Can ANYONE beat Pogačar? 2026 Vuelta a España Preview | The Race Communiqué

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP La Vuelta a España is almost upon us! That’s right, it’s almost time for the last Grandy of the season - and my favourite! In this month’s Race Communiqué Luke Durbridge, Tom Southam, and I are picking apart the route, looking down the startlist, and previewing what promises to be an absolute scorcher of a race.  Of course, the headlines around this year’s edition of La Vuelta are dominated by the presence of some Slovenian kid called Terry Pogačar…or something, and it’s fair to say he’s going to be the out-and-out favourite. But that doesn’t mean we’re in for a three-week snooze fest, oh no. Guys like Richard Carapaz, Felix Gall, Mads Pedersen, Wout van Aert, Matt Brennan, and heaps more absolute hitters are showing up to make this a Grand Tour that you do NOT want to miss. Kicking off in Monaco, the 2026 Vuelta Route takes the pelo down through Andorra and into Spain, with a huge emphasis on the southern part of the country. That means two things: ripping hot temperatures and disgustingly tough climbs. In fact, this year’s route has almost 59,000 meters elevation total - almost 10,000 more than the Giro!  We go through the course stage by stage and pick out some of our favourites that you’re gonna want to sit down and watch. As you know, I have a real soft spot for the Vuelta, and I think the organisers must have been listening to us yarn away on the pod about what stages we want to see in the grand tours, because there’s some absolute bangers in there.  After the Vuelta preview, we turn to Luke for this month’s PeloChat. Durbs has done some serious digging for this ep, and is looking into what it takes to scout out new and upcoming talent. With a bit of an explainer from our old mate Michael ‘Heppy’ Hepburn, now working for Red Bull - BORA - Hansgrohe, this is a really great insight into how the biggest teams are finding the superstars of tomorrow.  Southam’s talking tactics takes a look at La Vuelta and asks: does it really need to be three weeks long, or could it be shorter? What would a two week grandy look like? Would it be better racing? It’s something that comes up for discussion every time the Vuelta rolls around, and Southam’s got one hell of a take on it.  You know the drill by now; as always, we wrap things up with a Vuelta-themed CommuniQuiz. Southam’s on the mic as Quiz Master this month, trying to catch me and Durbo out with some pretty sneaky Spanish stats. Guys, crack open a crisp Cerveza, order some tapas, wake up from your siesta, and get ready for this year’s Vuelta! I can’t wait, and I hope this episode gets you fired up and ready for a real fiesta of a race.  Cheers, Mitch The Race Communiqué is brought to you by TrainingPeaks! Track, plan, and train smarter - just like the pros. Get 20% off TrainingPeaks Premium now at trainingpeaks.com/litp