THE MYSTIQUE OF LA VUELTA FEMENINA 26 BY CARREFOUR.ES: FROM GAUDÍ TO RIAZOR

March 19 ^th 2026 - 11:00 [GMT + 1]

Key points:

• The course of La Vuelta Femenina 26 by Carrefour.es was introduced last Monday, March 9th in Ribeira and offers a great chance to get acquainted with some hidden gems in the north of the Iberian Peninsula.
• Next Sunday, May 3rd, La Vuelta will commence from Galicia for the tenth time in its history - eight for the men’s race and one for the women’s. As for the finale atop the Alto de l’Angliru, it will be the third time in four years that this race ends in Asturias.
• The seven-stage course is rich in sporting challenges, with a total elevation gain well over 14,500 meters that sets a new record in this event, and features landmark creations, names and sites in Spanish culture.

Given that the race starts in Galicia and finishes in Asturias, it’s tempting to evoke the ‘meigas’ and ‘bruxas’ - that is, the archetypal witches of these infinitely green, ruggedly mountainous Spanish regions. Women with supernatural powers, like those in the peloton of La Vuelta Femenina 26 by Carrefour.es who will enchant fans and mesmerize them on their screens, or by the roadside, while trying to carve another chapter of women’s cycling legend on grounds that are prone to mystique.

The fourth stage of the Spanish Grand Tour rides over the Ribeira Sacra (‘Sacred Riverbank’), named after the many churches and monasteries scattered across its hills. Gourmets are probably familiar with the red wines from Ribeira Sacra, and also with the albariño whites from the Rias Baixas where most of the first stage is held. This Lugo stage in the Ribeira Sacra passes by Sarria, starting point for the French Way of the Camino de Santiago, a Christian pilgrimage covering 100 kilometers between this charming town and Santiago de Compostela, the capital of Galicia that hosted the finish of La Vuelta back in 1993, 2014 and 2021 - and also the start of the 1982 edition, in one of the eight times that the men’s race has started from this region. Four of those were held in the province of Pontevedra (from Vigo in 1965, 1967, 2007; and Vilanova de Arousa, 2013), the same one where La Vuelta Femenina 26 by Carrefour.es is commencing - this time, from Marín.

It won’t be a first, though. The women’s version of La Vuelta already started from Galicia in 2021. At the time, it was named Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta. That edition was heavily marked by the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic and had the Cabeza de Manzaneda Ski Resort in Ourense as its hub. Marlen Reusser scored one stage win, while Annemiek van Vleuten took two plus the overall. The finale was held in Santiago de Compostela, and saw Lotte Kopecky raise her arms in victory. Then a star on the rise, the two-time UCI Road World Champion is returning to the Spanish Grand Tour this May after a four-year absence

Lotte Kopecky will face the toughest-ever edition of La Vuelta Femenina 26 by Carrefour.es. Lumpy by nature, the terrain in northwest Spain will push the total elevation gain across the seven stages above 14,500 meters, well beyond the 10,331m registered in 2025 and the 11,092m from 2024. Up and down relentless hills and gruelling climbs like Les Praeres and the Angliru, the race will become as hard as the wolframium unearthed from the Varilongo deposit, Europe’s most productive mine of this particular mineral during World War II. During the third stage, we will ride through the town where this deposit is located, Santa Comba - which, by the way, is one of the 66 municipalities in Galicia where more cows than humans reside according to statistics. Another one is Antas de Ulla, the finishing town of the fourth stage.

Stage 4 to Antas de Ulla will end uphill, and so will Stage 1 to Salvaterra de Miño and Stage 2 to San Cibrao das Viñas. The latter finish will be set just a few hundred meters from the headquarters of Adolfo Domínguez, one of the main Spanish fashion brands. As for prêt-à-porter clothes, no company in the world is bigger than Inditex, the emporium created by Amancio Ortega. The peloton will ride near its original base in Arteixo when approaching A Coruña in the closing kilometers of the third stage.

Speaking of creators, the biggest name of this Vuelta Femenina will be Antoni Gaudí - the renowned architect who planned the majestic Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, and whose centenary of death is being remembered in 2026. Stage 5 in the province of León is indeed a celebration of his figure, as the course includes two of the only three buildings that he designed outside Catalonia. One, near the stage start in León, is the Casa Botines modernist museum. The other, at the Astorga finish, is the Gothic-styled Palacio Episcopal.

Let’s turn to cycling artists now, by setting our eyes on a town second to none when it comes to producing them. We are talking about Ponteareas, birthplace of three winners of men’s La Vuelta - Álvaro Pino (1986), Emilio Rodríguez (1950) and the latter’s brother Delio Rodríguez, who on top of winning the race overall in 1945 scored no less than 39 stages in just six participations. La Vuelta Femenina 26 by Carrefour.es will pass through Ponteareas during its first stage in the province of A Coruña.

Cycling stars can shine anywhere in the world, as roads are their playing ground. Footballers, on the other hand, are confined to stadiums. Two iconic ones will be present in La Vuelta Femenina 26 by Carrefour.es - El Molinón, near the start of Stage 6 in Gijón, and Riazor, at the very finish of Stage 3 in A Coruña. Both hosted the 1982 FIFA World Cup, an event that marked the history of Spain as it signalled a change in the times in the country after the death of dictator Francisco Franco.

Few stadiums, though, can compare to the Alto de L’Angliru, a climb whose legend deserves a separate piece, or Les Praeres, with its gruelling slopes that average over 13% for four kilometers. This will be the third time in four years that this race culminates in Asturias, after the spectacular finales atop Lagos de Covadonga (2023) and Cotobello (2025). Spectators will be captivated by the suffering of the riders up the Angliru, yet their eyes will also be wide open during the Coruña stage when we reach Caión. This is a historic whale-fishing port, on the edge of the Costa da Morte (‘The Death Coast’), just by the Atlantic Ocean - one of the many hidden gems we will enjoy at La Vuelta Femenina 26 by Carrefour.es.