'You have to win, it doesn't matter by how big of a margin' – Stefan Küng takes a 2-second victory in individual time trial on stage 18 of Vuelta a España
Britain's Callum Thornley finished second and Enric Mas succesfully defended his red jersey
Swiss rider Stefan Küng (Tudor Pro Cycling) powered to victory on stage 18 of the 2026 Vuelta a España, during the second individual time trial stage of the race, crossing the line just two seconds faster than Callum Thornley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).
Race leader and local hero Enric Mas (Movistar), competing in his least-favourite discipline, put in a very strong ride and successfully defended his red jersey, fending off a predicted challenge from Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), who started the day two minutes and 10 seconds behind him.
After posting the best time trial performance of his career, Mas placed 12th and lost just 33 seconds to Roglič. With just three stages left to go – two of them in his happy place, the mountains – the 31-year-old Spaniard has over a minute-and-a-half lead at the top of the general classification, and is in pole position to take an unexpected win on home soil.
Ultimately, Roglič finished fourth, behind third-placed João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), a pre-stage favourite, finished fifth. while Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) put in a solid performance to retain the white jersey.
The stage started with an interesting result, when 23-year-old Callum Thornley beat Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) by 29 seconds, taking top spot. The young Scot sat on the leader's throne for a lengthy period of time, before Küng eventually unseated him, but only by a margin of 2.2 seconds.
Stefan Küng won the individual time trial stage 18 of the Vuelta a España 2026
"In the end you have to win, it doesn’t matter how big of a margin," said Küng in the post-stage interview. "I’m super happy to take the win here, I’m alone on the podium today but it’s a victory to the whole team, thanks to the guys behind me."
"Over the span of 32km you have to be dialled in from the start. When it’s such a fast time trial you cannot have any costly mistakes. When it’s so hard it’s also difficult to make a difference. I had a difficult moment after the second climb, and I misjudged a few corners there, but then I was able to get back into the rhythm, so that’s where I made the difference.
"It’s huge [for Tudor]. It was super good to see Marco [Brenner] winning. We’re roommates on this Vuelta so I think it’s a pretty good outcome for our room. We stand alone on the podium but there are so many people working hard behind the scenes. I want to thank all of them and all the people that got me back on track after my injury in February."
Vuelta a España 2026, stage 18 (ITT): El Puerto de Santa María > Jerez de la Frontera (32.1km)
1. Matthew Brennan (Gbr) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:56:33
2. Jordi Meeus (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe|
3. Magnus Cort (Den) Uno-X Mobility
4. Alessandro Romele (Ita) XDS Astana
5. Steffen De Schuyteneer (Bel) Lotto Intermarché
6. Axel Laurance (Fra) Netcompany-Ineos
7. Pau Miquel (Esp) Bahrain Victorious
8. César Maciás (Mex) Burgos Burpellet BH
9. Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) NSN Cycling
10. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis
General classification after stage 18
1. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, in 60:45:58
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:37
3. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +3:01
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +5:17
5. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany Ineos, +6:03
6. Jakob Omrzel (Slo) Bahrain Victorious, +7:00
7. Clément Berthet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, +7:47
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +7:51
9. Cristián Rodríguez (Spa) XDS Astana, +7:51
10. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS Astana, +9:57
