Enric Mas strengthens overall lead with mountaintop finish victory on stage 9 of the Vuelta a España

The day after Tadej Pogačar abandoned the Vuelta a España, stage 9 saw the battle for the general classification explode on the slopes of the Alto de Aitana, as Enric Mas dominated on the final climb to take the victory and strengthen his grip on the red jersey.

It marked the first stage win for Movistar at the Vuelta a España for five years, ending an embarrassing drought for the team in their home Grand Tour, whilst Mas also extended his overall lead to a minute and eighteen seconds over Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who was unable to match the Spaniard’s attacks in the final kilometres.

In fact, the only rider able to follow Mas was Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos), but the young British rider did not have enough to come around the red jersey in the final few hundred metres and was forced to settle for second place on the stage, with his strong showing him moving him up to fourth place in the overall standings.

It was a disappointing day for Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), as the Austrian rider’s team made massive efforts to whittle down the lead group on the lower slopes of the Alto de Aitana, but he found himself out of position when the decisive moves came and was ultimately unable to match the strength of some of his rivals, losing time to Mas, Onley and Roglič in the general classification.

With the first rest day coming on Monday, Mas now goes into the second week of the race with the red jersey firmly on his shoulders, as he has a lead of a minute and eighteen seconds over Roglič in the general classification, with a further twenty-one seconds to Gall in third place.

Meanwhile, Onley continues to lead the youth classification by a large margin and moved up to fourth place overall, just forty-one seconds off the podium, after Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) lost nearly two minutes on the stage, which saw the American rider drop to seventh place, with Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) also moving ahead of him.

How It Happened

The abandonment of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) the previous day left the Vuelta a España in a state of uncertainty heading into stage 9, which saw the race head back into mountains near the Costa Blanca, with a summit finish atop the Alto de Aitana awaiting the riders at the beginning of the day.

Without the usual control of UAE Team Emirates-XRG at the head of the peloton, several teams saw an opportunity to get riders into the breakaway at the beginning of the day, with multiple attacks on the opening climbs culminating in a massive group of 24 riders going up the road.

Behind them, Movistar assumed the responsibility of setting the pace in the peloton after Enric Mas (Movistar) inherited the red jersey of overall leader from Pogačar after stage 8. They would allow the breakaway an advantage of more than five minutes at some points in the stage, with no threats to the general classification in the lead group.

One rider active in the breakaway in the middle of the stage was Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), as he took maximum points on the Puerto de El Miserat (5.1km at 10%), Puerto de Tollos (4.1km at 5.8%) and Puerto de Tudons (7km at 5.3%), with the Colombian rider moving into the lead of the points classification and pulling on the polka-dot jersey at the end of the stage.

It was on the descent of the Puerto de Tudons where Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana) went solo off the front of the breakaway and gradually drew out a gap of close to a minute over the rest of the group, whilst also growing his advantage over the peloton to well over six minutes in the process.

Meanwhile, the Decathlon CMA CGM team made their first appearance at the front of the peloton with around 50km to go, as they looked to bring the stage victory back into play for Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), after Movistar had allowed the gap to the breakaway to expand.

The breakaway then began to splinter, with several riders attacking in an attempt to bridge across to the Italian sprinter at the head of the race, with a two-rider move of Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Marcel Camprubí (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling) eventually joining Romele after the summit of the Puerto de Benifallim (4.8km at 5.8%) with just over 40km.

The leading trio worked well together as they continued to grow their advantage over the chasing group, whilst the gap to the peloton remained at over five minutes, as they began the final climb of the Alto de Aitana (22km at 5.8%).

After a courageous effort, Alessandro Romele quickly found himself distanced on the lower slopes as Camprubí and Sivakov went clear, whilst Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon CMA CGM) began to up the pace in the peloton, with the Frenchman’s efforts cutting the leading duo’s advantage to four minutes with 16km to go.

The gap began to tumble further as Decathlon CMA CGM continued to set the pace, with each of their riders pulling massive turns before peeling off one by one, as the peloton began to be whittled down to just a select group of general classification contenders.

As the peloton neared in, Sivakov attacked with 10km to go, dropping Camprubí off the wheel to go solo in search of the stage victory. However, it seemed the writing was already on the wall for the Franco-Russian rider, as the gap to the main group had already been reduced to just two minutes.

A massive effort from Gregor Mühlberger (Decathlon CMA CGM) saw him deliver one final leadout, with Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) dropping off the back of the group. Gall then launched his inevitable attack with 7km to go, but failed to distance any of his rivals, as Mas covered the move with relative ease, whilst Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) also followed in the wheel.

Gall then accelerated again, but it was still not enough to open a gap to Mas and the others, as an attack from Carapaz followed soon after. The move from the Ecuadorian rider saw him quickly gain a handful of seconds, which forced the hand of the other contenders, as Mas, Gall, Roglič and Onley all had to bridge across.

After the continuous accelerations behind, the last remnants of the breakaway were then swept up, with Sivakov the last to be caught after he had clearly emptied the tank, as he went out the back shortly afterwards.

Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) then returned to the group after having been dropped earlier on and went straight over the top with an attack with Jarno Widar (Lotto Intermarché) and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) in his wheel. This then triggered a reaction from Mas, who instantly caught and passed the three-rider group and went clear with 3km to go.

Gall found himself out of position and without the legs to respond to the move, as he fell to the back of the group of contenders, whilst Onley attacked across the gap to Mas. The overall leader and the best young rider then began working to extend their advantage over their rivals, with Roglič also attempting to bridge the gap.

The Slovenian rider got to within touching distance of the leading duo, before Mas then launched another attack, dropping him off the wheel once again. Onley was able to immediately follow the Spaniard’s acceleration, as Roglič struggled to regain contact and the gap to the group behind continued to grow.

In the group, Carapaz was beginning to pay for his earlier efforts, as he was dropped off the back, whilst Gall was attempting to limit his losses to those ahead of him.

Going into the final kilometre, it was clear that it would be between Mas and Onley for the stage win, as Roglič continued to lose ground.

Launching the sprint from the front, Mas managed to keep Onley behind in the final few hundred metres, as the British rider was unable to find the power to come around the red jersey and was forced to settle for second place, whilst Mas kicked again to win the stage and extend his lead in the general classification.

Roglič then crossed the line twelve seconds later in third place, whilst Gall had clearly attacked behind in an attempt to limit his losses, as he finished a further six seconds back with a splintered chasing group coming in behind him.

Results

Vuelta a España 2026 Stage Nine: Villajoyosa > Alto de Aitana (187km)

1. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, in 5:10:40
2. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany Ineos, at same time
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +12s
4. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +18s
5. Cristián Rodríguez (Spa) XDS Astana, +20s
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, at same time
7. Jarno Widar (Bel) Lotto Intermarché, +25s
8. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS-Astana, +33s
9. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +54s
10. Santiago Buitrago (Col) Bahrain Victorious, +1:41

General Classification After Stage Nine

1. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar Team, in 28:34:03
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