Fans at the Vuelta a Espaa have been asked to "take every possible precaution" to protect and preserve the environment, in light of devastating wildfires in recent months.The race heads into the Pyrenees on Monday, with stage three finishing in Font-Romeu, before it continues into Andorra and Spain. In a press release on Monday morning, the race's organisers, Unipublic, called on those watching the race to act to prevent further incidents by not creating sparks or throwing cigarette butts. Last month, 300,000 people were evacuated in France and Spain as wildfires spread, with record-breaking temperatures causing blazes in especially dry areas. Scientists have said that the ongoing climate crisis is creating situations which have fuelled fires. At the Tour de France, fans were prevented from going to stage three in the Pyrenees due to ongoing wildfires, while stage 21 was shortened due to policing resources being redirected to tackle other conflagrations. Fans were also stopped from watching part of stage seven of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift due to fire risks. The Vuelta's statement reads: "La Vuelta 26 travels through Monaco, France, Andorra and Spain, crossing some of the most spectacular landscapes and natural areas in our territory. Along the route, the race will also visit places that, unfortunately, have been affected by wildfires in recent years, reminding us of the importance of protecting and preserving an environment that is part of the very essence of La Vuelta and which serves as our great open-air stadium."For this reason, La Vuelta is calling on all fans following the race from the roadside to take every possible precaution and help prevent fires throughout the 21 stages."Small gestures are essential to protecting our surroundings: do not throw cigarette butts or matches on the ground, do not light fires, avoid any activity that could generate sparks, and always collect your waste before leaving the area. In addition, it is essential to respect at all times the instructions and restrictions established by the local authorities."Lets enjoy La Vuelta responsibly. Taking care of our surroundings means protecting the open-air stadium that makes our sport possible."

Joao Almeida approaches the 2026 Vuelta a Espaa with a different goal than his brilliant ride last year might suggest. The Portuguese, runner-up overall in 2025, arrives in Spain looking to regain rhythm after a season marred by physical issues and, above all, to put himself at the service of Tadej...

