Twelve years of waiting for Spain
Enric Mas has won the 2026 Vuelta. The Movistar rider rolled home on stage 21 in Granada on Sunday evening, red jersey on his back. He finished 2’15 ahead of Primoz Roglic and 2’44 clear of Felix Gall.
No Spaniard had won the home Grand Tour since Alberto Contador in 2014. Mas has ended that drought. He has also ended his own: three runner-up finishes in the Vuelta before Sunday, and still no Grand Tour on the CV. That box is ticked now.
Movistar had been waiting for a Grand Tour win since 2019.
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Red reclaimed after Pogacar’s crash
Mas did not seize the lead by attacking. Tadej Pogacar was bossing the race, with more than three minutes in hand as early as stage four. Then the Slovenian crashed on stage eight and withdrew. Mas inherited the jersey.
He backed it up the next day, winning on the Alto de Aitana in a sprint against Oscar Onley. After that, he held firm. In the Andalucian sierras, on the 32-kilometre time trial between El Puerto de Santa María and Jerez, and under repeated pressure from Roglic. Thirteen stages with everyone gunning for him, and not once did he blink.
Johannessen takes the Granada finale
The final stage was no ceremonial roll-in. The finishing circuit around the Alhambra, with its partly cobbled 2.1-kilometre climb at 6.6%, had to be tackled four times. It ripped the race apart on the second lap, driven by Groupama-FDJ and Bastien Tronchon.
Nine riders went clear. The favourites’ group then shelled a minute. Wout van Aert cracked on the last climb. Matthew Brennan, who had already banked five stages on this Vuelta, was forced to chase every move before finally folding two kilometres from home.
Ramses Debruyne made the move that stuck. Tobias Halland Johannessen and Alessandro Romele followed. Romele launched the sprint, Johannessen came around him. The Uno-X rider had his revenge too: the day before, he had finished second to Mikel Landa on the queen stage.
A minute behind, Mas was riding into the first Grand Tour title of his career.
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