February 19, 2026
There are no obvious GC days in this edition of the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol but there is plenty of terrain for aggressive racing. Today's second stage from Torrox to Otura is short at just 139KM but it packs in over 2,700M of climbing. After 30KM along flat coastal roads, the riders turn inland through the tourist town of Almuñécar and into the Parque Natural de Sierras de Tejeda where the climbing begins with a 25KM ascent of the Puerto de la Cabra. The middle 12 kilometers of the climb averages 6% then the rest of the climb bobs up and down until it reaches 1,300M above sea level. There is a 4KM uncategorized climb at 35KM remaining that averages over 6.5%. A 20KM downhill brings the riders to the foot of the final climb of the day. The Alto de la Malahá is just 2.6KM at 4.3% but could act as a spring board for attacks with the finish in Otura just 13KM further down the road.
Race Summary
Perfect racing conditions were presented to the riders and they took advantage. The first part of the stage was very aggressive and with 78KM to go, just before the top of the Puerto de la Cabra, there were three leaders, Andreas Leknessund of Uno-X Mobility, Josh Burnett of Burgos-Burpellet BH, and Iván Romeo of Movistar. They had just broken clear of a reduced peloton that was still very active. The scenery was stunning as the twisting road cut through the rock in the mountain with spots of green scrub brush and pine trees dotted on either side. The favorites were moving behind and, by the top, there were eight riders in a chase group being spurred on by Tom Pidcock of Pinarello Q36.5.
The Pidcock group wasn't working together and they got reabsorbed into the bunch which was now around 30 riders. The attacking continued but Romeo was driving the group up front and they had pulled out to 45 seconds with 73KM to go. The peloton took a breath through the feed zone but still no single team had numbers to control for a chase. Mattéo Vercher of TotalEnergies was the next rider to attack and get a gap. Vercher built a 1 minute lead on the favorites group but was losing time to the leaders. With 67KM to go, Visma-Lease a Bike brought race leader Christophe Laporte back from a dropped group to the main peloton to form a new third group on the road of around 60 riders. Visma-Lease a Bike immediately went to the front to start the chase but they had 2 minutes 40 seconds to close on the Romeo group.
Vercher waived the white flag and dropped back into the peloton through the beautiful little town of Jayena with 55KM to go. Visma-Lease a Bike, Pinarello Q36.5, and UAE-XRG all had riders taking turns but, passed the emerald waters of Embalse de los Bermejales, the gap was still 2 minutes 20 seconds with an uncategorized climb just ahead. Burnett dropped from the front as the climb started but the damage was greater in the chase. Many riders who had been working on the front peeled off which left just Pavel Sivakov to ride for UAE-XRG and their leader, Tim Wellens.
The gap was a full 2 minutes when Romeo and Leknessund went over the top and was trimmed by just 25 seconds when they started the final climb of the Alto de la Malahá with 15KM remaining. By the top, the gap was 1 minute 15 seconds and the race was on. Groupama-FDJ United and Cofidis added firepower across the planes heading to Otura on the outskirts of Grenada but the gap remained over 1 minute with 3KM to go and the chase was called off. Aleksandr Vlasov of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe attacked and was followed by Alex Aranburu of Cofidis and the pair got a gap. At the same moment in the break, Romeo made his bid for the win. Under the 2KM banner, the Spaniard attacked. Leknessund was very close to making it back on but Romeo never looked back and kept churning the pedals over. The elastic snapped after about 500M and Romeo was gone. Leknessund didn't give up but he couldn't close the gap and Romeo came across the line as the winner after a brave and spectacular effort. Leknessund arrived 7 seconds later and it was Aranburu who sprinted for third on the same time as the rest of the GC favorites after he and Vlasov were caught with about 1KM to go.
There were no time bonuses on the line in the first two road stages so Romeo now leads the GC by 7 seconds to Leknessund and 54 seconds to Aranaburu and the other GC riders.