Comment & Analysis: The problem with common sense is that its not all that common. This is not something I thought Id ever write, but Voltaire, the 18th-century French philosopher, offers a good starting point for thinking about cycling and headphones or earphones.Before getting too deep into philosophy, were talking about this (again) because the chairperson of Irelands parliamentary Committee on Transport, Michael Murphy, a Fine Gael TD, posted a video on social media asking whether cyclists should wear headphones or earphones.Some modern-day philosophers have since pondered why Deputy Murphy is zooming in on one of the age-old cycling questions at a time when road deaths are spiking again, and theres no link between that trend and people cycling while listening to The Last Word, The Hard Shoulder, or Drivetime.I dont think I ever read anything directly from Voltaire before (even if translated). Its actually quite enlightening (excuse the pun). In Dictionnaire philosophique (1765), Voltaire grapples with the idea that common sense is not that common at all. Today we not only still think common sense is common, but we also think our senses are common. We think what we experience with our senses is a common experience. Of course, it is common to a degree, but to another it is not. When deaf people exist and some of them cycle, its clearly flawed reasoning to assume we all hear, see, perceive, and react to things the same way.Its like bike mirrors and how evangelical their advocates are when most people are fine with a shoulder check. Different things suit different people, or the same people at different stages in their lives. And this all applies to the thorny issue of cycling while listening to music, the radio, podcasts, or audiobooks using headphones or earphones.Ive read and have been involved in debates about this over the years, and I find it hard to reconcile the set-in-stone view (including from some cyclists) that audio gear should never be worn and then how (1) so few scenarios there actually are in most peoples daily or weekly cycling where normal volume audio cues would help much espcally in busy urban ebviormnets when theres a stream of motorists, and (2) that these people cannot get over the idea that just because you have headphones (one ear or two) it does not mean you cannot hear anything.Even in cases where you want to hear whats coming behind you on bendy rural roads or in other contexts, often theres very little that can be done when such roads are narrow and lined with dense greenery on both sides. You could maybe shout out and hope the cars soundproofing isnt too good, or that they dont also have their radio cranked up to the last.And even if youre listening to the radio while cycling along, that doesnt mean you wont hear a motorist flying around the corner behind you. Or, you know, you can turn it off when you need to hear better.In Ireland, even beyond this debate, some eagle-eyed cyclists and others have started to notice that more and more motorists seem to be wearing AirPods-like earbuds while driving. Its unclear why maybe bypassing their convoluted or broken built-in hands-free? Any ear blockage motorists have is on top of improved sound insulation in cars.As pointed out in Saturdays article, one experiment found that people cycling with earbuds playing music at a reasonable volume hear much more outside noise than a car driver, even when that driver has no music playing. One response is that its more important for cyclists to hear things, with some thinking motorists only need to hear car horns or emergency-service sirens. But why do some people think thats true?Ive had good reason to shout at both motorists and cyclists to get them to stop or slow down to avoid people on foot or bikes (including myself). The most recent example was a cyclist coming around a blind corner on a footpath, but I can think of far more times Ive had to do it to motorists, maybe most often when they have misjudged overtakes.I also have a loud bell that motorists can hear if their window is down, or if their music or the surrounding traffic noise isnt too loud. With those things combined, Im somewhat puzzled why some people think motorists being able to hear isnt important. For the record: My default is one ear only. Except in very limited cases, such as using earbuds to block out the noise of a busy national road for a short time on a greenway running too close to it in a remote area with no junctions, I cannot remember the last time I wore earbuds in both ears. Usually I have the right-hand side in. I could rationalise this and say its partly because the left side is closer to where motorists or passengers will open a car door, or a pedestrian will step out. But the truth likely is, my right earbud has the stop/pause function, and having access to that matters more to me than any of those factors.My rule is not my own; its one I picked up. The one-ear rule is also enshrined in law in most jurisdictions where laws have been set about this mainly US States and a number of counties. Some EU countries like France and Spain have a total ban, but its important to say that at least in some of the countries where such a ban is in place, it seems to be a catch-all rule that includes motorists.I dont exactly know when I started with the one-ear rule. Maybe I learned my lesson after trying earphones in two ears at once and realised I couldnt hear as much as I would like? I dont know. I regularly wore wired earphones in one ear before earbuds were popularised so, it was decades ago; I cannot recall, to be honest.But I know there are views beyond my own.At one end of the scale, some people think its daft that anybody would ever consider cycling with any ear coverings (maybe ear muffs or hats in the winter included?) some speak from the experience of cycling, and others from the point of view of never having cycled, or at least not for decades.At the other end of the scale, some people say they can wear over-ear headphones or two earbuds with no issue.There are also deaf cyclists, and others, including those who are neurodivergent, who use headphones to avoid sensory overload from the noise of cars, vans, buses, and trucks. Our senses are not common, so people need to stop thinking its common sense to think they are.Just like most people adapt to cycling without mirrors, most people who want to listen to a podcast when cycling to work will account for being able to also hear whats around them. Of course some people wont, but these are the people who wont take a blind bit of head to the law one way or another.Our laws are not always rationalAs well as common sense differing between groups of people, the notion that it could never be safe to listen to any music or audio when cycling and so it should rationally be banned dismisses the fact that our laws on distracted driving are not rational. As covered in Saturdays article, Gemma Briggs, an applied cognitive psychologist with a specific interest in attention and perception,wrote in a 2022 article that:Decades of research has demonstrated drivers on the phone arefour timesmore likely to be involved in an accident than undistracted drivers, regardless of whether theyre using a hand-held or hands-free system. This increased risk lasts for aroundfive minutesafter the call has ended, suggesting that interacting with the technology isnt the only issue. It seems that phone conversations take the drivers focus away from their primary task of driving, even after theyve hung up. People are largely unaware that their minds wander like this, or that it can affect their driving.In those decades, distracted driving has increased due to the illegal use of messaging while holding phones and the lesser-talked-about issues of people watching videos while in heavy traffic, and the legal use of touchscreen controls in cars (widely rolled out for well over a decade before the trend was acknowledged widely as a safety issue).But while little is being done to address our modern distractions, nearly nothing has been done to even tell people that hands-free calling when driving is risky. Theres not even basic advice that driving isnt the time or place for full-blown conversations over the phone.Meanwhile, for most cyclists, there arent many scenarios where reacting to ambient sound will prevent a crash, yet the moral panic around cyclists keeps setting in headphones are just this weeks topic.

