The Q36.5 Pro Cycling team have secured a Vuelta a España wildcard place as race organisers Unipublic opted to snub Spanish teams Kern Pharma and Euskaltel-Euskadi to have a more international peloton.
The 2025 Vuelta a España will start in Turin, Italy on Saturday, August 23 and end in Madrid on Sunday, September 14.
The 18 WorldTour teams are automatically invited to the three Grand Tours, while the two best-ranked ProTeams from the previous season also secure automatic places. Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto secured those places in 2025.
The Vuelta a España decided to award the final wildcard places to Q36.5 Pro Cycling and Spanish ProTeams Burgos Burpellet BH and Caja Rural, despite Kern Pharma winning three stages last year.
Q36.5 were recently invited to the Giro d'Italia alongside Tudor Pro Cycling, Polti-VisitMalta and VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè. Tudor, TotalEnergies and Uno-X Mobility secured the Tour de France wildcard places after the UCI agreed to increase the number of teams in Grand Tours to 23.
Unipublic have rotated wildcard invitations amongst the Spanish ProTeams in recent years but Kern Pharma and Euskaltel miss out this year.
"Deeply disappointed not to be able to return to La Vuelta a España after what happened in 2024," Kern Pharma wrote on social media, alongside a video of one of their victories. "Thank you all for your support and encouraging messages. You're our driving force."
Vuelta Race Director Javier Guillén recently explained his selections when speaking to Spanish newspaper, AS.
"It's not easy to choose, but we don't want to limit ourselves to national teams either, because La Vuelta is a very international race," he said.
Tom Pidock is team leader at Q36.5 and appears keen to also ride the Vuelta in the late summer.
"I did my first Grand Tour four years ago in Spain and have great memories of it. Back then, everything was new, but this year, I go in with a lot more experience and higher expectations - especially with the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team by my side," he said.
"I haven’t checked all the stages yet, but I do know there is one stage finish in Andorra. That’s where I live, so it’s definitely something to look forward to."
Team Manager Doug Ryder was concerned about missing out on a Grand Tour place in 2025, now the team has two as it steps up to make its Grand Tour debut.
"Although this will be our first time competing in La Vuelta as a team, 15 of our 25 riders have experience in the race, with some securing stage podiums, victories, and even wearing the iconic red leader’s jersey," he said.
"It is a tough, undulating and mountainous race which suits us. There is also an individual and a team time trial to tackle. I have no doubt that we will make an impact from the opening stage in Piemonte, Italy, all the way to the grand finale in Madrid."
