UNBELIEVABLE: Vuelta a espana 2026 stage 2 preview - Caught on Camera

Stage details

Overall leader Tadej Pogačar is expecting a difficult day in the saddle as the race heads into the South of France for the longest stage of the Vuelta a España, at 214.3km on Sunday.

"It's going to be tough," said Pogačar after winning the stage 1 time trial in Monaco on Saturday, where he took the overall race lead with the same time as runner-up Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep) and four seconds ahead of third-placed Joshua Tarling (Netcompany Ineos).

"I think there are some guys who are close in time and can do a breakaway or sprint for bonus seconds, so it's going to be a fight for the red jersey and we can see some shuffle in the GC tomorrow."

This hilly stage is hard to predict; it’s unusually early for such a breakaway-friendly test, and it will likely come down to a battle between the sprinters and the puncheurs.

The riders will line up at Place du Palais Princier and roll towards the race start at the Jardin Exotique before heading west into France, reaching Nice via the Moyenne Corniche after 10 kilometres. Some 20 kilometres later comes the climb into the Provençal mountains, via the Alto Châteauneuf-Grasse and the Col de Saint-Andrieu.

The final 100 kilometres wind through a constant series of steep ascents, descents, and bends, before dropping down towards the Durance river basin and tackling the technical, narrow, steep-gradient finishing climb into Manosque.

Climbs

• Alto Châteauneuf-Grasse (cat. 3, 12.8km at 2.9%), km. 44.5
• Col de Saint-Andrieu (cat. 3, 4.7km at 4.8%), km. 104.6

Sprints

• Gréoux-les-Bains, km. 178.5

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