Cian Uijtdebroeks approaches Stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espaa 2026 with doubts over his left ankle. The Belgian from Movistar Team crashed during Stage 2 and, although he finished 18 seconds behind the winner, Matthew Brennan, the physical impact has his team on alert. Before the Stage 3 start, Uijtde...

Good morning and welcome to the liveblog of the Vuelta a Espana. Stage 3 takes the riders from Gruissan to Font-Romeu, covering 174 kilometres. It is the first summit finish of this years race and an early opportunity for the main general classification contenders to show how good their legs are. T...

Tadej Pogacar won the opening stage of the Vuelta a Espaa and has been headlining the first few days of the Spanish Grand Tour. On the CyclingUpToDate Podcast, Rben Silva and Kieran Wood have discussed the World Champion's opening days in the race; as well as Ethan Hayter's performances over the o...

Sixteen years after his last track competition, Taylor Phinney returned to the velodrome on Sunday afternoon and won the team pursuit at the US National Track Championships. The quartet of Phinney, Anders Johnson, Colby Lange and David Domonoske qualified first in the event with a time of 4:03.688 in Carson, California. They then went on to win the final after only five of the 16 laps, having caught their rivals with just over a minute on the clock. Honored to rep the jersey once more, Phinney posted on Instagram. Prior to Sunday, the last time the 36-year-old competed on the track was at the UCI World Championships in 2010, when he won the individual pursuit world title and placed third in the omnium. He announced his comeback this April, with his sights on making the US track squad for the LA Olympics in 2028. What started as a return to gravel racing has delicately snowballed into a full on Olympic dream, he wrote on Instagram at the time. The track was where I first found love and success in this sport, it was even the first discipline to break my heart when my specialty event, the individual pursuit, was removed from the Olympic program, which prompted me to swiftly abandon the track and go all in on the road. Recently the USA boys have been making huge strides in the Team Pursuit, and I couldnt be more stoked to be joining them in the chase for the Olympic Dream.After dropping track cycling in 2010, Phinney stepped up to the WorldTour in his road career, first joining BMC Racing, and then EF Education First. He retired from road racing in 2019, aged 29, but has competed in gravel events in recent years. The Olympics in LA carry sentimental value for the Phinney family; Taylor's mother, Connie Carpenter-Phinney, won gold in the inaugural women's road race at the LA Olympics in 1984. His father, Davis Phinney, won bronze in the individual time trial. Regardless of whether I make the official team for LA28 or not, I'm honored to be in the running and will look forward to making some World Cup teams to elevate the team to its highest potential and Olympic qualifying position, he wrote in April.A full list of the winners at last weeks US National Track Championships is below. US National Track Championships 2026 winnersMensTeam pursuit Anders Johnson, Taylor Phinney, Colby Lange, David DomonoskeIndividual pursuit Anders JohnsonOmnium Colby LangeScratch race Aaron Beebe Elimination race Colby LangePoints race Aaron BeebeTeam sprint Joshua Hartman, Dalton Walters, Sterling ReneauSprint Dalton WaltersKeirin Dalton WaltersKilometre time trial Dalton WaltersWomens Team pursuit Bethany Ingram, Anna Hicks, Olivia Cummins, Ella SaboIndividual pursuit Anna HicksOmnium Anna HicksScratch race Kimberly ZubrisElimination race Chloe PatrickPoints race Anna HicksTeam sprint Emily Hayes, Kayla Hankins, Hayley YoslovSprint McKenna McKeeKeirin McKenna McKeeKilometre time trial Mandy Marquardt

Tadej Pogacar is the main favourite to win the 2026 Vuelta a Espaa, but there will be several riders capable of finishing on the final podium under regular circumstances. On the CyclingUpToDate podcast, Rben Silva and Kieran Wood analyzed the likes of Primoz Roglic, Oscar Onley, Richard Carapaz an...

We visit three continents for today's edition of Weekend Snapshot, tracking down readers in Australia, England, and the United States. Find scenes from rides through a trio of unique forests and share a shot from one of your recent rides here...The post Weekend Snapshot appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.