Stage 15 of the 2026 Vuelta has been shortened because of extreme heat, with race organisers acting to protect riders’ health as temperatures were expected to reach 40C on Sunday.
The stage has been reduced from 189.7 kilometres to 110.2km. The fictitious start is now scheduled for 14:50, with the real start at 15:00.
The decision was taken after the extreme-temperature protocol was activated. The commissaires, teams, riders and race organisers were all consulted before the change was made.
“At some point, the organisation has to take responsibility. There are things that need adapting. We are in modern cycling. There are riders who went to hospital yesterday, we are not talking about it. Pavel Sivakov had to abandon because of the heat. We need to be more about prevention than anything else, and I find that the organisation is a bit slow on that”, explained Maxime Monfort on Saturday morning, speaking to us.
Our consultant Gérard Bulens had also backed such a decision before it was announced. “I think that, when you see the number of abandons we had today, if they are due to the heat, when you hear Monfort say that several riders ended up in hospital on Friday, there is cause for intervention. Of course, you have to take account of the temperature on the day ahead, look at what kind of stage you are facing and then make the decision that is necessary to safeguard the riders’ health”, he said.