Pogačar’s exit opened the door, Mas and his rivals made this Vuelta one of the best in years

Pogačar’s exit opened the door, Mas and his rivals made this Vuelta one of the best in years

A race that looked settled after seven stages became a contest of shifting challengers and competing tactics. Enric Mas seized the opportunity to win his first Grand Tour, while the racing beyond the red jersey proved just as rewarding.

By Tim Bonville-Ginn · · 5 min read

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) led the Vuelta a España by 3:50 after seven stages. By the finish in Granada, Enric Mas (Movistar Team) had secured his first Grand Tour victory, completing two weeks of racing that made this one of the most entertaining Vueltas in years.

Pogačar’s stage-eight crash completely changed the race. The world champion had dominated and looked set to continue, but he left with injuries including a broken collarbone and a fractured C7 vertebra. His withdrawal brought a serious physical cost, as well as removing the overwhelming favourite from the contest.

Results

Sep 13

Velora
PosRiderTeamTime
🥇
Tobias Halland Johannessen
UNO-X MOBILITY2:54:08
🥈
Alessandro Romele
XDS ASTANA TEAM+0:00
🥉
Ramses Debruyne
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+0:00
4
Matthew James Brennan
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+0:00
5
Bastien Tronchon
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+0:00
6
Pello Bilbao Lopez de Armentia
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+0:00
7
Finn Lachlan Fox Fisher-Black
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+0:00
8
Axel Laurance
NETCOMPANY INEOS+0:00
9
Pau Marti Soriano
NSN CYCLING TEAM+0:00
10
Marco Brenner
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+0:00
11
Valentin Paret Peintre
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+0:00
12
Santiago Buitrago Sanchez
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+0:00
13
Thibau Nys
LIDL-TREK+0:00
14
Jarno Widar
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+0:00
15
Léo Bisiaux
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+0:00
16
Fabio van den Bossche
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+0:00
17
Kevin Vermaerke
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+0:00
18
Clement Alleno
BURGOS-BURPELLET-BH+0:00
19
Alessandro Covi
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+0:00
20
Ivan Cobo Cayon
EQUIPO KERN PHARMA+0:00
21
Lorenzo Rota
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+0:00
22
Embret Svestad-Bårdseng
NETCOMPANY INEOS+0:00
23
Gijs Leemreize
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+0:00
24
Guillaume Martin Guyonnet
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+0:00
25
Mattias Skjelmose Jennow Jensen
LIDL-TREK+0:00
26
Jørgen Nordhagen
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+0:00
27
Carlos Rodriguez Cano
NETCOMPANY INEOS+0:00
28
Joao Pedro Gonçalves Almeida
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+0:00
29
Magnus Nielsen
UNO-X MOBILITY+0:00
30
Fabian Weiss
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+0:00
31
Marcel Camprubi Pijuan
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+0:00
32
Jan Hirt
NSN CYCLING TEAM+0:00
33
Martin Tjøtta
UNO-X MOBILITY+0:00
34
Ivo Emanuel Alves Oliveira
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+1:01
35
Finlay Xavier Pickering
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+1:33
36
Reuben Thompson
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+1:15
37
Gianmarco Garofoli
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+0:00
38
Bruno Armirail
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+0:00
39
Julien Bernard
LIDL-TREK+0:00
40
Harold Alfonso Tejada Canacue
XDS ASTANA TEAM+0:00
41
Gianni Moscon
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+1:49
42
Luke Tuckwell
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+1:49
43
Gianni Vermeersch
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+1:49
44
Primož Roglič
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+1:49
45
Oscar Chamberlain
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+1:49
46
Felix Gall
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+1:49
47
Sander de Pestel
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+1:01
48
Callum Scotson
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+1:49
49
Rasmus Tiller
UNO-X MOBILITY+1:49
50
Fredrik Dversnes
UNO-X MOBILITY+1:49
51
Alastair Mackellar
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+1:49
52
James Shaw
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+1:49
53
Simon Dalby
UNO-X MOBILITY+1:49
54
Sylvain Moniquet
COFIDIS+1:49
55
Andreas Lorentz Kron
UNO-X MOBILITY+1:49
56
Jose Luis Faura Asensio
BURGOS-BURPELLET-BH+1:49
57
Juan Felipe Rodriguez Contreras
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+1:49
58
Hannes Wilksch
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+1:49
59
Richard Antonio Carapaz Montenegro
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+1:49
60
Sergio Samitier Samitier
COFIDIS+1:49
61
Cristian Rodriguez Martin
XDS ASTANA TEAM+1:49
62
Jack Leonard Haig
NETCOMPANY INEOS+1:49
63
Oscar Onley
NETCOMPANY INEOS+1:49
