September 9, 2026
In terms of stage difficulty, today might be the easiest day the riders have had all Vuelta. There is almost nothing of note on the 185 km course between Dos Hermanas and Sevilla. The Intermediate and Bonus Sprints come at the same point 20 km from the finish which could spice things up but realistically it won't be enough to break up the race. This area around Sevilla is not particularly windy either as the city sits in the Guadalquivir River valley and is generally protected from any breeze that may come inland from the sea. What is worth mentioning however is the last few kilometers. The course comes into Sevilla from the North and runs along the Guadalquivir River before crossing over the Puente del Cachorro to the Western bank of the river. In the last kilometer, the riders will cross back over the Guadalquivir on the Puente de los Remedios and making a 90 degree turn North into the finish straight and the line.
Race Summary
It was 32C (90F) at the start which sounds hot but given how brutal it's been, the riders would have felt much more comfortable. With such a nailed on sprint day in the cards, only Enzo Paleni of Groupama-FDJ United, Sinuhé Fernández of Burgos Burpellet-BH, and Fredrik Dversnes of Uno-X Mobility went up the road. Dversnes backed out after a while leaving just two up the road and, with 120 km to go, Paleni and Fernández had 3 minutes on the bunch who were being pulled along by Visma-Lease a Bike with Cofidis and Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe queued up behind.
The roads were long and straight and with no elevation to break up the view, the riders had unobstructed sight lines for miles. Over the next 25 km, the peloton completely shut down to gather bottles and coast along the little up and down rollers of the plains which allowed the gap to grow out to 5 minutes. Another 30 seconds was added to the advantage of the break before the bunch sped up again and the gap went the other way.
There were very few fans along the road side in the hot, exposed countryside but the race entered the town of Alcalá de Guadaíra and lots of people were out to celebrate the riders coming through. By the time they came out the other side of town with 73 km to go, the gap was down below 3 minutes 30 seconds and well under control.
Coming through Carmona with 52 km to go, the riders passed the Roman and Moorish Alcázar de la Puerta de Sevilla and they flew out of town. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe decided to squeeze on the pressure through the roundabouts and speed bumps leaving town which strung out the peloton and caused little gaps to form. Decathlon CMA CGM were conspicuous by their absence and the bunch did split but there were not enough obstacles along the route to warrant further commitment and everything came back together a few kilometers later. The move did bring the gap to the two leaders down to 1 minute 40 seconds with over 25 km to ride before the sprints in San José de la Rinconada.
Cofidis and Visma-Lease a Bike regained control of the front and let the gap grow out to 2 minutes 20 seconds before starting to reel it back in with 30 km to go. 1 minute 20 seconds was the gap when Fernández rolled through the Intermediate and Bonus Sprint with 20 km to go. Third place was contested by the peloton as Bryan Coquard of Cofidis hit out a bit early and got a jump on the Green Jersey of Wout van Aert. There were two banners separated by only around 100 meters and they both thought the line was at the first banner which was actually marked as 20 km to go. Coquard was the first to realize the sprint was a bit further up and he secured third ahead of van Aert who stayed seated and coasted through the line.
With 15 km to go, the gap was approaching just 1 minute. Paleni was still feeling strong and left Fernández to go solo but the roads were wide and straight and firmly in the peloton's advantage. Fresher riders came forward in the chase in the form of Bruno Armirail of Visma-Lease a Bike and Sylvain Moniquet of Cofidis and the catch was imminent.
Paleni went over the first bridge with 5 km to go as the race for position was heating up in the peloton. Uno-X Mobility came forward with their train of six riders at 3.7 km to go and bossed the pace. They caught Paleni with 3 km to go and continued to power forward with the rest of the teams forced to sit in their wheels. The Norwegian squad led over the second bridge into the finish straight with 1,300 meters to go with van Aert and Matthew Brennan sitting behind Magnus Cort, followed by Coquard and Jordi Meeus of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe. Rasmus Tiller was the last man for Cort and he opened up the sprint, launching Cort with 200 meters to go. Brennan waited until 100 meters to go before coming out of the slip stream, passed Cort and across the line first for yet another win. Meeus was able to make his own way through the lead out to take second place, just ahead of Cort who held on for third after a brilliant team effort by Uno-X Mobility.