Vuelta 2026: Van Aert reigns supreme in Córdoba, Mas still leads

fotobureau Cor VosOn the hottest day of the Vuelta, Ramses Debruyne, Wout van Aert, Thibau Nys and Alessandro Romele join early escapee Andreas Leknessund with around 30 kilometres to go. The five work well together on their way to Córdoba, where Van Aert proves by far the strongest in the sprint. (Slideshow route/profile)

Stage 15 Results – 2026 Vuelta

1. Wout van Aert (bel) 2:35:00
2. Alessandro Romele (ita) s.t.
3. Thibau Nys (bel) s.t.
4. Ramses Debruyne (bel) s.t.
5. Andreas Leknessund (nor) s.t.
6. Alessandro Covi (ita) s.t.
7. Bastien Tronchon (fra) s.t.
8. Henok Mulubrhan (eri) s.t.
9. Stefan Küng (swi) s.t.
10. Ivo Oliveira (por) s.t.
- peloton + 2:44

GC after stage 15

1. Enric Mas (spa)
2. Felix Gall (aut) + 2:06
3. Primoz Roglic (slo) + 2:10
4. Richard Carapaz (ecu) + 4:24
5. Oscar Onley (gbr) + 5:44
6. Jakob Omrzel (slo) + 6:14
7. Mattias Skjelmose (den) + 6:49
8. Cristián Rodríguez (spa) + 7:01
9. Clément Berthet (fra) + 7:19
10. Sepp Kuss (usa) + 8:55

Race report
After roughly 10 kilometres, the breakaway takes shape as Frederik Wandahl, Ivo Oliveira, Xabier Mikel Azparren, Enzo Paleni, Ethan Hayter, Andreas Leknessund, Rudy Porter, Alastair MacKeller, Fabian Weiss, Reuben Thompson and Gijs Leemreize join forces. They are not given much leeway by the Visma led peloton - 1 minute, at most.

On the Puerto de la Forestal, George Steinhauser rides across from the peloton to the breakaway, while on the Puerto Artafi, Leknessund leaves the others behind. With 33 kilometres to go, he is joined by Ramses Debruyne, before Wout van Aert, Thibau Nys and Alessandro Romele also make the junction moments later.

With Van Aert up front, the gap to the peloton suddenly grows. A group featuring Stefan Küng, Tobias Halland Johannessen and Finn Fisher-Black tries to make the jump, but they fail to make any inroads.

In the streets of Córdoba, no rider manages to break clear as van Aert shuts everything down. Then Nys opens the sprint and Van Aert uses him as a lead-out to power to a dominant victory.

The general classification contenders finish just under 3 minutes later, with Enric Mas retaining the overall lead.

Another interesting read: route 15th stage 2026 Vuelta a España.