64
Steven Kruijswijk
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+1:49
65
Wout van Aert
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+0:00
66
Lucas Wade Hamilton
NETCOMPANY INEOS+1:49
67
Lorenzo Fortunato
XDS ASTANA TEAM+1:49
68
Milan Vader
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+1:49
69
Roman Ermakov
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+1:49
70
Jakob Omrzel
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+1:49
71
Koen Bouwman
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+1:49
72
Mathijs Paasschens
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+1:49
73
Gal Glivar
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+1:49
74
Pau Miquel Delgado
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+0:00
75
Sepp Kuss
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+1:49
76
Attila Valter
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+1:49
77
Rémy Rochas
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+1:49
78
Valentin Madouas
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+1:49
79
Rudy Molard
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+1:49
80
Rudy Porter
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+1:49
81
Clément Berthet
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+1:49
82
Enzo Paleni
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+1:49
83
Vito Braet
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+1:49
84
Alberto Dainese
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+1:49
85
Filippo Zana
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+1:49
86
Henok Mulueberhan
XDS ASTANA TEAM+1:49
87
Iñigo Elosegui Momeñe
EQUIPO KERN PHARMA+1:49
88
Roland Thalmann
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+1:49
89
Bryan Coquard
COFIDIS+0:00
90
Emanuel Buchmann
COFIDIS+1:49
91
Patrick Konrad
LIDL-TREK+1:49
92
Lennard Kämna
LIDL-TREK+1:49
93
Jose Manuel Diaz Gallego
BURGOS-BURPELLET-BH+1:49
94
Mario Aparicio Muñoz
BURGOS-BURPELLET-BH+1:49
95
Urko Berrade Fernandez
EQUIPO KERN PHARMA+1:49
96
Juan Martinez Huertas
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+1:49
97
Lars Craps
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+1:49
98
Paul Ourselin
COFIDIS+1:49
99
Lawrence Warbasse
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+1:49
100
Mikel Landa Meana
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+1:49
101
Ivan Ramiro Sosa Cuervo
EQUIPO KERN PHARMA+1:49
102
Louis Rouland
COFIDIS+1:49
103
William Barta
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+1:49
104
Jesus Herrada Lopez
BURGOS-BURPELLET-BH+1:49
105
David de la Cruz Melgarejo
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+1:49
106
Walter Calzoni
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+1:49
107
Raul Garcia Pierna
MOVISTAR TEAM+1:49
108
Orluis Alberto Aular Sanabria
MOVISTAR TEAM+1:49
109
Enric Mas Nicolau
MOVISTAR TEAM+1:49
110
Jorge Arcas Peña
MOVISTAR TEAM+1:49
111
Carlos Canal Blanco
MOVISTAR TEAM+1:49
112
Pablo Castrillo Zapater
MOVISTAR TEAM+1:49
113
Ivan Romeo Abad
MOVISTAR TEAM+1:49
114
Timo de Jong
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+1:49
115
Jasha Sütterlin
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+2:57
116
Sinuhe Fernandez Rodriguez
BURGOS-BURPELLET-BH+2:55
117
Mats Wenzel
EQUIPO KERN PHARMA+1:49
118
Ibon Ruiz Sedano
EQUIPO KERN PHARMA+1:49
119
Steffen de Schuyteneer
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+3:59
120
Thomas Gloag
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+1:49
121
Xabier Mikel Azparren Irurzun
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+1:49
122
Jacopo Mosca
LIDL-TREK+3:59
123
Michael Gogl
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+2:59
124
Nicholas Schultz
NSN CYCLING TEAM+3:59
125
Hugo Hofstetter
NSN CYCLING TEAM+3:59
126
Frederik Wandahl
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+3:59
127
Darren Rafferty
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+3:59
128
Vincenzo Albanese
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+3:59
129
Georg Steinhauser
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+3:59
130
Marc Brustenga Masague
EQUIPO KERN PHARMA+3:59
131
Mauri Vansevenant
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+3:59
132
Cesar Macias Estrada
BURGOS-BURPELLET-BH+3:59
133
Matevž Govekar
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+3:59
134
Domen Novak
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+3:59
135
Darren van Bekkum
XDS ASTANA TEAM+3:59
136
Andreas Leknessund
UNO-X MOBILITY+5:49
137
Mathias Norsgaard
LIDL-TREK+5:49
138
Asbjørn Hellemose
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+5:49
139
Olivier le Gac
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+5:49
140
Jordi Meeus
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+5:49
141
Ethan Edward Hayter
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+5:49
142
Callum Thornley
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+5:49

Mas inherited the red jersey, with six riders inside the 3:50 advantage Pogačar had previously held over him. A race that had looked like a fight for second suddenly offered several contenders a chance to win.

