Leading a Grand Tour for the first time in his career at the start of Sunday’s ninth stage of the 2026 Vuelta a Espana, Enric Mas (Movistar) stamped his authority in the race with a spectacular stage win on the Alto de Aitana.
After a couple of days of missed coverage, we saw Tadej Pogacar further cement his lead in the 2026 Vuelta a Espana, only to tragically crash out during Stage 8. The Slovenian rider went down after hitting a rock on the road and ultimately sustained a concussion, a broken left collarbone and a C7 cervical fracture, among other injuries. Not only out of the Vuelta, the injuries will likely end his 2026 race season.
Enric Mas of the Movistar squad, who started Saturday’s stage nearly 4 minutes back, went on to win Stage 8, but did not wear the red jersey at the awards ceremony out of respect for Pogacar.
Sunday’s Stage 9 looked to be a demanding one, with over 5,000 metres of elevation as the peloton left the seaside and headed to a summit finish at Alto de Aitana (187.4 km).
With Pogacar out of the race, the attacks came early Pavel Sivakov (UAE Emirates XRG), Alexey Lutsenko (NSN), Andreas Kron (Uno-X Mobility), Alastair Mackellar (EF Education-EasyPost), Fabian Weiss (Tudor) and Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana) opened a gap of 20 seconds after 9 kilometres. The relentless battle continued on the first climb of the day, Puerto de Tarbena (cat. 2, km 36.7) with a flurry of counter-attacks. The pace proved too much for Weiss, who was dropped from the front group and reeled in by the peloton.
Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma) forced an opening ahead of the summit. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) and Stefan Küng (Tudor) accelerated over the top. Many other attackers got in the mix. There were 15 riders in the breakaway to tackle the second ascent of the day, the Puerto de El Miserat (cat. 1, km 73.9). Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) led the way to the summit to take the lead in the mountains standings (21 KOM points against 19 for Leknessund).
More chasers joined the front group in several waves. The breakaway was eventually consolidated at km 104 with 24 leaders. At that point, the Movistar-led peloton trail by 4’55”.
Buitrago took the KOM points atop the Puerto de Tudons (cat. 2, km 121.8) and Alessandro Romele attacked on the following descent. The Italian was alone at the front to take full points at the intermediate sprint (km 134.6) and at the Puerto de Benifallim (cat. 2, 139.9). The Italian youngster – he turns 23 years old today – was joined at the front by Pavel Sivakov and Camprubi as they enter the final 40 kilometres.
In the peloton, Felix Gall‘s Decathlon CMA CGM took over the pace-setting as the gap increases to 6 minutes.
At the bottom of the final climb (22 km at 5.8%), the lead trio were a minute and a half ahead of their chasers, and five minutes ahead of the peloton. Romele is rapidly dropped. Sivakov went solo 10 kilometres from the summit.
Behind them, Decathlon CMA CGM set a brutal pace. Gall eventually attacked with 8 km remaining, but he didn’t manage to make differences. A small group get back to Sivakov 4.5 km from the summit, with Buitrago, Gall, as well as Enric Mas (Movistar), Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos), and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost).
Tactics came into play, with several riders trying their hand. An acceleration from Mas into the final three kilometres proved decisive, as only Oscar Onley could follow the Spaniard. Mas pushed the pace all the way to the summit, where he becomes the first Spaniard to win a La Vuelta stage with La Roja on his back since Alberto Contador at Ancares in 2014 (stage 20). In the overall standings, he is now 1’18” ahead of Roglic. Gall trails by 1’39” and Onley moves up to the 4th position (+2’20”).
2026 Vuelta a Espana: Stage 9 Brief Results
- Enric Mas (Movistar) @ 5h 10’40”
- Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos) s.t.
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) @ 12″
- Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) @ 18″
2026 Vuelta a Espana: General Classification after Stage 9
- Enric Mas (Movistar) @ 5h 10’40”
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) @ 1’18”
- Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) @ 1’39”
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