The other reason is that the Vuelta is now like a book or a movie without its hero. Imagine The Odyssey(book or movie) without Odysseus, Moby-Dick (book) without the whale, the Rolling Stones without Mick Jagger (I know the Stones are neither book nor film, but it still applies). I think it will take a few stages for some spectators to again feel “at home” in the race.
Race leader Enric Mas (Movistar) has raced brilliantly and certainly would be a very popular winner – and not only in Spain for becoming the first Spaniard to win his home Grand Tour since the great Alberto Contador in 2014. Cycling fans have suffered along with his near misses and failed promise for nearly a decade. He has finished second in the Vuelta three times (2018, 2020, 2021) and third once (2024). I think many of us would love to see his persistence rewarded with the crowning achievement of his career.
In the meantime . . .
Another post-Pogačar stunner
After Bryan Coquard’s surprise win on that fateful stage 8, Tuesday’s stage 10 provided another stunner as 24-year-old Bastien Tronchon (Groupama–FDJ United) seemed to come out of nowhere to win the chaotic bunch sprint in front of the equally unlikely podium finishers Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) and Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek).
Maybe chaos is what happens when a god leaves the scene, because that finale was about as topsy-turvy as a sprint can be without a mass crash. But perhaps these surprises are also happening because many teams did not bring their best sprinters and because two of the top sprinters that are in the race, Kaden Groves (Alpecin–Premier Tech) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), are far from their best. Groves finally abandoned the race during stage 9 and Pedersen did the same before the start of Wednesday’s stage 11.
The day before dropping he told TNT Sports that he was contemplating leaving the race. “I don’t really know what to say,” the Dane said after being dropped on stage 10’s one modest climb and finishing fifth from last, more than 12 minutes behind the winner. “The level is not there right now – [it’s] not the shape, the shape is good enough, but something is clearly not as it should be. Now is the time to really look at it, instead of in a few days maybe.”
They looked at it and decided he would leave the race. A team statement said that he had been battling illness and would now concentrate on the rest of his season, which includes the World Championships, in which Pedersen will be one of the favorites, with Pogačar almost certainly not competing.
Another factor in the odd finish was Visma–Lease a Bike’s decision to make Wout van Aert its primary rider in the stage, rather than two-stage winner Matthew Brennan. So, Brennan spent many kilometers in front of the peloton, working for van Aert by chasing down the last rider from the original seven-rider breakaway, Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility). He was caught 3.7km from the finish line, which sparked the first of several late attacks.
The final attack, at 1km from the line, by Yevgeniy Fedorov (XDS Astana) and Xabier Azparren (Pinarello Q36.5), nearly made it. But Azparren was caught just before the line as the trio of non-sprinters sprinted past him and onto the podium. Van Aert seemed to have been caught out by the chaos and finished fourth, as a bewildered Tronchon crossed the line wondering what had just happened.
“I launched my sprint and I finished it on the line, but I wasn’t sure if there was some guys in front or not, so I did not put my hands in the air [in triumph],” he explained. “It’s crazy. I can’t believe it. The last two days were really hard for me, [but] today I was good. I said to Guillaume [Martin], ‘Go full gas until you die,’ and I take the win. So it’s crazy.”
His victory meant that the three riders who had won the race’s four bunch sprints to this point all registered their first Grand Tour stage wins.
Brennan makes it three
Make that five bunch sprints, after Grand Tour debutant Brennan won his third stage of the race, thanks to some hard work by the entire Visma team, especially van Aert, who led him out in the finale. The 20-year-old Brit is the first rider to win three times in their Grand Tour debut since . . . yes, Tadej Pogačar in 2019.
The Brit now has 10 wins for the year and 22 in his brief WorldTour career. Impressive! Coquard was second, with Jordi Meeus (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe) finishing third.
“It’s massive,” said Brennan afterwards. “I’m with a team full of massive champions. You’ve got guys who have been on podiums in Grand Tours, and won them as well. You’ve also got guys who’ve won big Classics and some huge races, and the fact that they go for me each time is an amazing opportunity. I’m really thankful that they go full gas for me. The boys did a fantastic job within that last 10km to really keep us in the right place, in the right position, out of trouble. And we crossed the line first, so [I’m] super-happy.”
Van Aert continued racing after dropping off Brennan and finished fifth. He thereby added to his big lead in the green jersey competition.
Another Pogačar on the road?
Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victoriouis) and Tadej Pogačar have a few things in common. They are both Slovenian, they have both said that they became professional cyclists because of their older brothers and they both won their first Grand Tour stage in the Vuelta, the world champion in 2019, his compatriot on Thursday’s stage 12 of the 2026 edition of the race. But Pogačar was a year older than the 20-year-old Omrzel when he became a Grand Tour winner.
