Estepona and Peñas Blancas will be protagonists of the antepenultimate stage of La Vuelta 2026

The mayor, José María García Urbano, today attended the presentation of this stage that will run entirely through the province on September 11.

The mayor of Estepona, José María García Urbano, today attended the official presentation of the 19th stage of La Vuelta 2026, which will run through the city and end in Peñas Blancas on September 11.

The Salón de Pasos Perdidos of the Provincial Council of Malaga today hosted the presentation of this day, which was attended by the president of the Provincial Council, Francisco Salado; the general director of La Vuelta, Javier Guillén; and the councilors of Estepona and Vélez Málaga, José María García Urbano and Jesús Lupiáñez, respectively.

García Urbano explained that this sport is “one of those that give more spectacle and attract more fans,” and stressed that the neighbors are already waiting with “enthusiasm” the arrival of La Vuelta.

With departure from Vélez-Málaga and arrival at the finish line at the port of Peñas Blancas, the peloton will cover a total of 205.1 kilometers passing through municipalities such as Rincón de la Victoria, Málaga, Cártama, Coín, Alozaina, Ronda, Marbella or Estepona.

This competition reaches 190 countries around the world with more than three hours of live daily television broadcasting. “At the end of La Vuelta we will already be above 450 million accumulated audience and growing,” said the general director, Javier Guillén.

Francisco Salado pointed out that in the province “there is a great love of cycling” and added that it is an “ideal territory for the practice of this sport”, since it combines the beauty of the coast with the beauty of some very tough mountains.

The mayor of Velez-Malaga, Jesus Lupiñez, stressed that in this municipality and throughout the Axarquia “cycling is felt with great enthusiasm, as it is a territory that lends itself to the practice of this sport intensely.”

The relationship of Malaga with La Vuelta is already historical: with this will be 44 times that a stage of La Vuelta will start from a municipality in the province of Malaga and the second time it will do so from Velez-Malaga; the province will have hosted 37 final stages and will be the third finish in Peñas Blancas; and this year will be the 19th time that a stage of La Vuelta will be held entirely within the province.

The experts consider that it could be a good day for breakaways, since the cyclists will start on a fairly flat route that will become more complicated in the Serranía de Ronda to reach a high finish that is expected to be very spectacular.

The stage includes four mountain passes and a finish in Peñas Blancas that accumulates more than 1,200 meters of elevation gain and more than 19 kilometers.

Salado has pointed out that the Diputación de Málaga participates in virtually all major sporting events held in the province “because it seeks to associate our territory with the values of sport and because this strategy is giving good results in terms of international projection of the province,” which translates into income, economic dynamism, employment and wealth generation for the people of Malaga.

This edition of La Vuelta has a marked international and, especially, Mediterranean character. It will start in Monaco and finish in Granada, passing through France and Andorra. Four countries in total, with a large Andalusian protagonism in its final stages (10 of the 21 stages pass through an Andalusian province).

“We are facing a new opportunity to enjoy the best cycling in the world and to publicize the charms of our province, all wrapped in the framework of a competition that works wonderfully, with an extraordinary organization,” said the president of the Provincial Council.

The general director, Javier Guillén, has assured that this edition will be “historic for Andalusia”, since the eight provinces will be present, and has predicted that the stage of September 11 will be very important from the sporting point of view for the general classification, since it will be the antepenultimate one. He has also indicated that a new complementary concept is presented, which has been called ‘La Vuelta is more’, an initiative that allows to talk about sport, tourism, sustainability, mobility and pride to awaken inspiration, generate connections and mobilize society to pedal together towards a more united, supportive and sustainable world.