Vuelta 2026: Mas wins epic battle to strengthen GC lead

fotobureau Cor VosIn the stage with the most elevation gain of the entire Vuelta, Enric Mas attacks several times on the final climb. In the end, only Oscar Onley can stay on his wheel, but he cannot come around the red jersey in the sprint, allowing the Spaniard to win the stage. Mas gains 18 seconds on the day’s third-placed rider, Primoz Roglic. (Slideshow route/profile)

Stage 9 Results – 2026 Vuelta

1. Enric Mas (spa) 5:10:40
2. Oscar Onley (gbr) s.t.
3. Primoz Roglic (slo) + 0:12
4. Felix Gall (aut) + 0:18
5. Christián Rodríguez (spa) + 0:20
6. Mattias Skjelmose (den) s.t.
7. Jarno Widar (bel) + 0:25
8. Harold Tejada (col) + 0:33
9. Richard Carapaz (ecu) + 0:54
10. Santiago Buitrago (spa) + 1:41

11. Sepp Kuss (usa) + 1:44
12. Gregor Mühlberger (aut) s.t.
15. Jakob Omrzel (slo) + 1:51

GC after stage 9

1. Enric Mas (spa)
2. Primoz Roglic (slo) + 1:18
3. Felix Gall (aut) + 1:39
4. Oscar Onley (gbr) + 2:20
5. Richard Carapaz (ecu) + 3:26
6. Sepp Kuss (usa) + 2:15
7. Mattias Skjelmose (den) + 3:55
8. Harold Tejada (col) + 4:39
9. Gregor Mühlberger (aut) + 7:33
10. Jakob Omrzel (slo) + 8:05

Race report
Alexey Lutsenko, Magnus Cort, Tobias Halland Johannessen and Yevgeniy Fedoroc are the day's first attackers. When they are about to be caught, Loetsenko sneaks away before Pavel Sivakov, Andreas Kron, Alastair MacKellar, Fabian Weiss and Alessandro Romele bridge across to him. Behind them, plenty of riders are still keen to make the breakaway, so the action is far from over.

Weiss is dropped from the break on the Puerto de Tàrbena, after which Kron takes the most points at the summit. The peloton crests half a minute later.

The battle continues at full tilt, and after 134 kilometres, Santiago Buitrago, Finn Fisher-Black, Ramses Debruyne, Gijs Leemreize, Stefan Küng, Bruno Armirail, Kevin Vermaerke, Embret Svestad-Bårdseng, Urko Berrade and Valentin Paret-Peintre make it a 15-rider breakaway.

On the Puerto de El Miserat, MacKellar is dropped, while Walter Calzoni bridges across from a chasing group. Buitrago reaches the summit first and is now the virtual leader of the mountains classification.

On the plateau beyond the summit, Filippo Zana, Marcel Camprubí and Milan Vader also join the breakawayy, while Buitrago takes maximum points in the mountains classification once again at the Puerto de Tollos. In the next phase, Attila Valter, Gianni Vermeersch, Raúl García Pierna, Pau Martí, Magnus Cort and José Manuel Díaz swell the lead group to 24 riders.

The breakaway builds a maximum lead of just over 5 minutes during the day. On the Puerto de Tudons, the gap comes down to 4 minutes.

On the Puerto de Tudons, Buitrago strengthens his lead in the mountains classification, before Romele sets off on a solo break. On the Puerto de Benifallim, Camprubí launches the chase. Sivakov rides across to him, and they catch the Italian on the rolling section beyond the summit.

During the day, the breakaway builds a maximum lead of 6 minutes over the peloton, and the trio still has a 1-minute advantage at the foot of the final climb. Their former breakaway companions are then 1 minute and 24 seconds behind.

Early on the Alto de Aitana, Camprubí and Sivakov drop Romele, while the Decathlon led peloton rapidly closes in on the climb.

With just over 10 kilometres of climbing remaining, the gap has come down to 2 minutes, prompting Sivakov to attack. It is a losing battle, as it has already been halved before the Frenchman even hits the steep 6-kilometre run-in to the finish line. And there is little left of the ‘peloton’ either. Only Felix Gall, Primož Roglič, Enric Mas, Oscar Onley, Mattias Skjelmose, Harold Tejada, Richard Carapaz and Jarno Widar remain.

Carapaz heads out alone and he catches Sivakov, but 1.5 kilometres later he is joined again by the other GC contenders.

GC leader Mas then accelerates with 3 kilometres to go. Onley is the first to join him, followed by Roglic, but when Mas puts in another acceleration, the Slovenian is finally dropped.

Mas keeps the pace high at the front and does so convincingly that Onley simply cannot come around him. The Spaniard wins a Vuelta stage for the first time since his debut appearance, in 2018, and as a bonus, he also extends his lead over his closest GC rivals, Roglic and Gall.

Another interesting read: route 9th stage 2026 Vuelta a España.