<\/p>\n
Sprint finishes and intermediate sprints will drive the points competition, breakaways can quickly transform the mountains standings and the white jersey will develop alongside many of the same stages that decide the general classification. Each update will show the latest standings after the day’s racing and highlight the important changes across all four competitions.<\/p>\n
General Classification Standings after Stage 18Enric Mas<\/a> emerged from the decisive Stage 18 time trial with the red jersey and a substantial advantage still intact. The Movistar Team leader conceded only 33 seconds to Primoz Roglic across the 32.1km course, leaving the Slovenian 1:37 behind with three stages remaining.<\/p>\n Roglic nevertheless moved from third to second overall after taking almost a minute and a half out of Felix Gall. The Decathlon CMA CGM Team leader dropped to third at 3:01, while Richard Carapaz retained fourth despite slipping to 5:17 behind Mas.<\/p>\n Behind the podium, Oscar Onley remains fifth at 6:03, while Clement Berthet climbed two places to seventh. Cristian Rodriguez and Mattias Skjelmose are level at 7:51, with Harold Tejada moving into the top 10 as Sepp Kuss dropped to 11th.<\/p>\n Rnk\u25bc\u25b2RiderTeamTime1-\u00a0Mas\u00a0EnricMovistar Team60:45:582\u25b21\u00a0Rogli\u010d\u00a0Primo\u017eRed Bull – BORA – hansgrohe1:373\u25bc1\u00a0Gall\u00a0FelixDecathlon CMA CGM Team3:014-\u00a0Carapaz\u00a0RichardEF Education – EasyPost5:175-\u00a0Onley\u00a0OscarNetcompany INEOS6:036-\u00a0Omrzel\u00a0JakobBahrain – Victorious7:007\u25b22\u00a0Berthet\u00a0Cl\u00e9mentGroupama – FDJ United7:478\u25bc1\u00a0Rodr\u00edguez\u00a0Cristi\u00e1nLidl – Trek7:519\u25bc1\u00a0Skjelmose\u00a0MattiasXDS Astana Team,,10\u25b21\u00a0Tejada\u00a0HaroldXDS Astana Team9:5711\u25bc1\u00a0Kuss\u00a0SeppTeam Visma | Lease a Bike10:3412-\u00a0Bisiaux\u00a0L\u00e9oDecathlon CMA CGM Team18:3613-\u00a0Martin\u00a0GuillaumeGroupama – FDJ United21:2314-\u00a0Riccitello\u00a0MatthewDecathlon CMA CGM Team26:5715-\u00a0Aparicio\u00a0MarioEF Education – EasyPost33:1116-\u00a0Rodriguez\u00a0Juan FelipeBurgos Burpellet BH39:5417-\u00a0Pickering\u00a0FinlayTeam Jayco AlUla40:5718-\u00a0Zana\u00a0FilippoSoudal Quick-Step43:1719-\u00a0Hirt\u00a0JanNSN Cycling Team46:5020-\u00a0Buitrago\u00a0SantiagoBahrain – Victorious47:3721-\u00a0Garc\u00eda Pierna\u00a0Ra\u00falMovistar Team49:3422-\u00a0Svestad-B\u00e5rdseng\u00a0EmbretNetcompany INEOS52:2523-\u00a0Widar\u00a0JarnoLotto Intermarch\u00e957:1924-\u00a0Bouwman\u00a0KoenTeam Jayco AlUla58:0725-\u00a0Leemreize\u00a0GijsTeam Picnic PostNL1:03:13Points Classification Standings after Stage 18Wout van Aert<\/a> added 11 points through his fifth-place finish in the time trial and now leads the points classification with 306. Team Visma | Lease a Bike teammate Matthew Brennan remains second on 239, with Alessandro Romele third on 171.Rnk\u25bc\u25b2RiderTeamPnt1-\u00a0van Aert\u00a0WoutTeam Visma | Lease a Bike3062-\u00a0Brennan\u00a0MatthewTeam Visma | Lease a Bike2393-\u00a0Romele\u00a0AlessandroXDS Astana Team1714-\u00a0Coquard\u00a0BryanCofidis1415-\u00a0Meeus\u00a0JordiRed