Three Grand Tour debutants as Paul Double leads youthful Team Jayco AlUla stage hunt at 2026 Vuelta a Espana

Team Jayco AlUla have named a youthful eight-man squad for the 2026 Vuelta a Espana, with Paul Double handed a leading role and three riders set to make their Grand Tour debuts as the Australian team targets stage victories rather than the general classification.

Double will start his first Vuelta in Monaco on August 22 and only the second Grand Tour of his career. Alessandro Covi, Asbjorn Hellemose, Hamish McKenzie and Rudy Porter are also Vuelta debutants, while Hellemose, McKenzie and Porter have never previously raced over three weeks.

Finlay Pickering, Koen Bouwman and Jasha Sutterlin are the only riders in the selection with previous Vuelta experience, giving Jayco a striking mix of young riders being given opportunities and a small core tasked with providing three-week experience.

Double arrives after finishing fifth overall at both the Tour of Oman and Tour of Austria during 2026. The 30-year-old had already made a major step forward by winning the WorldTour Tour of Guangxi in 2025, and Jayco now want him looking for opportunities on the Vuelta's harder days rather than protecting a GC position.

“I’m very much looking forward to lining up at La Vuelta with GreenEDGE,” Double said. “It will be my second Grand Tour and hopefully with everything learnt last year I can have more success. I’ve been re-finding my legs in the last few races so I’m hoping to capitalise wherever opportunities reveal themselves. For sure it’ll be a tough few weeks ahead but I’m looking forward to racing in Spain, also a chance to brush up on my Spanish which is quickly becoming rusty.”

Pickering already knows what it takes to turn an unexpected Vuelta opportunity into results. Called into the 2025 race at short notice, the Briton finished 29th overall and collected three top-10 stage finishes, including 10th on the mountain stage to Larra Belagua.

His 2026 results have strengthened his case for more freedom this time around. Pickering finished 13th overall at the Tour de Suisse and ninth at the Tour of Austria, making him another obvious option when breakaways are given room on climbing-heavy stages.

Bouwman supplies the deepest Grand Tour pedigree in the squad. The Dutchman is preparing for his 13th Grand Tour and fifth Vuelta, with his best three-week results coming at the 2022 Giro d'Italia, where he won two stages and the mountains classification.

Covi is another proven Grand Tour stage winner. The Italian, making his Vuelta debut and first Grand Tour appearance for Jayco, won a major mountain stage at the 2022 Giro and gives the team an option on both hilly terrain and reduced-group finishes.

Hellemose has been given licence to look for breakaway opportunities on his Grand Tour debut, while McKenzie and Porter are expected to work for the team's more established options while gaining their first experience of a three-week race. Sutterlin, making his fifth Vuelta appearance, adds another experienced presence for positioning and support on the flatter roads.

Sport director David McPartland made Jayco's objective explicit when confirming the squad. “We are heading to the Vuelta this year with the goal of chasing stage results,” he said. “We have a young and very motivated team for the final Grand Tour of the season."

“A lot of riders will be making their debut at the race, this brings a lot of added motivation and we’re looking forward to seeing what they can achieve. Hopefully many stages that will end with breaks going to the line and, for sure, we are looking to take every possible opportunity we can to get the most out of this race and end the season on a high.”

That approach fits a 3,275-kilometre route featuring six major mountain stages and repeated opportunities for breakaways to contest the finish. Double and Pickering bring the strongest recent stage-race form, Bouwman has proven Grand Tour climbing pedigree and Covi offers another route to a result on days that are too hard for the pure fast men but not selective enough for the leading GC climbers.