One big absentee for Volta a Catalunya: Picnic PostNL opt to skip the Spanish stage race after Onley's departure

The 2026 Volta a Catalunya is shaping up as one of the most anticipated one-week WorldTour races of the season. The start list will be stellar, featuring several of the sport’s biggest names: Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Joao Almeida, Tom Pidcock, Florian Lipowitz or Mikel Landa.

The Volta Ciclista a Catalunya faces a very special edition in 2026. The historic Catalan race will celebrate its 105th anniversary at the end of March, once again bringing together a field that underlines its status as a must on the UCI WorldTour calendar. Over seven days, top-level cycling will return to Catalan roads with a truly luxurious peloton.

Since joining the WorldTour, the Volta has cemented itself as one of the benchmark races on the international calendar, and the 2026 edition will be no exception. In total, twenty-three teams will start, including 17 from the top tier, the UCI WorldTeams.

The big absentee from the race will be Picnic PostNL.

WorldTour lineups have a privilege of choosing one of the non-major WorldTour races they wish to not participate in every year during the three-year cycle. The Dutch team, after a departure of Oscar Onley, struggles with a depth of its mountain team, and as their only leader Max Poole competes an extensive programme with Giro and Tour, the team did not find itself competitive enough in the mountains to take on some of the world's best riders in Catalunya.

The 17 WorldTeams are expected to once again take over the reign on Catalan roads with several heavyweight leaders confirmed to participate in 2026. Standouts include two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard and double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, who came second overall in 2023.

They will be joined by reference climbers such as João Almeida, a former podium finisher in Catalunya, Florian Lipowitz, a recent protagonist at the Tour de France, and Mikel Landa, one of the local fans’ favourites. With more confirmations expected in the coming weeks, the sporting level is once again set to be sky-high.

To complete the peloton to twenty-three teams, the Volta a Catalunya will also welcome six UCI ProTeams. Spearheading this group is Pinarello–Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, guaranteed a spot by ranking and set to arrive led by Tom Pidcock.

The Briton, Olympic and world MTB champion, has more than proven his road pedigree, with victories in prestigious classics, a Tour de France stage win and a top finish in the final standings of the last Vuelta a España. Pidcock has already pencilled the Volta into his programme, adding further allure to a team with notable Catalan presence in its roster, including David De la Cruz and Marcel Camprubí.

As usual, wildcards have gone to Spanish teams with a long history in the race: Burgos Burpellet BH, Caja Rural – Seguros RGA, Equipo Kern Pharma and Euskaltel-Euskadi. Joining them as a novelty is Modern Adventure Pro Cycling, a young U.S. team debuting this year in the ProTeam category, which will experience in Catalunya one of its first major tests at the highest level.

With this blend of teams and riders, the Volta a Catalunya once again delivers a truly elite field, in keeping with its historic prestige. Recent winners speak for themselves: Primož Roglič in 2023 and 2025, and Tadej Pogačar in 2024, extending a century-old tradition in which the great names of each era have shone.

The 2026 route also invites spectacle. The seven stages between Sant Feliu de Guíxols and Barcelona will include three summit finishes, a demanding and varied design that promises action from the opening days. With all these ingredients, the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya is set to deliver, once again, a week of world-class racing and reaffirm its place among the premier stage races on the international calendar.