Omrzel joined a breakaway that eventually contained 30 riders and was still nearly that big when it began the first of two difficult category 1 climbs in the last 42 kilometers of the 166.6km route from Vera to Calar Alto. Omrzel was still in the front group when it contained only four riders, including his industrious teammate Santiago Buitrago, on the final climb of the stage, to the summit of Calar Alto (17km @ 5.6%, with numerous double-digit ramps).
Buitrago was going for the King of the Mountains jersey, but he put some hurt in the other two riders, Leo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGA) and Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma), with a lengthy burst of speed on the steep slopes. Bisiaux eventually dropped back to serve as support for teammate Felix Gall, so that only Berrade stayed on Omrzel’s wheel when he attacked 12.7km from the finish.
But he was there for less than a kilometer. The young Slovenian couldn’t help smiling as he rode away on his own, just as he couldn’t suppress a broad grin when he turned the final corner before crossing the finish line, securing a Grand Tour win on his first Grand Tour race in his first World Tour season. Berrade finished second, at 1:56, with the excellent Buitrago finishing third, 2:13 behind, making it a big stage for the Bahrain team.
Asked if he was surprised by his victory, Omrzel said, “I’m not surprised because I know how much work I put in. I knew that this day would come sooner or later, but for sure I did not expect it 100 percent in the first Grand Tour. I mean, I still can’t believe what I did, but I felt super good. And I’m still feeling okay; I’m not tired. I don’t know; I’m just enjoying the moment.”
For a long time Bahrain Victorious had three riders in the breakaway, with veteran Pello Bilbao – who is riding in his last race – also working to keep the breakaway well in front of the peloton, a gap that was up to 7:30 at one point. Asked about that, the delighted stage winner said, “Actually the team Bahrain, we are really perfect. When we ride, we understand each other really well. At the moment, for now, we are working so good together. We said that we’re playing Playstation and that’s what we’re doing at the moment.”
The comparison with Pogačar was inevitable, and it was pointed out to Omrzel that he was younger and had a longer solo in his first Grand Tour win than his superstar compatriot. He smiled and said, “It’s just a statistic, but it’s a nice statistic.” As a result of his impressive win, Omrzel improved from tenth to sixth in the GC, 4:59 behind Mas. And speaking of the GC . . .
Decathlon CMA CGA again did some hard riding on the final climb to set up Felix Gall for an attack, and again the Austrian failed to benefit. When he attacked with about 15km left to ride, Mas and second-place Primož Roglič (Red Bull– BORA–hansgrohe) stayed with him. After 2km, Mas attacked and immediately opened a gap, which he maintained until the line. He now leads Roglič by 1:45, with Gall 2:06 adrift. The 31-year-old Spaniard certainly looks like the best rider in the race, but the hardest part is still to come.
Results 2026 Vuelta a España, stage 12: Vera to Calar Alto (166.6km)
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enric Mas | Movistar | 5:10:40 |
| 2 | Oscar Onley | Netcompany INEOS | same time |
| 3 | Primož Roglič | Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe | +0:12 |
| 4 | Felix Gall | Decathlon CMA CGM | +0:18 |
| 5 | Cristián Rodríguez | XDS Astana | +0:20 |
| 6 | Mattias Skjelmose | Lidl-Trek | +0:20 |
| 7 | Jarno Widar | Lotto Intermarché | +0:25 |
| 8 | Harold Tejada | XDS Astana | +0:33 |
| 9 | Richard Carapaz | EF Education–EasyPost | +0:54 |
| 10 | Santiago Buitrago | Bahrain Victorious | +1:41 |
2026 Vuelta a España General Classification After Stage 12
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Time / Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enric Mas | Movistar | 28:34:03 |
| 2 | Primož Roglič | Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe | +1:18 |
| 3 | Felix Gall | Decathlon CMA CGM | +1:39 |
| 4 | Oscar Onley | Netcompany INEOS | +2:20 |
| 5 | Richard Carapaz | EF Education–EasyPost | +3:26 |
| 6 | Mattias Skjelmose | Lidl-Trek | +3:55 |
| 7 | Sepp Kuss | Visma–Lease a Bike | +4:09 |
| 8 | Harold Tejada | XDS Astana | +4:39 |
| 9 | Gregor Mühlberger | Decathlon CMA CGM | +7:33 |
| 10 | Jakob Omrzel | Bahrain Victorious | +8:05 |