September 11, 2026
The final weekend of this Vuelta begins with a mammoth stage of 211 km and more than 4,000 meters of elevation gain from Vélez-Málaga up to Peñas Blancas. The first 75 km of the day are quite easy as the race rolls West along the coast through Málaga and Coín before hitting the hills. This section will be difficult for the climbers to find their way into the break due to the raw power required to snap the elastic and establish a move. Climbing begins on the 14.5 km, 4.3% Puerto de las Abejas. The gradient is deceiving because there is a small descent in the middle of the climb that brings the average down. The next 55 km stay up high in the Sierra de las Nieves with four peaks to summit, all around 5% in gradient and 3-7 km long. With 62 km to go, the race drops out of the mountains and descends for 20 km back to the coast in San Pedro de Alcántara. Another 20 km follows on flat roads with the Intermediate and Bonus Sprints in Estepona before the course swings inland for the final climb up to Peñas Blancas. In all, the climb is nearly 19 km long at an average of 6.5% and brings the riders from sea level up to 1,300 meters with sweeping views of the sea from the top.
Race Summary
The start was active to get a break going but only six riders managed to go clear. In the group was Ivo Oliveira of UAE-XRG, Andreas Leknessund and Tobias Johannessen of Uno-X Mobility, Steven Kruijswijk of Visma-Lease a Bike, Jasha Sütterlin of Jayco AlUla, and Bastien Tronchon of Groupama-FDJ United. With 149 km to go, the peloton was just 20 seconds behind and waiting for the Puerto de las Abejas to kick things off again. Kevin Vermaerke of UAE-XRG attacked from the peloton before the major climbing on the lumpy, rolling roads and Oliveira dropped back to pace him up to the group to make seven with 143 km to go.
EF-Education EasyPost were mobbing the front of the peloton and covering all of the attacks and by the start of the climb with 134 km to go, the leaders were still just 30 seconds ahead. The first few kilometers of the climb were completely exposed with only low shrubs and scrub brush on the side of the wide two lane road. Sütterlin was the first to be dropped from the break but the rest of the leaders were about to joined by an advancing peloton that was trying to split under the pressure primarily from XDS-Astana. Eddie Dunbar of Pinarello Q36.5 was the first to extricate himself from the bunch and join the front of the race 9 km from the top. 5 km later, Filippo Zana of Soudal Quickstep, José Luis Faura of Burgos-Burpellet BH, and Darren van Bekkum of XDS-Astana made their way forward to join forces with Oliveira, Vermaerke, Leknessund, Johannessen, Tronchon, and Dunbar.
Just before the summit, Léo Bisiaux of Decathlon CMA CGM, Rudy Molard of Groupama-FDJ United, Jørgen Nordhagen of Visma-Lease a Bike, and Rasmus Debruyne of Alpecin-Premier Tech made their way to the front group to make 13 at the front. More and more riders were able to come across on the descent and on the lower slopes of the Puerto de los Empedrados to make a group of around 25 riders. Netcompany-Ineos took control of the main field and set a hard pace that stitched everything back together. Dunbar countered and the entire process started all over again.
Incredibly, Dunbar held 30 seconds up the climb even as the bunch continued their relentless attacking. There was a little respite before the Irishman hit the Puerto del Viento, still with a lead over the field. When Dunbar reached the summit with 99.5 km to go, a group of around 15 riders were coming across with even more further back. Both Groupama-FDJ United and Pinarello Q36.5 were well represented in the chase group of 15 they and joined Dunbar on the descent. Behind, Richard Carapaz of EF-Education EasyPost took a flyer on the descent and was passing chase groups as he bombed down the mountain.
The road flattened coming in to Ronda with 90 km to go but Carapaz strategically had teammate Darren Rafferty there who buried himself to drag the group across to the front of the race. They had 1 minute to close but also passengers from Decathlon CMA CGM and Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe who were there to mark the move for Felix Gall and Primož Roglič. With Carapaz ahead, he was putting GC pressure on the top three but for some reason, Decathlon CMA CGM put men on the front of the favorites group without forcing Movistar to commit any resources. The plan unraveled for Carapaz who lost his best ally in Rafferty when he dropped his chain with 86 km to go, leaving Carapaz alone to ride in a group with no help. Shortly after Rafferty dropped away, we got time gaps between the groups. Carapaz was at 55 seconds from the leaders and the peloton, with the rest of the GC favorites, were just 30 seconds back and closing.
