Preview Vuelta a Andalucia 2026 stage 3 - Can Wellens and Pidcock turn race around and split Movistar?

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 3, which is estimated to start and finish at 11:15 and 15:45CET.

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.

Stage 3 of the race follows a different format, lacking the long climbs and favouring the shorter ones. But it is still a 'rompe-piernas' stage as the Spanish call it, not overly hard but with small climbs all day long which will slowly fatigue the riders and can make the finales more selective than what one would initially expect.

Out from Jaén, the riders find a climb early on which carries bonus seconds in its summit, in which the final 1.5 kilometers average out 7.5%. Hard terrain to control a race, and the teams with numbers may try to take advantage of it. Most of the other climbs on the stage are quite manageable. The riders find rolling terrain but also very exposed and non technical roads in the final kilometers in which it is possible to put on a good chase, so a sprint is likely in Lopera, albeit being another slight uphill drag to the line.

WIth no brutal stages, summit finishes or bonifications, it will now be very hard to eliminate the gap that the peloton has allowed Iván Romeo and Andreas Leknessund to build on stage 2. The main favourites are 54 seconds behind the race leader; and 47 behind the Norwegian. However, every stage provides possibilities, and now UAE - who have the most riders - have to be proactive and race in the same way attacking early and looking to create gaps.

With Tim Wellens and Jan Christen looking strong, the Emirati team can still make the difference; and the same applies to Tom Picock and other in-form riders such as Alex Aranburu, Romain Grégoire and Aleksandr Vlasov who are amongst the strongest on the short types of ascents that the Spanish race provides. The stage isn't overly hard however, and it is also possible that it could end in a bunch sprint.

*** Christophe Laporte, Fred Wright, Alex Aranburu
** Bastien Tronchon, Soren Waerenskjold, Tom Pidcock, Romain Grégoire
* Tim Wellens, Jan Christen, Benoît Cosnefroy, Jon Barrenetxea, Orluis Aular, Sandy Dujardin, Quinten Hermans, Haimar Etxeberria, Tom Crabbe, Axel Zingle,

Pick: Alex Aranburu

How: Reduced bunch sprint.