Distance
206km
Remco
Returns
In Québec
After 41 days without racing, Remco Evenepoel returned at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and rode the finale like a man who had spent the layoff studying everyone else's tells. Twenty laps of the redesigned Québec City circuit whittled the field to half; Evenepoel bridged to the decisive group with 40 km to go, countered Alberto Bettiol at 28, dropped Anthon Charmig on the last Côte de la Montagne — and then, with Giulio Ciccone glued to his wheel and refusing a single turn, led out the sprint himself and won it anyway. A masterclass in doing all the work and keeping the win.
Climbing
2,780m
Duration
4:40h
Avg Pace
—km/h
Category
Classic
Date
11·09·26
Stage 0202
La Vuelta
Today · Stage 20 · La Calahorra → Collado del Alguacil
91.3%
19 / 21 stages2,996 / 3,282 km2 stages to Granada
- 01Monaco → Monaco
- 02Monaco → Manosque
- 03Gruissan → Font-Romeu
- 04Andorra la Vella → Andorra la Vella
- 05Falset → Roquetes
- 06Alcossebre → Castellón
- 07Vall d'Alba → Valdelinares
- 08Puçol → Xeraco
- 09La Vila Joiosa → Alto de Aitana
- 10Alcaraz → Elche de la Sierra
- 11Cartagena → Lorca
- 12Vera → Calar Alto
- 13Almuñécar → Loja
- 14Jaén → Sierra de la Pandera
- 15Palma del Río → Córdoba
- 16Cortegana → La Rábida
- 17Dos Hermanas → Sevilla
- 18El Puerto de Santa María → Jerez de la Frontera
- 19Vélez-Málaga → Peñas Blancas
- 20La Calahorra → Collado del AlguacilLive
- 21Granada → Granada
Stage 0303
From the peloton,
this week
Race ReportCover · Iss. 47
Seventy-Five Metres of Patience: Evenepoel Outlasts Ciccone in Québec
After 41 days without racing, Remco Evenepoel returned at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and rode the finale like a man who had spent the layoff studying everyone else's tells. Twenty laps of the redesigned Québec City circuit whittled the field to half; Evenepoel bridged to the decisive group with 40 km to go, countered Alberto Bettiol at 28, dropped Anthon Charmig on the last Côte de la Montagne — and then, with Giulio Ciccone glued to his wheel and refusing a single turn, led out the sprint himself and won it anyway. A masterclass in doing all the work and keeping the win.
Read the full stage
Race Report
10·09·26 · Race Report
Caught at the Last: Dunbar Runs Down Buitrago on Peñas Blancas
The first half of the Vuelta's climactic mountain double-header went to the breakaway, and to the most patient man in it. Santiago Buitrago attacked with two kilometres of Peñas Blancas left and looked gone; Eddie Dunbar, who had animated the escape all day, paced the 19 km climb like a time trial and swept past inside the final kilometre to win by 14 seconds, with his 24-year-old team-mate Thomas Gloag third. Behind, the GC held its breath: Enric Mas covered everything, Roglič sits at 1:37, and the red jersey that fell to Mas the day Pogačar crashed out is one summit from Granada.
Race Report
09·09·26 · Race Report
The Race of Truth Tells the Truth: Küng Wins in Jerez, Mas Bends but Holds
The Vuelta's second race of truth ran 32 flat kilometres through sherry country from El Puerto de Santa María to Jerez, and it told everyone exactly what they suspected. Stefan Küng, beaten to the hot seat all season, took it back at 54.4 km/h — three seconds ahead of 21-year-old Callum Thornley, denied by a whisker in a Grand Tour time trial for the second time this race. Primož Roglič rode an inspired fourth and took 33 seconds out of Enric Mas; Mas rode a limiter's time trial and kept 1:37 of red jersey. Two mountains left. The Vuelta knows its question now — it just doesn't know the answer.
Race Report
08·09·26 · Race Report
Five, Like Cavendish: Brennan Completes the Set in Sevilla
The Vuelta's last pure sprint went the way every sprint of this race has gone when Matthew Brennan wanted it. Enzo Paleni made the day honest with a lone raid that ended 4 km from the line; Wout van Aert made the finale simple; and Brennan finished it past Jordi Meeus and Magnus Cort on the run between María Luisa Park and the Guadalquivir. Five stage wins in a single Vuelta — the youngest rider ever to do it, and the first Briton to take five in a Grand Tour since Mark Cavendish in 2013. Visma's seventh. The sprinting part of this race is finished, and it had one author.
