La Vuelta 2026 – Stage 12 [LAST 10 KM]

September 3, 2026

81st La Vuelta Ciclista a España 2026 🇪🇸 (2.UWT) ME – Stage 12 – Vera – Calar Alto : 166,6 km

Vuelta a España 2026 is a UCI WorldTour stage race run across varied Spanish terrain, typically combining high mountains, rolling inland roads, technical city finishes, and exposed transitional stages that can all shape the general classification. The route usually asks riders to manage long climbs, steep ramps, heat, and late-race fatigue, with recovery between decisive stages becoming a central factor. Crosswinds on flatter days, narrow roads in historic towns, and sharp changes in gradient can make even moderate stages tactically tense. Race dynamics often revolve around team control in the mountains, breakaways seeking opportunities on transitional terrain, and repeated attacks on summit finishes or steep uphill drags. Typical stage profiles may include alpine-style climbing days, medium-mountain stages, sprint opportunities, and technical finales that reward good positioning. The finishing style varies widely, from bunch sprints on flatter stages to solo arrivals or small-group battles after selective climbs. The race favors consistency, climbing depth, and resilience across three demanding weeks.

As the Vuelta a España headed back into the mountains and the summit finish at Calar Alto, it was Enric Mas (Movistar) who once again proved the strongest of the GC riders, adding more time to his overall lead with an attack 12km from the finish.

As the Vuelta a España headed back into the mountains and the summit finish at Calar Alto, it was Enric Mas (Movistar) who once again proved the strongest of the GC riders, adding more time to his overall lead with an attack 12km from the finish.

Red jersey hopefuls Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) had no answer to Mas’ move, with Mas cannily linking up with Movistar teammate from the break, Raúl García Pierna.

Gall and Roglič, too, got help from teammates dropping back – Léo Bisiaux and Luke Tuckwell – and a resurgent Gregor Mühlberger. The strength in numbers behind the solo Mas seemingly had no effect, though, with the chasers only losing time as the finish neared.

Mas eventually crossed the line with another 27 seconds in the bag, extending his lead over Roglič to 1:45, while Gall now lies at 2:06 down.

The GC battle wasn’t the fight for stage victory, however. That played out minutes up the road as 20-year-old Vuelta debutant Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) broke clear of what was once a 30-man breakaway group with 11.7km to go. Holding a four-minute lead over Mas and co, he left behind Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma) to go solo to the finish.

Omrzel’s power was such that even the big GC moves behind barely made a dent in his lead. He hit the final kilometre with a three-minute lead over Mas, and the 2025 Giro Next Gen winner duly converted it to the biggest win of his young career.

2024 Vuelta stage winner Berrade crossed the line in second place, 1:56 down, while mountain classification leader Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) took third, 2:13 back. Mas wouldn’t add bonus seconds to his total at the line, finishing in sixth, 2:56 down.

Omrzel’s ride, which saw him in virtual second overall at one point, saw him leap from 10th to sixth overall, 4:59 behind Mas. While the podium trio stayed in place, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) moved up to third as he finished alongside Gall and Roglič.

The Ecuadorian leapfrogged Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos), who dropped away further down the climb to finish 5:05 adrift of Omrzel and 2:09 behind Mas.

“I’m not surprised because I know how much work I put in, and I knew that these days were going to come sooner or later. But for sure, I was not expecting 100% to do it on my first Grand Tour,” Omrzel, who now lies 30 seconds off Onley’s white jersey, said after his win.

“So, I mean, I still can’t believe what I did, but I felt super good. I’m still feeling okay. I’m not tired, so I don’t know, I’m just enjoying it at the moment.

“The team behind us is really great. As riders, we understand each other really well, and at the moment, we are working so well together. The whole team is just perfection.

“We said that we are playing PlayStation, and that’s what we are doing at the moment! Whatever we want, we do. We go in the breakaway with Pello [Bilbao], Santi Buitrago], and the other guys. It’s just amazing, and I’m really proud of that.”

How it unfolded
After Wednesday’s sprint finish in Lorca, the Vuelta a España peloton headed back to the mountains for the 166.6km stage 12 with five classified climbs and 4,500 metres of elevation on the road to Calar Alto (17km at 5.6%).

Early third-category ascents including the Alto de Cabecico (8km at 3.3%) and the Alto de Cóbdar (5km at 4.5%) led on to the mid-stage second-category climb, the Collado Garcia (19km at 2.4%). The first-category Alto de Velefique (13km at 7.2%) lay 29km from the line ahead of the stage’s final ascent.

Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) put in the first major attack of the day, though a solo breakaway on such a tough stage was never likely to stick. More attacks followed after the German was caught, including efforts from João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and points leader Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike).

That move, too, was brought back, before Van Aert jumped clear once more on the Alto de Cabecico to grab three mountain points, moving one point nearer to KOM leader Buitrago.

It would take some 40km for the breakaway to properly go, as 30 riders jumped clear before the Alto de Cóbdar. Almeida, Van Aert, and Buitrago were up there again. The trio were joined by a host of other notable names, including Mas’ teammates Raúl García Pierna and Pablo Castrillo, Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM), Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello-Q36.5), Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma), Jack Haig (Netcompany Ineos), Marco Brenner (Tudor), Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal-QuickStep), Alexey Lutsenko (NSN), plus Andreas Leknessund, and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility).

Omrzel was also in the move, the 20-year-old a GC danger man lying 10th overall at 8:05 down. Movistar and Red Bull lined up at the head of the peloton behind, leaving the break to race over two minutes clear.

At the Alto de Cóbdar, the gap was up over four minutes as Van Aert led the race over the top to collect six points to Buitrago’s four, moving closer in the mountain classification standings once again.

From there, the road kept on gradually rising, stop-start, to the Collado Garcia. Again it was Van Aert vs Buitrago at the top, and again, Van Aert led the way. The Belgian took five points to the Colombian’s three, putting him at 30 to 38 in the KOM standings.

With 80km and two climbs left to tackle, the break enjoyed a six-minute lead, a gap that reached 7:30 in the valley road – putting Omrzel up to virtual second place overall.

Up ahead, Almeida gave his all on the uphill towards the Alto de Velefique as Van Aert grabbed 20 points at the intermediate sprint. The Portuguese rider’s effort helped split apart the breakaway group, while further back, race leader Enric Mas was down to a single helper in Iván Romeo, with Castrillo and García Pierna still well up the road.

On the climb itself, Carapaz was the first man to make a big attack. The Ecuadorian attacked with 37km to go, 6km from the top, quickly taking a 30-second lead over a GC group which counted only around 15 riders.

Up front, 5:30 clear of Mas, Omrzel made a move to go clear. He took Bisiaux with him, the pair taking 20 seconds on the rest of the break. They were brought back a kilometre from the top, however, while further down, Romeo dragged back Carapaz, too.

Buitrago led Lutsenko across the summit for another 10 mountain points to go clear of Van Aert once more. They were joined by seven more at the front in Omrzel, Bisiaux, Berrade, Haig, Tuckwell, García Pierna, and Vansevenant.

5:30 back, Castrillo had waited for the GC group to help Mas, while García Pierna slowed from the breakaway at the bottom of the climb to provide assistance later on. Romeo and Castrillo led the GC group onto the climb.

Buitrago’s early acceleration at the front blew the break apart for good, leaving just him, Omrzel, Bisiaux, and Berrade out front. In the GC group, Decathlon took over the pacemaking 15km from the top, quickly dropping Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike).

Gall launched soon afterwards, taking Mas and Roglič with him as Onley – who suffered a minor crash early in the stage – was dropped along with Carapaz.

Buitrago and Bisiaux were dropped from the break before the end of the steep early section of the climb, leaving Omrzel and Berrade to lead the race into the final 12.5km. Omrzel was soon on his own, leaving Berrade behind with 11.7km to go.

Four minutes down the mountain, it was Mas who decided to go solo, the red jersey once again attacking his GC rivals after winning stage 9 at the Alto de Aitana. The Spaniard leapt away to a half-minute lead before linking up with García Pierna 9km from the top.

The pair held the chase behind at 40 seconds before García Pierna’s work was done, 5km from the top. Further back, Tuckwell and Bisiaux had dropped back to help Gall and Roglič, while Carapaz and another Decathlon man, Mühlberger, caught back on.

Despite having more numbers than the solo Mas, the chase group made few inroads into the Spaniard’s lead. That initial 30-second gap remained, regardless of what was going on behind, and he danced towards the line in no danger of being brought back.

Gall and Roglič found themselves alone again on the run towards the finish, having dropped Carapaz, but he made his way back to the duo before the finish, and the three men crossed the line having shed another 27 seconds to the GC leader.

Omrzel had already long finished his ride, celebrating a major breakthrough victory two weeks into the first Grand Tour of his career.

Results :