Few places can claim to have shaped the story of professional cycling more than once. This August, Monaco will claim it for a third time.
From August 20 to 23, the Principality hosts the Grand Départ of La Vuelta a España, becoming the only city in the world to have launched all three of cycling's Grand Tours, following the Giro d'Italia in 1966 and the Tour de France in 2009.
The centrepiece is a 9.6 kilometre individual time trial on Saturday, August 22, setting off from Place du Casino and winding past the Hôtel de Paris, the Fairmont hairpin, Port Hercule and Fontvieille before finishing on the Formula 1 Grand Prix's own finish line. Sunday brings a ceremonial departure from the Prince's Palace, before riders leave the Principality from the Jardin Exotique en route to France.
Vuelta director Javier Guillén called Monaco synonymous with sporting excellence, describing the Grand Départ as both an honour and a guarantee of success for everyone involved.
For a Principality already named the world's sporting capital in 2025, La Vuelta's arrival is one more line in a story Monaco has spent decades writing: proof that greatness, in racing as in so much else, keeps finding its way back to the Rock.