Preview Vuelta a Andalucia 2026 stage 1 - Bunch sprint or GC raid on opening day?

The 2026 Vuelta a Andalucia is going to take place between the 18 and 22nd of February, in the southern region of Spain where the stages are always either hilly or mountainous. This edition is no exception, with a set of stages that is set to make for some chaotic and tactical racing. We preview stage 1, which is estimated to start and finish at 12:00 and 15:35CET.

The Spanish race carries a long history, having had its first edition in 1925, followed by a 30-year hiatus. In 1955 the race began to have consistent editions, mostly dominated by the eras' Spanish headliners. Former Belgian World Champions Jean-Pierre Monseré and Freddy Maertens brought the race more international recognition, but the race has always featured a very prominent list of Spanish winners.

Over the years we've seen riders such as Erik Zabel (1997), Erik Dekker (2001), Óscar Freire (2007), Alejandro Valverde (2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017), Chris Froome (2015) and more take victories... In 2023 it was Tadej Pogacar who decided to make the trip to Spain and dominated the race, whilst last year in 2025 it was his teammate Pavel Sivakov who took the overall win.

The race begins in Benahavís and in good Vuelta a Andalucia style, it features right in its first kilometers what might be the hardest climb of the race. This is an edition of Andalucia that does not feature mountain stages, but does have some long climbs on the menu, and here things open up with 20 kilometers at 5%.

2700 meters of climbing over 163 kilometers, not a brutal day on the bike but most of them are in the stage's first half. It is a day that should end in a sprint as the final half is mostly flat, however you can't say it's truly a sprint stage because the start is not only hard for anyone who can't climb too well, but also it is a stage that - also due to being the first day - is very prone to a breakaway succeeding.

*** Soren Waerenskjold, Orluis Aular
** Milan Fretin, Axel Zingle, Romain Grégoire
* Tim Wellens, Jan Christen, Jon Barrenetxea, Iván Romeo, Sandy Dujardin, Tom Pidcock, Fred Wright, Fernando Gaviria, Tom Crabbe, Paul Penhoët, Romain Grégoire, Alex Aranburu, Christophe Laporte

Pick: Soren Waerenskjold

How: Regular bunch sprint.