At 2,153 metres of altitude, Calar Alto hosted the highest finish of La Vuelta 26 and proved the perfect setting for Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) to announce himself as a Grand Tour star in the making and take a historic win. At 20 years, 5 months and 13 days old, the new Slovenian wonderkid sets a new record as the youngest Grand Tour stage winner from the country, beating the benchmark set by Tadej Pogacar in La Vuelta 19 (20 years, 11 months and 10 days for his first win on stage 9). Further back into the history books, he is the youngest Grand Tour stage winner since Celestino Prieto in the 1981 edition of La Vuelta (20 years, 2 months and 27 days when he won stage 4). After joining the breakaway, Omrzel covered the last 12 kilometres on his own and also moved up to the 6th place in the overall standings. Almost three minutes behind him at the finish, Enric Mas (Movistar) also managed to distance his rivals and gain half a minute on Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who now trails by 1’45’’, and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), who follows with a gap of 2’06’’. Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos) crashed at the beginning of the stage and finished over 5 minutes behind the stage winner but he retained the white jersey half a minute ahead of Omrzel.
Back to the mountains - as La Vuelta 26 settles in Almeria, the peloton face a gruelling 4,568 metres of elevation gain between Vera and the summit finish at Calar Alto, past the Alto de Velefique. At 2,153 metres of altitude, it is the highest summit of this edition, capping off the stage with the third-highest elevation gain (4,568 metres).
An impressive breakaway: Van Aert, Buitrago, Almeida, Johannessen…
Attackers try their luck as soon as the flag drops. Vera makes its debut as a La Vuelta stage town, but it already hosted the start of the final stage of the Vuelta a Andalucia 2021, won by Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step)… The British rouleur was named the most combative rider on days 2, 5 and 11, and he is again the first attacker of the day. A fierce battle for the breakaway pans out over the next few dozens of kilometres.
Alexey Lutsenko (NSN) launches a move at km 20. Axel Laurance (Netcompany Ineos) and Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) follow him. Behind them, attacks keep flying while Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos) crashes in a roundabout. The British white jersey wearer rapidly gets back up and makes his way back to the bunch while 25 riders join the lead trio, including Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious).
Tobias Johannessen is also in the break with Andreas Leknessund and Andreas Kron (Uno-X Mobility), as well as Joao Almeida with Ivo Oliveira and Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Emirates XRG). Bahrain Victorious is the other team with three riders as Pello Bilbao and Jakob Omrzel (10th overall, + 8’05’’) are with Buitrago.
Velefique shakes the race
With the green jersey on his back, Van Aert leads the way across the first categorised climbs of the day: Alto del Cabecico (cat. 3, km 16), Alto de Cobra (cat. 3, km 57.5), and Collado Garcia (cat. 2, km 86.4). Buitrago, the leader of the mountains standings, is second at each summit. His tally is up to 38 points, while Van Aert moves closer with 30 points. The Belgian also goes first at the intermediate sprint (Velefique, km 123.7) at the bottom of the climb up Alto de Velefique.
In the peloton, Enric Mas’s Movistar set the pace. The gap increases to a maximum of 7’40’’ on the first slopes of this penultimate ascent. At that point, Omrzel is second in the virtual overall standings, half a minute behind Mas.
The intensity increases on the Alto Velefique. Bilbao ups the ante at the front, while Ivan Romeo (Movistar) sets the pace in the GC group. Buitrago takes the 10 KOM points at the summit. In the GC group, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) attacks and opens a gap of 20 seconds before being caught by a very reduced GC group. At the summit, they are 5’25’’ behind the leaders.
Omrzel and Mas fly away to Calar Alto
Buitrago sets the pace at the bottom of the final climb. Into the final 15 kilometres, only Omrzel, Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma) are still with him. Around five minutes behind them, Felix Gall’s Decathlon CMA CGM accelerate. The Austrian climber sets off with 15 kilometres to go. Enric Mas (Movistar) and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) follow him.
Omrzel accelerates a few times and eventually goes solo into the final 12 kilometres. Meanwhile, Enric Mas counters Felix Gall to further tighten his grip on La Roja.
The new prodigy extends his lead and, with a margin of 1’56’’ on Berrade, becomes at 20 years, 5 months and 13 days old, the youngest Grand Tour stage winner since Celestino Prieto in the 1981 edition of La Vuelta (20 years, 2 months and 27 days when he won stage 4), also surpassing the Slovenian benchmark set by Tadej Pogacar at La Vuelta 19 (20 years, 11 months and 10 days when he won stage 9).
Mas crosses the line in sixth place, 27 seconds ahead of Gall, Roglic and Carapaz. The Slovenian is still second in the overall standings (+1’45’’), ahead of the Austrian (+2’06’’) and the Ecuadorian (+3’53’’). Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos) drops to the fifth place (+4’29’’), held a minute ahead of Omrzel (+4’59’’).
