Vuelta a España boss Javier Guillén has said that his hopes that both Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard will take part in cycling’s third Grand Tour this August remain intact.
First held back in 1935, the Vuelta turns 90 this year, and Guillén said that having the top two stage racers in the current peloton on the start line in Turin on August 23 would be an ideal “anniversary present.”
In comments reported by Spanish state news agency EFE, Guillén said that he was also hopeful that a widely rumoured, but as yet not confirmed, series of stages on the Canary Islands for the Vuelta was a “key target for the coming years.”
He also explained that the La Vuelta Femenina may soon change from its current dates in May, although that has yet to be definitively decided.
As for the 2025 men’s race, Vingegaard has already said he will be returning to the race where he finished second in 2023, while Pogačar has yet to decide. Other top names currently on the provisional startlist include Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers), Tom Pidcock (Q36.5), João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep).
“Having Pogačar and Vingegaard there would be the best gift for our 90th anniversary, but what we already know about the participation, we definitely like,” Guillén said.
The Vuelta a España – the 80th edition of the race – will start on August 23 in Turin, Italy, and finish on September 14 in Madrid, with summit finishes at the Angliru, Bola del Mundo and the Alto de Morredero all considered major highpoints.
“It’s designed so it’ll be decided in the Bola del Mundo. We’ve got lots of short stages with the emotion concentrated right at the end,” Guillén added.
As for a return to the Canary Islands for the first time since 1987, Guillén said that “hopefully, it’ll happen sooner rather than later. We’re not dreaming about an uphill time trial on Teide, for example, it’s more about getting the race there.
“We’d like to go up the Teide, but only as part of a mass start stage. Going to the Canary Islands is currently the most attractive challenge we are facing, and the one we’d most like to do in our short-term future.”
Regarding upcoming editions of the Vuelta a España, Gullén said that there would be no problem with moving the race dates in 2027, when the next edition of the ‘Super-World Championships’ will be held.
That year, the Worlds, which will combine multiple disciplines as it did in Glasgow in 2023, will finish on September 5, roughly two weeks after the Vuelta usually starts.
As for the Vuelta a España Femenina, Guillén said that the latest edition – won by Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) in both 2024 and 2025 – “was a wonderful one, but it’s a relatively new project, just three years old [in its current, week-long format] and that means we’ll have to make some analysis and changes.”
“In the coming years, the UCI is going to produce a new calendar, and we’ll have to see if we continue in May or move to the end of the season. Those are the two alternatives.”