Carapaz gave in and was caught with 83 km to go and for the first time all day, the race settled down, allowing those struggling in the peloton the opportunity to take a breath. Movistar came forward en masse to set a pace in the bunch which gave the lead group an opportunity to grow from 90 seconds out to 3 minutes with 77 km to go. In the front group were 16 riders which consisted of many of those from previous moves. In the break was Molard, Tronchon, and Guillaume Martin of Groupama-FDJ United, Dunbar, Marcel Camprubí, and Thomas Gloag of Pinarello Q36.5, Santiago Buitrago and Pau Miquel of Bahrain Victorious, Urko Berrade and Mats Wenzel of Equipo Kern Pharma, Kevin Vermaerke of UAE-XRG, Darren van Bekkum of XDS-Astana, Chris Hamilton of Picnic-PostNL Raisin, Sergio Samitier of Cofidis, Pablo Castrillo of Movistar, and Andreas Leknessund of Uno-X Mobility. The riders continued high up, weaving around the hill tops without really climbing or descending much until 62 km to go when they plummeted towards Estepona with an increased advantage of 4 minutes 40 seconds.
The descent was a pedaling descent but quick nonetheless and the break arrived at the bottom with 42 km to go and a gap of over 6 minutes. Movistar rode conservatively along the coast road and by the time Vermaerke took the sprint in Estepona, they had over 7 minutes and were only 5 km away from starting the final climb of the day to the finish up the Peñas Blancas.
The leaders arrived at the base of the climb all together with 7 minutes 15 seconds on the peloton. Right from the bottom, the gradients pitched up and riders were starting to struggle with the pace. Molard was keen to push on and rode the early kilometers just off the front of the break which made Bahrain Victorious chase him down. Miquel did the work to haul Molard back and he emptied the tank to set Buitrago up to attack just outside 13 km from the finish. Gloag came across with relative ease while all the others toiled behind just to stay in sight of the leading duo. Dunbar and Berrade got into their rhythm to make four at the front with 11.5 km to go and still a handy gap back to the peloton. The situation stabilized with the quartet gaining time on all the other members of the break with nearly 1 minute at 6 km to go.
There was complete cohesion among Buitrago, Gloag, Dunbar, and Berrade as they twisted their way up with stunning views of the sea behind. They entered a dense pine forest on narrowing roads and steep cliffs off the side at 2.5 km to go with gradients consistently around 10%. The first attack came from Buitrago who went just outside of 2 km to go through a steep hairpin. Gloag tried to get on terms but couldn't reach the back wheel before the Colombian danced away. It looked like a done-deal for Buitrago but slowly and surely, Dunbar wound up his effort and had Buitrago at 10 seconds under the flamme rouge. Both riders were on their absolute limit but it was Dunbar that had the carrot to chase and he clawed Buitrago back, making contact with 500 meters to go. He wasted no time and hit Buitrago with an attack that could only be responded to by a shake of the head from Buitrago. Dunbar sprinted up the last 300 meters and had plenty of time to soak in the fact that he had the win. He came across the line with a fist raised in victory and was beyond jubilant when he saw Gloag who came in for third on the day.
In the peloton, Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe took on the pace right from the bottom of the climb and quickly took 1 minute off the gap. Their commitment waned the further they went however until they completely stopped pulling. Movistar picked up the riding duties but it wasn't a full effort to blow the favorites apart. When the bunch reached 8 km to go, EF-Education EasyPost accelerated over the top of Movistar and riders were dropped immediately. Mattias Skjelmose of Lidl-Trek was the first of the top GC riders distanced as Juan Felipe Rodriguez buried himself in his effort to inflict as much pain on the others and to set Carapaz up for one more attack. Rodriguez rode to just inside 4 km to go but Carapaz didn't attack which gave Movistar the ability to regain control and settle the pace back down.
Attacks didn't come for another 1,500 meters when Roglič accelerated. The best five riders in the race were the last five in the group. Behind Roglič was Enric Mas, Oscar Onley, Felix Gall, and Richard Carapaz. Things slowed which allowed Clément Berthet and Jakob Omrzel to get back on and Omrzel hit the group straight away and got a gap. Onley's GC spot was the first one threatened by the move but it was Berthet who picked up the chase. Gall attacked and brought the full group back to Omrzel. The Austrian continued with a pace all the way to the finish line but most of the top 10 in GC ended up finishing all on the same time. Skjelmose lost 1 minute 15 seconds on the day which moved Cristián Rodríguez of XDS-Astana up to seventh place.