'Go full-gas till you die and I'll take the rest' – Bastien Tronchon rockets past rivals to take Vuelta a España stage 10 victory

A chaotic final few kilometres in the Vuelta a España on stage 10 led to an even more chaotic sprint finish that saw French rider Bastien Tronchon (Groupama-FDJ United) sweep past all comers to take his maiden WorldTour victory.

It had been a hot and hard day in the hills of southern Spain, with a sprint finish expected despite the relentless ups and downs – many unclassified.

Visma-Lease a Bike, with cards to play from Wout van Aert and Matthew Brennan, had made no secret of their intention to take the win, controlling the race for much of the day, but in the end Van Aert made do with fourth behind Tronchon, Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) and Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek).

With the GC contingent all finishing safely at the same time as Tronchon, there was no move in the overall top-10, with Enric Mas (Movistar) retaining the leader's red jersey. Van Aert retained the green jersey, Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) the white.

The 24-year-old French rider Tronchon was not certain he had won as he crossed the line, he said.

"I just launched my sprint," he said. "I finished on the line but I wasn't sure if there was some guys in front or not, so I didn't put my hands in the air, but that's crazy, I can't believe it."

He said his preparation for the Vuelta had not been ideal, and that he never expected to take a victory here. Indeed, he said he'd found the past few days very tough, but that he'd come round today.

"The last few days were really hard for me but today I was good," he said. "I said to Guillaume Martin 'go full gas until you die and I'll take the rest'. Crazy.

"The preparation wasn't very good," he added. "I wasn't feeling good last week. But I was like 'trust the process' and we'll see. When I took the start I was just like 'the job is done, now I just need to ride like I like'."

Today's stage 10 marked a return to racing after yesterday's rest day – a notoriously challenging moment for the riders in a Grand Tour as their legs re-adapt after the break. Today's stage, 184.7km from Alcaraz to Elche de la Sierra, added relentless terrain into the mix. It featured three third-category climbs, but a lot more unclassified ascending besides, including a four-kilometre drag up to the finish line.

That's exactly the kind of finish that suits Brennan and Van Aert, and the inevitable day-long breakaway was never allowed a long leash by the team in yellow.

The seven-man move was eventually whittled down to its strongest two riders, Michael Gogl (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility), with the latter surviving, to his credit, until nearly 3km to go. More dangerous-looking was a very late move from Yevgeniy Federov (XDS-Astana) and Xabier Azparren (Pinarello Q36.5), who held onto a small gap until the final moment, Tronchon rushing past them in his sprint to the line.

Vuelta a España 2026, stage 10: Alcaraz > Elche de la Sierra, 184.7km

1. Bastien Tronchon (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, 184.7km in 4:07:41
2. Magnus Cort (Den) Uno-X Mobility
3. Thibau Nys (Bel) Lidl-Trek
4. Wout van Aert (Bel) Team Visma-Lease a Bike
5. Alessandro Romele (Ita) XDS Astana
6. Xabier Mikel Azparren (Esp) Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling
7. Finn Fisher-Black (Nzl) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
8. Orluis Aular (Ven) Movistar
9. Jordan Labrosse (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM
10. Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) NSN Cycling, all at same time

General Classification after stage 10

1. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar Team, in 32:41:44
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:18
3. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +1:39
4. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany-Ineos, +2:20
5. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +3:26
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +3:55
7. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +4:09
8. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS-Astana, +4:39
9. Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +7:33
10. Jakob Omrzel (Slo) Bahrain-Victorious, +8:05