Tadej Pogačar won the opening time trial of the 2026 Vuelta a España in Monaco, defeating Ethan Hayter by just nine hundredths of a second across a 9.4-kilometer course, according to race reports. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG star claimed the first red jersey of the Spanish Grand Tour just weeks after securing his latest Tour de France victory, marking his 36th career Grand Tour stage win.
The 81st edition of the Vuelta a España opened with a short and technically demanding individual time trial through the principality of Monaco.
Diego Uriarte of Equipo Kern Pharma rolled off the start ramp first at 16:17 local time, setting an early marker before Jordan Labrosse of Decathlon CMA CGM posted a provisional best time of 11:20 minutes. The lead changed hands multiple times as riders tackled the slippery curves. Labrosse’s teammate Sander De Pestel briefly held the top spot before Matthew Brennan of Visma | Lease a Bike lowered the standard to 11:13 minutes. Decathlon CMA CGM riders Andrew Oscar Chamberlain and Léo Bisiaux subsequently showed strong pace, with Bisiaux navigating the technical second section swiftly to outpace his stablemate.
Callum Thornley of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe then seized the provisional lead with a time of 11:02 minutes, establishing a benchmark that held firm against early struggles from established specialists. Stefan Küng of the Tudor Pro Cycling Team missed out on the top positions, while Jay Vine finished the course in 11:11 minutes to place 13th for UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
Joshua Tarling of Netcompany Ineos emerged as a primary contender, clocking a faster split at the intermediate checkpoint and unseating Thornley by one second. However, Tarling’s stint in the hot seat proved brief. Ethan Hayter of Soudal Quick-Step surged through the intermediate timing point three seconds ahead of Tarling, extending his advantage over the final kilometers to stop the clock at 10:57 minutes.
Among other pre-race contenders, Wout van Aert of Visma | Lease a Bike trailed outside the top three at the intermediate check and finished eighth overall, nine seconds behind the winner. Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek crossed the line in 15th place, 16 seconds off the pace.
Pogačar, starting as the penultimate rider, overturned a two-second deficit to Hayter at the intermediate split by accelerating aggressively through the technical final corners. The Tour de France champion matched Hayter’s raw time of 10:57 minutes, but edge-case timing down to the hundredth of a second gave Pogačar the victory by a 0.09-second margin. Tarling secured third place four seconds behind the leading pair, while Thornley and Christophe Laporte rounded out the top five.
By capturing the stage victory, Pogačar immediately established time gaps over several general classification rivals on the opening day of racing.
The Vuelta a España continues with its second stage as the peloton tackles the next leg of the three-week Grand Tour.
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