{"id":129978,"date":"2026-09-12T15:53:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T15:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/12\/enric-mas-has-one-hand-on-the-vuelta-a-espana-trophy-after-queen-stage\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T15:53:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T15:53:32","slug":"enric-mas-has-one-hand-on-the-vuelta-a-espana-trophy-after-queen-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/12\/enric-mas-has-one-hand-on-the-vuelta-a-espana-trophy-after-queen-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"Enric Mas has one hand on the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a trophy after queen stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Saturday was both the 81st Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a>\u2018s queen stage and penultimate stage. On a wild day, red jersey Enric Mas\u2019s rivals couldn\u2019t budge him, and he has one hand on the trophy. Mikel Landa turned back the clock and earned his first Grand Tour stage victory since 2017 and his first win since 2021. Another of the day\u2019s developments was Sepp Kuss rocketing up the GC from 11th to 5th.<\/p>\n

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A dream win for Landa near the end of his career.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Massive Day For Mas<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mas first appeared on the Vuelta podium as runner-up to Simon Yates in 2018. He has also been second to Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d and Remco Evenepoel and third to Rogli\u010d. Mas winning the Vuelta would be on par with Yates finishing unfinished business with the Giro d\u2019Italia last season.<\/p>\n

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Yates, Mas and Angel Lopez on the 2018 Vuelta\u2019s final podium. Photo: Sirotti<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Friday was stalemate. Rogli\u010d couldn\u2019t dent the 1:37 Mas had over him. Felix Gall was still one and a half minutes behind Rogli\u010d. Oscar Onley increased his white jersey lead over Jakob Omrzel by six seconds to 1:03.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s queen stage began with a Cat. 3 amuse bouche<\/em> before the gluttony of three Cat. 1 ascents of eight percent average, Puerto de El Purche twice in succession. The only HC-rated climb of the race, Collado del Alguacil, would do the final sorting on 8.4 km of 9.8 percent roads.<\/p>\n

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The wicked parcours of the final GC day. Image by La FlammeRouge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was last-chance-saloon for dozens of the riders, and thus, a good-sized breakaway and an enormous chase formed. By the foot of Puerto de El Purche I<\/strong>, Wout Van Aert and 13 others, six of whom were Uno-X, were 3:30 ahead of a 50-strong chase and 9:00 ahead of the GC heavy hitters. Mountains classification leader Santiago Buitrago was in the giant chase group, and he started to worry about all those KOM points dangling in front of Van Aert, who started the day 38 points in arrears. He wanted to be the first Colombian to win the Vuelta dots since F\u00e9lix C\u00e1rdenas in 2004.<\/p>\n

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A tense day for Santi in the polka dot competition. Photo: Sirotti<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the peloton, Kuss attacked in search of getting back in the top-10 and even defending his 11th from Guillaume Martin in the gargantuan chase. Inspired, fourth-place Richard Carapaz made his own move, linking up with Kuss. Gall\u2019s Decathlon-CMA-CGM yanked the peloton. Kuss and Carapaz came to heel but both Onley and Omrzel lost contact on the descent.<\/p>\n

Again, Kuss launched himself up the road on Puerto de El Purche II<\/strong>. With Van Aert scoring maximum points at the top, Buitrago started to sweat. Carapaz attacked near the top. Gall sewed up the rent in the fabric.<\/p>\n

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The irrepressible Carapaz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Having tried all day, Landa finally joined the breakaway, one still Uno-X powered. Puerto de El Duque<\/strong> was even steeper than El Purche. Ramses Debruyne, like Landa, finally bridged and attacked. Landa and Tobias Halland Johannessen latched on. Carapaz had a teammate to toil for him. The Ecuadorian tried attack after attack but he couldn\u2019t dislodge Gall. With Landa, Debruyne and Johannessen gobbling up the KOM points, Buitrago could finally relax.<\/p>\n

An HC to Conclude the GC<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Landa trio had useful buffers over its chasers as Collado del Alguacil began. Landa dashed away. Kuss began to lose momentum. Gall bounced clear, Mas first coming over with ease before dropping back and losing 17 seconds.<\/p>\n

Landa, in his last year with Soudal-QuickStep, was emotional at the line. Rogli\u010d saved his second place.<\/p>\n

Sunday is the procession into Grenada for the final sprinters\u2019 showdown.<\/p>\n

81st Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, Stage 20<\/strong>
1) Mikel Landa (Spain\/Soudal-QuickStep) 5:00:54
2) Tobias Halland Johannessen (Norway\/Uno-X) +0:14
3) Ramses Debruyne (Belglium\/Alpecin-Premier Tech) +0:23<\/p>\n

81st Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a GC<\/strong>
1) Enric Mas (Spain\/Movistar) 70:56:03
2) Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d (Slovenia\/Red Bull) +2:14
3) Felix Gall (Austria\/Decathlon-CMA-CGM) +2:44<\/p>\n

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