All articles tagged with #vuelta a espana
Matthew Brennan claimed his fifth Vuelta stage win in Seville, giving Visma-Lease a Bike seven Grand Tour stage wins this season and breaking the team’s previous six-win record. The 21-year-old Brit, competing in his first Grand Tour, said he still can’t believe the achievement, while a strong lead-out from Wout van Aert and the squad’s planning were crucial to the historic sprint.
Great Britain's Matthew Brennan sprinted to victory on stage 17 of the Vuelta a Espana in Seville, claiming his fifth Grand Tour stage win and becoming the youngest rider to reach five such victories. A late break by Sinuhe Fernandez and Enzo Paleni was reeled in as Brennan edged Jordi Meeus and Magnus Cort at the line. In the GC, Enric Mas maintained the lead over Felix Gall with Primoz Roglic in third, while stage 18 features a 32.1km individual time trial that could reshuffle the standings.
Matthew Brennan sprinted to Stage 16 victory in Palos de la Frontera, earning his fourth win of the Vuelta 2026 as a five-man breakaway was reeled in about 23km from the finish. Enric Mas extended his GC lead to 2:06 over Felix Gall, with Primoz Roglic four seconds behind, and the race heads 185km from Dos Hermanas to Seville for the next sprint finale.
Wout van Aert powered clear from a five-man break to win Vuelta stage 15 in Córdoba, securing his second consecutive Vuelta victory and Visma-Leasea Bike’s fifth stage of the race. He hinted the final Granada climb could suit him in the end and quipped he might not return to Córdoba to keep the win-trend-stat intact.
Tadej Pogacar will not race again this season after a crash at the Vuelta a España left him with a neck fracture, broken collarbone, concussion and abrasions, ruling him out of defending the World Championship rainbow jersey in Montreal. UAE Team Emirates-XRG said he won’t compete again until 2027 to allow full recovery and has extended his contract to 2032. In other cycling news, Cees Bol won Stage 4 of the Tour of Britain while Tim Wellens leads the overall standings ahead of the final stage.
Twenty-year-old Jakob Omrzel stunned the Vuelta field by winning Stage 12 at Calar Alto, becoming Slovenia’s youngest Grand Tour stage winner. He’s eager to forge his own path rather than being compared to Tadej Pogačar or Primož Roglič, discussing his WorldTour rise with Bahrain Victorious after a breakthrough under-23 season and a life‑changing crash in 2024, and he still dreams of a Tour de France future if his trajectory continues.
Wout van Aert sprinted from a massive breakaway to win stage 13 of the Vuelta a España ahead of Valentin Paret-Peintre; Mas retained the overall lead by 1:45 over Roglic as the race heads into the mountains toward Jaen-La Pandera.
Enric Mas extended his Vuelta a Espana lead after a late attack on stage 12 to Calar Alto, where Jakob Omrzel rode clear to win the stage by nearly two minutes; Omrzel also moved within 30 seconds of Oscar Onley in the best young rider standings after Onley crashed and finished fifth in GC. Mas had broken from a small group with about 13km to go, gaining 27 seconds on the day and pushing his overall lead to 1 minute 56 seconds over Roglic and Gall, while Pogacar's earlier exit from the race after a stage eight crash leaves the field aiming for the final climbs around Malaga and Granada before the finish in Andalusia on Sunday.
Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease A Bike) won stage 11 of the Vuelta a España in Lorca, outsprinting Bryan Coquard and Jordi Meeus to claim his third stage win of the race after a tight, lead-out heavy finale.
British sprinter Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) delivered a stunning Grand Tour debut by sprinting to stage 11 victory in Lorca, completing a hat-trick after a flawless lead-out from Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte. He now has three stage wins in his Vuelta debut, a feat matched only by Tadej Pogačar since 2019, and stands at 22 career wins at age 21, highlighting how his team’s powerful sprint setup has propelled his rapid rise.
Visma-Lease a Bike attempted a tactical shift on stage 10 of the Vuelta to set up Wout van Aert with a strong lead-out and breaks controlled by Matthew Brennan and Sepp Kuss, following a two-stage build-up in which Brennan led attacks and delivered a pivotal lead-out. However, the uphill sprint ended with Van Aert finishing fourth, leaving the green jersey in his hands but the stage win eluding his team, as positioning and the closing corners narrowed his options. He praised his teammates for their effort and signaled continued pursuit of sprint glory.
Britain's 21-year-old Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) sprinted to victory on stage 11 of the 2026 Vuelta a Espana, his third win of the race, beating Bryan Coquard and Jordi Meeus. GC leader Enric Mas remains in red with a 1:18 gap to Primoz Roglic, while Oscar Onley sits just over a minute back in fourth. Mads Pedersen withdrew ill. Stage 12 takes riders 166.6km into the mountains from Vera, featuring five climbs including a double ascent of Velefique and the Calar Alto finish.
Bastien Tronchon sprinted to victory in a dramatic photo finish to win Stage 10 of the Vuelta a España, beating Magnus Cort Nielsen and Thibau Nys after a late break was reeled in, while Wout van Aert missed the podium. Enric Mas retains the red leader’s jersey more than a minute ahead of Primož Roglič as the race heads to a sprinter-friendly stage from Cartagena to Lorca.
With Tadej Pogačar out after a crash, UAE loses control and the Vuelta shifts from a likely, disciplined march to Granada into a chaotic, unpredictable two weeks. Breakaways gain traction, the mountains and green jersey become wide open, Primož Roglič and Enric Mas emerge as the main GC challengers, and teams must rethink strategies as the peloton faces a new era with no single dominant rider overseeing the race.
Tadej Pogačar suffered a concussion, a displaced collarbone fracture and a cervical fracture in a crash at Vuelta a España. UAE Team Emirates says the collarbone operation can only proceed after concussion symptoms subside, with surgery likely on Tuesday or Wednesday. With the World Championships in Montréal looming, team principal Mauro Gianetti cautioned that a timely return is far from certain and a final decision will depend on his recovery progress and the outcome of surgery.