Vuelta a la Región de Murcia “Costa Cálida” 2026 Stage 1

February 13, 2026 For anyone who has not raced yet, the Vuelta a la Región de Murcia offers a chance to dip the toe in instead of jumping in head first. There are just two days of racing and the spice level of the profiles is a four out of ten. The first day is 178KM from Cartagena to the Gobik factory in Yecla. The race rolls along Spanish flat roads for the entire day until just 4KM to go when the riders hit the Alto Virgen del Castillo, a 1.3KM climb at 7.3%. There is no time to get back on after the summit and before the finish so whoever is together at the top will be the group to contest the win. Riders one should watch this week: Tom Pidcock, Tim Wellens, Benoît Cosnefroy, Pello Bilbao, Raúl García Pierna, Victor Vercouillie, Milan Mentin, Matyáš Kopecký, Danny van der Tuuk Rain was falling in Murcia, a rare sight in what is one of the driest parts in Europe. The route was shortened with the stage starting at the halfway mark in Fortuna due to winds that were howling at the originally planned start on the coast in Cartagena. After a short bus ride, the race got underway and attacks began. With 63KM to go, a group of nine was working to establish a gap to the peloton but the wind was still blowing. In the front group was Quinten Hermans of Pinarello Q36.5, Kamil Gradek of Bahrain Victorious, Marc Soler and Julius Johansen of UAE-XRG, Juan Pedro López, Jefferson Cepeda, and Raúl García Pierna of Movistar, Luca Paletti of Bardiani CSF-7 Saber, and Héctor Álvarez of the Spanish National Team. There isn't much on the landscape in Murcia to break up the wind and with 58KM to go, the peloton was lit up by TotalEnergies and others and it wasn't long before the bunch was in pieces. A chase group one formed with around 20 riders but the cohesion was not tight and Tim Wellens of UAE-XRG decided to attack on his own. Wellens did an impressive rise to make it to the front group and Soler and Johansen immediately started riding for him. The first chase group was swallowed up by the peloton and the gap started to drift out to the Wellens group. Only UAE-XRG and Movistar were riding but the gap hit 1 minute with 49.5KM to go. Soudal Quickstep tried to get the peloton organized. Bahrain Victorious gave them a hand as did XDS-Astana and Lotto Intermarché. There was a lot of in-fighting in the front group because of the work rate of some and with 39KM to go, López was dropped. Wellens got stuck with a few others as his teammates, Soler and Johansen, powered away from everyone else. With 31KM to go through the town of Jumilla, renowned for their wine made of the Mourvèdre grape, the UAE-XRG duo had 20 seconds on the remnants of the original break and still 1 minute on the peloton. Pinarello Q36.5 put their full team on the front of the bunch and split the group down to 20 riders. At 17KM remaining, the front part of the peloton caught the Wellens group but they were still a full minute behind Soler and Johansen. The chase group split again, this time under the pressure of Bahrain Victorious, and with 11KM to go, the group was just 12 riders. A few more got spit out the back and with 8KM to go, the chase group was Tom Pidcock of Pinarello Q36.5, Gradek and his teammates Pello Bilbao, Matej Mohorič, and Alessandro Borgo of Bahrain Victorious, Wellens, Benoît Cosnefroy and Igor Arrieta of UAE-XRG, Matyáš Kopecký of Unibet Rose Rockets, and young Álvarez who had latched on to the back. Soler and Johansen entered the town of Yecla and started the Alto Virgen del Castillo with a 1 minute 10 second gap. 1KM from the summit, Soler went clear from Johansen and reached the top at the beautiful old Santuario Virgen del Castillo with more than enough time in hand. Behind, Pidcock got away from the others and went in pursuit of Soler but the Spaniard finished the day on the top step. Johansen stayed away to take second place with Pidcock coming in 40 seconds down for third place.