro a year for a sport, how hard it is, when 99.9% of the planet will never see that kind of money. And I personally don't have respect for someone that is able to ride but says no to his country, says no to his teammate. You can feel as you wish.mij18-08-2026
- Cavendish in particular is not very fond of Lefevere's often cold and calculative approach to negotiations, rarely willing to pay extra and often letting go of his stars as a consequence. Lefevere was always very fair in how he wanted to compensate riders. Base wage fee, high bonus fee. Perform and you earn as much as you want. Don't perform, and you get a normal wage for a cyclist. What's wrong with that? Makes perfect sense, but I can imagine that someone who wants to slowly burnout and earn based on past performances has a problem with that. Primož Roglič is my compatriot and I respect him for what he's done for Slovenian cycling, but if he can't perform anymore, what then? Like Lefevere said: The teams are not waiting in line to sign up Roglič.PogiSloFans18-08-2026
- I only came on as a fan in 2019, by which time both of them had committed to other teams. So I never did get the story of how the most important classics team in modern cycling missed out on the two best classics riders of their generation. MVDP would have been a perfect fit in terms of personality and programming, but Wout is of course Belgian. It has worked out spectacularly well for both of them with other teams, but it was an epic miss by Lefevere and Soudal.MidnightRider18-08-2026
- So another rider flies the coop, even a 20 yearold can see the mess this team is in. Hope NetCompany buy out the rest of the contract, move to Europe and rebuild from the top. Thomas has to be the 1st to go.
Senna196018-08-2026 - "How to Destroy a 50 million Cycling Team"abstractengineer18-08-2026
- He needed to sign WVA or MVDP, both of whom he knew pretty well from the Cyclocross scene and he did notabstractengineer18-08-2026
- Or Seixas or others coming up. Didn't say Froome or Roglic, quite the leap you take. Seixas rides LBL and the Tour, as does Remco, Tadej, Pidcock, and many more. I'd prefer to employ a full time rider for a full time salary.mij18-08-2026
- While I will always appreciate Lefevere's commitment to a Belgian classics squad, something the sport needs, he is nonetheless a pompous and boorish ass. No other leading figure in cycling is so publicly hostile to his own riders or so determined to keep himself in the spotlight through petty beefs. He blew his own team up to serve Remco and now spends his days as a grumpy old man.MidnightRider18-08-2026
Loading
Write a comment