The Vuelta a Murcia will be taking place from the 13th to the 14th of February, having a two-day format this year. The race provides stages for the sprinters, classics specialists and climbers to build on their form towards bigger goals this spring, whilst providing reputable wins for those who venture out in southern Spain. We take a look at their profiles.
The Vuelta a Murcia is a race with tremendous history, decades of some of Spains' very best who have taken part in it and have won it as well. Pedro Delgado won the initial edition of the race back in 1981 whilst Miguel Induráin was the winner in 1986, both of which far before going on to Tour de France glory.
he race continued to feature prominent national and international start's throughout 1990's with Marco Pantani winning it in 1999 whilst being the Giro and Tour de France's reigning champion; Whilst this century Murcia's very own Alejandro Valverde won the race on five times in total. The likes of Denis Menchov, Alberto Contador (who was stripped of his in in 2011), Nairo Quintana and Philippe Gilbert also stand on the race's palmarès. On some years, this was a one-day race, and this has been the case since 2021. Last year it was Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team's Jan Christen who took a surprising victory in the sprint.
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Profile: Cartagena - Yecla
Stage 1: Cartagena - Yecla, 178.2 kilometers
The opening stage of the race is one where all the action will be condensed in the finale. The stage starts off in Cartagena and finishes in Yecla, with a 1.3-kilometer long climb at 7% ending with just over 3 kilometers to go. The downhill finale makes it very hard to organize any chase, and we could see a late attack succeeding.
Profile: Murcia - Santomera
Murcia - Santomera, 178 kilometers
The second and queen stage of the race features a route that is more widely known by the riders, starting off from the city of Murcia and then climbing the Alto Collado Bermejo, which is 16 kilometers long at 5.5%. However, the climb is positioned in the first third of the day, and it may very well not have an effect on the outcome of the race.
Most likely, the riders will save their legs towards the ascent to Cresta del Gallo, which is 4.4 kilometers long at 6.6%, and ends with 23 kilometers to go. This ascent should split the peloton up into bits, and then the riders that remain close to the front can battle it out for the win in either a small group sprint or through tactical racing in the flat arrival to Santomera.
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- It's a different sort of excitement now. Back in Roger de Vlaeminck's time it was engaging to see riders race crazy distances even if very little actually happened. Now that's not interesting because everyone knows that the cyclists can do that. Milano-Sanremo has always been interesting because it's about who's got the legs after almost 300 km (unlike Sam Welsford who struggles when it goes past 180). That is why races are being adapted to that. The crazy long stages in Grand Tours are extremely rare, and the Blockhaus stage in the 2026 Giro is an exception. Personally I blame La Vuelta. There has to be a limit, or road cycling will turn into criteriums
Rafionain-Glas09-02-2026 - Tadej has not made a fuss about any of his injuries, and he's always persevered. What I was referring to is when pundits and fans overstate the effect. After the Tour, Tadej never said anything like 'I persevered despite all the pressure you put on me' (although that would be unsportsmanly so he wouldn't say it anyway) but it was the pundits who said 'Look at Visma - they couldn't even beat an injured Tadej', Personally I'm not a Pogačar fan, but that's because I find supporting the best rider boring (just like supporting Mathieu in CX or Pidcock in MTB). Which is why Pedersen's crash is so disappointing.Rafionain-Glas09-02-2026
- For sure you are not a Tadej fan, but this post is unfair. Pog has made little fuss about his few injuries. Winning Strade Bianche with fresh rashes full of thorns? He never used his knee as an excuse in the 2025 Tour (and why would he, he won). The look on his face in the last metres was joy and relief, not disappointment. But I was interested to read up on the Flemish name for LBL that you used, so thanks for that.Hills3309-02-2026
- What Mathews is complaining about is actually making cycling better, not worse. Racing just for sprint wins is boring to the average fan. Mathews seems to be complaining about having to race hard throughout the stage and having a good team in order to be a player in the finale - I don't get his argument.paule09-02-2026
- It was pretty well documented that year, as UAE were not looking for excuses, but to make the best of a worst-scenario wrist-injury situation and deliver something for their sponsors after the previous year's defeat. So Gianetti announced an in-form Adam Yates as co-leader on the eve of the Tour, as 'there are no miracles in cycling' - if you can't put in the training, you can't win. Sean Kelly basically agreed, based on his own experience.Hills3309-02-2026
- No doubt Lemond knows of which he speaks. I do believe though, and I feel modern science and sports science supports this, the years of covert "doping" were as harmful to the riders than beneficial, if not much more harmful. All of these riders were guinea pigs with all sorts of unknown medications, dosages, effects, if any, positive or negative. The "physicians " using these research drugs and off label medications were 100% experimenting on everyone and everything. They absolutely did not have any tried and true method to guarantee any result, let alone any safe and beneficial result. While there certainly was a lot of cheating, the effects of the cheating is nowhere near as simple as many of the athletes remember or imagine. There were a lot of placebo results, even if it didn't put you in a hospital. It's also a contributing factor to the current discussions around " you mean to claim a non doped rider today can go faster than a doped rider from 25 years ago?" when we never stop to think just how clapped those road side drugs practices were. There was so much experimenting with very questionable substances by people with very questionable credentials, they were as likely to kill someone as make them perform better. That didn't stop people like Armstrong and company from cheating, but it does explain some of his bafflement at how modern training, nutrition and equipment can erase his times. Poor old Lance was probably not getting the magic he was paying so much money for. He was a fool on multiple levels.Barry09-02-2026
- Still, it does seem that Tadej's injuries are always overstated. His knee swelling was just a minor injury, and can't be an excuse for getting dropped by Wout (who was still recovering from worse injuries in 2024). The same goes for his Luik-Bastonaken-Luik wrist injury. Maybe it's because he suffers so fewRafionain-Glas09-02-2026
- His criticisms of the current crop of unhuman talent racing today is ridiculous of course, but let's pause and get real for a moment shall we?: 512 wins. My God, that speaks for itself, absolutely incredible. No rider in the past several decades can touch that, outside of Merckx himself obviously. But to be fair, MVDP and Tadej aren't done either, so time will tell. Regarding his CX comments, he is just attempting to defend his brother's honor, I get it. Seeing his record beaten in the absolute, most dominant fashion has to hurt, but that's normal. At the same time however, his criticisms of MVDP are pretty weak. Last time I checked he can absolutely sprint with the best of them. Furthermore, he has zero issues dropping everyone on the 22+% Koppenberg, nevermind soloing away from the pretenders to huge time gap victories in most of his races from Roubaix to every single CX race this year and more. It leaves little doubt that the man can certainly time trial when he needs to. It's arguably a better measure of his actual ability vs creative uses of drag cheating, wind tunnel friendly, new technologies we see utilized in formal TT niche settings. I would think this fact would appeal to Rog DVMK, given the comparitively limited availability of wind tunnel tech to riders of his era. His unapologetic, outspoken, fearless defiance of the popular fanboy narratives is born of the same mentality that made him such a fantastic racer in his time. Anything less would have seen him washed out with the rest of the "also rans". He is simply frustrated by the fact that MVDP is as good as he (a classics master) and his brother Eric (a CX master) combined!urbantoreador08-02-2026
- Jews in Jewllywood just wanna make money. How about the bio-film on Melania - the Lance film will crater similarly.bike-anarkist08-02-2026
- Unusually well co-ordinated result for Belgium.Mistermaumau08-02-2026
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