Mas converts his best form into a winning advantage

Mas attacked inside the final three kilometres of Alto de Aitana the next day and won in red with Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS) finishing with him, while Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) ended the stage 1:18 behind Mas overall.

Enric Mas and Movistar teammates ride together on a sunlit road during the Vuelta a España.

After finishing runner-up at the Vuelta three times, Mas finally went one step further and won the race. The Spaniard produced the form of his life. Pogačar’s withdrawal created the opportunity, while Roglič’s disrupted preparation weakened the most experienced remaining challenger, but Mas still had to convert those circumstances into victory.

Roglič had arrived after a car struck him during training in late July. A large bruise on his leg and withdrawals from San Sebastián and the Vuelta a Burgos had disrupted his preparation. He remained a threat, especially with a 35.2km time trial waiting on stage 18.

Roglič’s time-trial strength was a concern for Mas, who clearly wanted more time in hand. So did Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) who needed to build an advantage of his own. As the post-crash contest took shape, each contender had reasons to attack and weaknesses others could exploit.

But the time trial went hugely in Mas’s favour. Roglič did gain time but it was only 33 seconds when Roglič had been widely expected to push Mas close to losing the red jersey. The discipline that had threatened his chances instead left him firmly in command.

Onley recovered from gastrointestinal problems to match Mas at Aitana, then lost more than three minutes to him on stage 20. Sepp Kuss (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), hurt by Gall’s team setting a hard pace at Aitana, climbed from 11th to fifth overall on the same day.

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) repeatedly attacked on that final mountain stage. Mas stayed with the principal contenders, while Gall gained a few seconds. By the finish, Mas’s advantage over Roglič stood at 2:15.

Breakaways and sprinters keep the stages alive

Without Pogačar, UAE had less reason to impose sustained control for a dominant leader. That gave the race more tactical freedom, although other teams still had stages they wanted to bring back together.

Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) won from the breakaway on stage 20, taking his first Grand Tour stage victory in nine years, while the GC riders attacked one another behind.

Wout van Aert rides in the green points jersey alongside five teammates through a Spanish town, with mountains behind

Visma-Lease a Bike were the stars of the breakaways and the sprints with Wout van Aert and Matthew Brennan. The British sprinting star Brennan won five amazing stages on his Grand Tour debut. The wins all came in sprints, but they weren’t all set-in-stone sprints, once again showing that he is an amazing climber as well as sprinter.

Brennan helped contain attacks before Van Aert’s uphill opportunity on stage 10; Van Aert returned the work with a lead-out after 2,250 metres of climbing to La Rabida on stage 16. They were regulars in the breaks including the final stage of 112km around Granada. With the final lap neutralised for GC, the stage hunters still had the victory to contest.

It was a very aggressive final stage with a huge break getting clear including Brennan and Van Aert. This time the green jersey of Van Aert was unable to stay with the leaders and Brennan was isolated so his rivals worked against him. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) tried, tried, and tried again in the breaks across the three weeks only for his win to finally come on the last day outsprinting Alessandro Romele (XDS-Astana) and Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) who both had also done superb Vuelta rides.

Enric Mas and his GC rivals all rode in together calmly as they didn’t need to worry about the time due to the neutralisation. Mas and his Movistar team dropped off the back and crossed the line together as a team in celebration with his rivals of Roglič, Gall and the rest finishing and celebrating together as Roglič waved to the crowd in a way that suggested a possible farewell.

Mas took the win, the first Spanish winner since Alberto Contador twelve years ago! Van Aert took the points jersey with just the Giro points jersey left for him to tick off his list. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) took the mountain jersey with Oscar Onley clinging onto the white best young riders jersey with Decathlon-CMA CGM winning the team standings. Van Aert also won the supercombativo prize for his amazing attacking performance across the race.

Tim Bonville-Ginn headshot

Tim Bonville-Ginn

Pro cycling contributor

Tim Bonville-Ginn is a freelance writer who has worked in cycling for well over a decade with his articles being featured across publications such as Cyclingnews, Cycling Weekly, Cyclist, Rouleur, Eurosport, Road cc, Domestique, and more.

As well as writing, Tim has worked as a social media and press manager for professional teams Human Powered Health, Global 6, and Saint Piran across Europe as well as commentating on races such as the African Continental Championships, Tour de Feminin and multiple rounds of the British road and circuit series for Golazo and Monument Cycling.

Expertise:Racing