August 26, 2026
It's taken four days and a long transfer out of Andorra and through Catalunya for the riders to finally set foot in Spain. There are 173 km on the menu today when the race leaves Falcet and heads South with very little elevation gain in first 115 km. Once in Detebre with just over 100 km to go, the race turns back North following the Ebre River upstream and towards the hills of the Massís dels Ports. Through the intermediate and bonus sprints in Tivenys, the road climbs four little peaks, each between 2-4 km long around 6%. The last one is the Alto de Pauls and is categorized as 4 km at 6.6%. The top comes 25 km from the finish which may be enough time for dropped riders to make their way back to the group if the pace is high on the climbs. There are few sprint opportunities in this Vuelta so the question will be whether the sprint teams feel confident in controlling the race or if the glory will go to a break away.
Race Summary
After a few days in the cool air of the mountains, lower elevation at the start in Falcet meant 32C (90F) and warming throughout the day. The fight for the break was not as intense as it could have been given the profile and just four riders were in the lead when live coverage began with 113 km to go. Those at the front were Walter Calzoni of Pinarello Q36.5, Diego Uriarte of Equipo Kern Pharma, Mattia Gaffuri of Picnic-PostNL Raisin, and Fredrik Dversnes of Uno-X Mobility but their gap of 1 minutes was being threatened. The bunch was just about to turn onto the coast road at the delta of the sea and the Ebre River and were drag racing 15 riders across into a left corner to prepare for potential echelons in the cross winds. The wind ended up being more on the nose and the front of the main field went wide and blocked shoulder to shoulder.
Tension slowly crept back into the peloton and it kicked off once again by Lidl-Trek who tried to split up the race. It was successful in that those at the back were shed but the vast majority of the bunch was still connected. The acceleration closed the 1 minute gap to the break and they were brought back into the fold with 98 km to go. Calm was restored as they traversed the wide river valley of the Ebre. Visma-Lease a Bike took up the pace making in a much more controlled manner which allowed riders to head back to the cars to fill up on bottles and gels without too much stress.
14 km from the intermediate sprint, Ethan Hayter of Soudal Quickstep chipped off the front of the bunch and went on the hunt for the sprint points in Tivenys. As the riders neared Tivenys, they passed small groves of citrus and stone fruit trees all while the valley narrowed and the hills grew nearer. Hayter stayed away to the sprint to take the maximum points, 25 seconds ahead of Wout van Aert of Visma-Lease a Bike who popped ahead of his chasing teammates to mop up second place. Hayter sat up and was swallowed by the peloton who had woken up and were racing to stay in good position for the hill zone of the stage.
Netcompany-Ineos took up the pace on the first of the hills but the peloton was relatively relaxed as they went over the other side, through Benifallet, and to the start of the second climb. The other GC teams came forward to be in position but the pace was off as Andreas Kron of Uno-X Mobility snuck through the field to go on the attack with 44 km to go. As the climb continued, the pace grew harder but not fierce and Kron was able to build a lead of 45 seconds. The speed did ramp up with 33 km to go going over the third of four climbs which put some at the back of the peloton into a bit of trouble including Hayter and Kaden Groves of Alpecin-Premier Tech.
A sharp right turn off a main road brought the riders to the base of the Alto de Pauls with 28.5 km to go. The rush for position ate up the gap and Kron was caught just before they made the turn onto the climb. As they turned onto the climb, the first thing to notice was how narrow and twisting it was. The road wasn't anymore than a single car width making it hard for anyone to move up who was further than twentieth wheel back. UAE-XRG took responsibility for the pace and squeezed on the pressure as they worked their to the top passed olive trees and around the rocky headland.
Although some had been distanced, the majority of the peloton was connected as the narrow descent began. On the last little ramp before the finish with 16 km to go, Xabier Azparren of Pinarello Q36.5 went on the attack but he had the might of Soudal Quickstep and Visma-Lease a Bike chasing behind. Azparren was tracked down as the road flattened through Xerta with 12 km to go and the bunch started their trip back down the Ebre towards the finish in Roquetes.
A head wind on the way into the finish slowed the bunch down considerably which also delayed the true lead out. Visma-Lease a Bike was allowed to just ride the front until 4 km to go when NSN Cycling, Movistar, Jayco AlUla, and XDS-Astana moved up to battle for position. Uno-X Mobility came up the middle and piled on the pressure, pushing the speed above 60 km/hr. The Norwegian squad led all the way through 900 meters to go but their designated sprinter, Rasmus Tiller, was bumped off the train through a right bend and filtered to twenty wheels back. The Visma-Lease a Bike train took over control and had two men in front of Matthew Brennan who was sitting in third place and waiting patiently. Behind Brennan was Jordi Meeus of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Axel Laurance of Netcompany-Ineos, and Vito Braet of Lotto Intermarché. Vincenzo Albanese of EF-Education EasyPost nicely moved onto Meeus's wheel at 500 meters, pushing Laurance out of the slip stream. Christophe Laporte guided Brennan through the last corner at 300 meters and launched the Brit 100 meters later. Meeus was still in the wheel of Brennan but that was as close as he would come because Brennan hit the line in convincing fashion once again for his second stage win of the race. Meeus held off Albanese for second with the Italian coming in for third.