Vuelta 2026: Van Aert Misses the Breakaway as Buitrago Leads
Wout van Aert, who has been highly aggressive throughout this Vuelta, did not join the battle for the breakaway on stage 14. The Belgian, who won stage 13 on Friday, may already have had Sunday’s and Tuesday’s stages in mind, as they are expected to suit him better. He allowed a group of 45 riders to go clear, more than a quarter of the peloton. There was no Belgian in the move, but there were the 11th and 12th riders in the general classification, Clément Berthet and Cristian Rodriguez, who had also attacked the day before.
Also present in the breakaway, Santiago Buitrago took advantage of the absence of his nearest rival in the mountains classification to extend his lead. The Colombian was first over the Puerto de los Villares, a second-category climb measuring 10.5km at 5.5%, and now leads van Aert by 23 points in that competition.
A few kilometres after that first climb of the day, Kevin Vermaerke, one of the four UAE riders still in contention, tried his luck to enliven what had been a fairly quiet day. No member of the breakaway had been dropped on the Puerto de los Villares.
The American went solo and quickly opened up a gap, pushing the 43-rider group nearly two minutes behind him. He then collected the five points at the summit of the Puerto de Locubín. Behind him, Cristian Rodriguez and Clément Berthet contested the bonuses, something that did not please Santiago Buitrago, who had hoped to pick up a few extra points.
Vermaerke was finally caught 13km from the finish, at the foot of the Sierra de la Pandera, the day’s final climb, 8.4km at 7.8%. As compensation, the UAE rider was named combativity prize winner of the day.
In the closing kilometres of the relentless climb, Santiago Buitrago, who had been very active all day, launched the most decisive attack. Mario Apricio of Burgos had tried before him, but overcooked his effort.
While several riders attempted to follow the Colombian, only Marco Brenner was able to stick with him. In a finale that suited his strengths more closely, the German secured his first Grand Tour stage victory. It was also Tudor’s first win.