Enric Mas dominates on the Alto de Aitana and sets his sights on the Vuelta
Enric Mas returns to victory—and he does it at the most crucial moment. The Spanish Movistar rider conquers the uphill finish at Alto de Aitana, one of the iconic stages of the 2026 Vuelta a España, and raises his arms in triumph once again nearly four years after his last win. This victory carries even greater significance because he claimed it while wearing the red jersey, allowing the general classification leader to gain ground on nearly all of his main rivals. Behind him, an excellent Oscar Onley finished second, beaten by Mas in a two-man sprint, while Primoz Roglic rounded out the day’s podium, 12 seconds back. Felix Gall finished fourth, 18 seconds behind. Further back were the other contenders for the overall victory, with Richard Carapaz and Sepp Kuss forced to lose precious seconds along the way.
The breakaway took shape early on the first climbs and managed to gain up to five minutes on the peloton. Joining the breakaway were Finn Fisher-Black and Gianni Vermeersch of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, Pavel Sivakov and Kevin Vermaerke of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Raul Garcia Pierna of Movistar, Bruno Armirail of Visma-Lease a Bike, Walter Calzoni, Marcel Camprubì, and Milan Vader of the Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, Embret Svestad-Bårdseng of Ineos, Santiago Buitrago and Attila Valter of Bahrain Victorious, Ramses Debruyne of Alpecin-PremierTech, Alexey Lutsenko and Pau Marti of the NSN Cycling Team, Valentin Paret-Peintre and Filippo Zana of Soudal Quick-Step, Andreas Kron and Magnus Cort of Uno-X Mobility, Stefan Kung of the Tudor Pro Cycling Team, Alessandro Romele of the XDS Astana Team, Jose Manuel Diaz of Burgos Burpellet BH, Gijs Leemreize of Team Picnic PostNL, and Urko Berrade of Equipo Kern Pharma.
About 60 kilometers from the finish, Alessandro Romele launched an attack. The Italian managed to break away and was the first to cross the GPM at Puerto de Benifallim. Pavel Sivakov and Marcel Camprubì set off in pursuit. The three began the final climb toward the Alto de Aitana together, but Sivakov gradually lost ground and let the leading duo pull ahead. Meanwhile, behind them, the group of top contenders was closing in. The general classification contenders caught up with Sivakov, and the sprints began on the final climb. Richard Carapaz makes a move, followed by Mattias Skjelmose, but the decisive moment comes when Enric Mas makes his move.
The Spaniard accelerates decisively and manages to open a gap. Only Oscar Onley manages to follow him and stay in contact. Roglic tries to react but is unable to close the gap. Behind him, Gall, Cristian Rodriguez, Widar, Tejada, and especially Carapaz and Kuss struggle, gradually losing ground. In the final stretch, Mas stays ahead of Onley and attacks the sprint with great confidence. The Vuelta leader gives the Brit no room and crosses the finish line as the winner, bursting with joy over a victory he’d been chasing for nearly four years.
Roglic finished third, 12 seconds behind; Gall was fourth, 18 seconds behind; while Rodriguez and Skjelmose finished 20 seconds behind. Carapaz was ninth, 54 seconds behind, while Kuss suffered a massive deficit of 1’44”. The overall standings have thus changed significantly. Enric Mas consolidates the red jersey and extends his lead over Roglic to 1’18”, while Gall is third at 1’39”. Onley moves up to the edge of the podium, 2’20” behind, while Carapaz is fifth at 3’26”. At this point, the 2026 Vuelta a España has an increasingly credible favorite: Enric Mas has real hopes of winning his home race.
