Tadej Pogacar has started La Vuelta 2026 as he finished the last Tour de France: winning. The Slovenian has won the inaugural time trial in Monaco by just nine hundredths over Ethan Hayter and has put on the first red jersey of the race.
Pogacar completed the 9.4 kilometers of the urban route in 10 minutes, 57 seconds, and 14 hundredths. Hayter finished only 0.09 seconds later. In the rounded classification to the second, both appear with the same time, but the fractions recorded by the official timing awarded the victory to the cyclist from UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
The British Joshua Tarling finished third, four seconds behind, after deciding to participate just eight days after the death of his brother Fin during the Volta a Portugal.
Nine hundredths that are worth the first red jersey
Hayter had set the best record and seemed headed for victory. Pogacar, the penultimate cyclist to start, was regaining ground during the second half of the route and crossed the finish line with a practically imperceptible advantage.
The course began next to the Casino de Montecarlo and ran through some of the streets used by Formula 1. The riders faced tunnels, tight turns, changes of pace, and sections where taking too many risks could end in a fall.
Pogacar covered the route at an average speed close to 51.5 kilometers per hour. The difference with Hayter was so small that both were separated by less than a tenth of a second after almost eleven minutes of effort.
The result allows the Slovenian to lead from the first day the only grand tour that is still not on his palmarès.
Stage 1 Classification of La Vuelta 2026
The time trial left eight riders separated by less than ten seconds:
1. Tadej Pogacar: 10:57
2. Ethan Hayter: same second, at 0.09
3. Joshua Tarling: at 4 seconds
4. Callum Thornley: at 5 seconds
5. Christophe Laporte: at 6 seconds
6. Oscar Chamberlain: at 8 seconds
7. Léo Bisiaux: at 9 seconds
8. Wout van Aert: at 9 seconds
9. Finn Fisher-Black: at 10 seconds
10. Arthur Kluckers: at 11 seconds
João Almeida finished 18 seconds behind his teammate Pogacar. Primoz Roglic lost 22 seconds, Carlos Rodríguez finished 27 seconds behind, while Enric Mas lost 33.
Iván Romeo was the best Spaniard. The Movistar cyclist finished nineteenth, 18 seconds behind the winner, tied in rounded time with Almeida.
Pogacar returns to La Vuelta seven years later
Pogacar had not participated in La Vuelta since 2019, when he finished third in the general classification and won three stages at just 20 years old.
Since then he has conquered five Tours de France and the Giro d'Italia of 2024. La Vuelta is the only one of the three major stage races that he has not yet won. If he wins in Granada on September 13, he will become the ninth cyclist in history capable of winning the Giro, Tour, and Vuelta.
His victory in Monaco does not decide the race, but it does send a first message to his rivals. Pogacar has already opened gaps with Roglic, Mas, Carapaz, and Carlos Rodríguez before the arrival of the high mountains.
Stage 2: from Monaco to Manosque
La Vuelta will continue this Sunday with a stage of 214.3 kilometers between Monaco and Manosque. The organization classifies it as hilly and places the neutral start at 12:00 and the estimated arrival around 17:16.
The route includes the climb of Châteauneuf-Grasse, a third-category ascent of 13 kilometers at 2.9%, and the Col de Saint-Andrieu, also third-category, with five kilometers at 4.8%.
It will be a day conducive to breaks and fast riders capable of overcoming the two ascents. Pogacar will have to defend the red jersey in a long stage, exposed to splits, falls, and tactical movements.