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The home favourite finished the penultimate stage by extending his lead on Primož Roglič in the overall standings.
HOME FAVOURITE ENRIC Mas moved to the brink of Vuelta a España victory on Saturday as he finished the 20th and penultimate stage by extending his lead on Primož Roglič in the overall standings.
Movistar’s Spanish rider Mas is set to win his first Grand Tour on Sunday when the race arrives in Granada in the final stage, a largely ceremonial procession, with the overwhelming favourite Tadej Pogačar crashing out in the eighth stage while leading overall. Mikel Landa claimed an impressive solo victory on Saturday, on stage 20′s tricky 186.8 kilometre Andalusian mountain route from La Calahorra to Collado del Alguacil.
Mas lost a few seconds to Felix Gall, third overall, but leads Roglič by 2 min 15 sec, with the Austrian a further half-minute back. Advertisement The Movistar rider, 31, has finished as a Vuelta runner-up three times, in 2018, 2021 and 2022, and is poised to become the first Spaniard to win the race since Alberto Contador in 2014.
The Mallorca-born rider inherited the red jersey after Pogačar’s dramatic crash but has defended it consummately since, holding off four-time winner Roglič and Gall’s attempts to wrestle it from him. On Saturday another Spaniard, Soudal Quick-Step’s Landa, 36, secured his first victory for five years. Mas broke away from the escape group to triumph after a tough season, while Tobias Johannessen and Ramses Debruyne completed the podium.
In the general classification battle Gall attacked on the final climb with Mas following quickly, while exhausted Slovenian veteran Roglič let them escape but managed to keep his second place overall. American Sepp Kuss, who won the Vuelta in 2023, put in a strong performance to rise up to fifth from 11th. Stage 21 on Sunday starts and ends in Granada, running 112km, starting in a supermarket and visiting the famous Alhambra palace.
Ireland’s Darren Rafferty finished the stage in 81st place and is 104th in the overall standings. Eddie Dunbar won stage 19 on Friday but withdrew from today’s stage. – © AFP 2026
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