Étape 04Race Report07·09·26
Race Report
Four From a First Grand Tour: Brennan Joins Gaviria in La Rábida
Off the rest day and down to the Atlantic, the Vuelta gave the sprinters the long flat run to the Columbus monastery at La Rábida — and Visma gave everyone else no chance. A five-man break was managed to extinction, Red Bull's crosswind ambush near the Río Tinto estuary fizzled, and Wout van Aert delivered Matthew Brennan through the last corner and released him at 125 metres. Daylight. Coquard second, Braet third. Four stage wins in his first Grand Tour — a thing nobody had done since Fernando Gaviria at the 2017 Giro — and Visma's sixth of the race, with the kid two days from more history.
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Étape 05Race Report06·09·26
Race Report
Forty Degrees, Five Riders, One Winner: Van Aert Rules Córdoba Again
The heat won the first half of stage 15 — the Extreme Weather Protocol cut 79.5 km from the route with temperatures pushing 40°C — and Wout van Aert won the rest. Visma set fire to the shortened stage on the Puerto Artafi, five riders escaped, and Van Aert spent the run to Córdoba personally closing down every attack from the other four before beating them all in the sprint: Romele, Nys, Debruyne, Leknessund, in that order, with no complaints possible. Two wins in three days for the Belgian, a second career victory in Córdoba, and a rest day for a race that badly needs the shade.
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Étape 06Race Report05·09·26
Race Report
One Second on the Pandera: Brenner Gives Tudor Its First Grand Tour Win
The Sierra de la Pandera did what the Pandera does — bare rock, 17% ramps, 40-degree heat — and out of a 44-rider breakaway it distilled one perfect finale. Santiago Buitrago attacked under the flamme rouge and looked gone; Marco Brenner clawed back onto his wheel on the last steep corners and sprinted past on the flatter run to the line to win by a single second — the first Grand Tour stage victory in Tudor Pro Cycling's history. Behind, Enric Mas accelerated 2.7 km out and, with Felix Gall, put more time into Roglič and Carapaz. The red jersey isn't just being defended anymore. It's attacking.
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Étape 07Race Report04·09·26
Race Report
The Inevitable, Delayed: Van Aert Finally Wins One in Loja
Twelve stages of animating this Vuelta for other people — a one-two he built at Valdelinares, a sprint throne he assembled for Brennan — and in Loja, Wout van Aert finally kept one. On a lumpy Granada stage made for the break, he attacked out of the front group 4 km from the line; only Valentin Paret-Peintre could follow, and following was all he could do. Van Aert led the sprint out and won it, with Matthew Brennan winning the chase group 24 seconds back for a Visma one-and-three. The best rider of the first two weeks is no longer winless, and green is a formality.
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Étape 08Race Report03·09·26
Race Report
The Youngest Man in the Race: Omrzel Alone Among the Telescopes
The Almería queen stage stacked the Velefique's double-digit ramps into the long, irregular grind to the observatory at Calar Alto, 2,168 metres up — and out of a 26-man break it was the youngest rider in the whole Vuelta who answered. Jakob Omrzel, 20 years old, attacked 13 km from the summit, shed Urko Berrade, and rode alone through the thin air to the second professional win of his life and his first in a Grand Tour, by 1:56. Behind him Enric Mas produced another statement climb, taking 27 more seconds out of Roglič, Gall and Carapaz. The desert asked its questions; a kid and the red jersey had answers.
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Étape 09Race Report02·09·26
Race Report
Three, Like Pogačar in '19: Brennan Makes Lorca Look Simple
The day after Elche de la Sierra's chaos, order was restored, and order in this Vuelta wears yellow and black. Crosswinds split the race 93 km out, Ethan Hayter attacked twice for the fun of it, the Alto de Aledo trimmed the tired — and through all of it Visma–Lease a Bike kept Matthew Brennan exactly where he needed to be. In Lorca the 21-year-old beat Bryan Coquard and Jordi Meeus for his third win of the race: the first Grand Tour debutant with three stages since Pogačar at the 2019 Vuelta, the first debutant sprinter since Gaviria in 2017. Mas kept red, at 1:18. Halfway home, this race has two owners.
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On the wire
LIVE · ON-AIRSTG · 01 · 2:51
March 12, 2026
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By the numbers
Stories filed
Since we started this thing in a Montréal café, late 2024.
Kilometres ridden
Reporting on the road — not from a press tent.
Coffees consumed
Mostly espresso. Some doppios. One regrettable Americano.
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