Bull – BORA – hansgrohe1166-\u00a0Hayter\u00a0EthanUno-X Mobility907\u25b23\u00a0Cort\u00a0MagnusSoudal Quick-Step848\u25bc1\u00a0Vermaerke\u00a0KevinUAE Team Emirates – XRG839\u25bc1\u00a0Leknessund\u00a0AndreasUno-X Mobility7910\u25bc1\u00a0Debruyne\u00a0RamsesAlpecin – Premier Tech78King of the Mountains Classification Standings after Stage 18<\/p>\n There was no change in the mountains classification on the flat time-trial course. Santiago Buitrago continues leads with 69 points, 29 ahead of Van Aert, while Mas remains third on 24.<\/p>\n Rnk\u25bc\u25b2RiderTeamPnt1-\u00a0Buitrago\u00a0SantiagoBahrain – Victorious692-\u00a0van Aert\u00a0WoutTeam Visma | Lease a Bike403-\u00a0Mas\u00a0EnricMovistar Team244-\u00a0Leknessund\u00a0AndreasUno-X Mobility235-\u00a0Fortunato\u00a0LorenzoXDS Astana Team216-\u00a0Omrzel\u00a0JakobBahrain – Victorious127-\u00a0Vermaerke\u00a0KevinUAE Team Emirates – XRG118-\u00a0Brenner\u00a0MarcoDecathlon CMA CGM Team119-\u00a0Gall\u00a0FelixTudor Pro Cycling Team1010-\u00a0Onley\u00a0OscarNetcompany INEOS10Youth Classification Standings after Stage 18<\/p>\n Onley strengthened his hold on the white jersey by gaining another 27 seconds on Jakob Omrzel. The Netcompany INEOS rider now leads his closest rival by 57 seconds, with Leo Bisiaux third at 12:33.<\/p>\n Rnk\u25bc\u25b2RiderTeamTime1-\u00a0Onley\u00a0OscarNetcompany INEOS60:52:012-\u00a0Omrzel\u00a0JakobBahrain – Victorious0:573-\u00a0Bisiaux\u00a0L\u00e9oDecathlon CMA CGM Team12:334-\u00a0Riccitello\u00a0MatthewDecathlon CMA CGM Team20:545-\u00a0Rodriguez\u00a0Juan FelipeEF Education – EasyPost27:086-\u00a0Garc\u00eda Pierna\u00a0Ra\u00falTeam Jayco AlUla34:547-\u00a0Pickering\u00a0FinlayMovistar Team43:318-\u00a0Svestad-B\u00e5rdseng\u00a0EmbretNetcompany INEOS46:229-\u00a0Widar\u00a0JarnoLotto Intermarch\u00e951:1610-\u00a0Paret-Peintre\u00a0ValentinSoudal Quick-Step1:19:00Teams Classification Standings after Stage 18<\/p>\n Decathlon CMA CGM Team continues to set the standard in the team classification after Stage 18, holding a commanding advantage as the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a 2026 enters its final three stages. With a combined time of 182:40:29, the French squad remains firmly in control and has built a sizeable buffer over its nearest rivals.<\/p>\n XDS Astana Team sits second, 56:34 behind the leaders, while EF Education – EasyPost moved up one position into third place. The American team now trails Decathlon CMA CGM by 1:13:46 and holds a narrow advantage over Groupama – FDJ United, who also gained a position and are fourth at 1:15:24.<\/p>\n Bahrain – Victorious was the biggest loser among the leading teams, dropping two places from third to fifth. They are now 1:16:07 behind the leaders, although the margins around the battle for the final podium position remain extremely tight.<\/p>\n Netcompany INEOS holds sixth at 1:20:31, ahead of Team Visma | Lease a Bike and Movistar Team. Soudal Quick-Step occupies ninth place, while Lidl – Trek rounds out the top 10 at 2:27:05.<\/p>\n With three stages remaining, Decathlon CMA CGM has a substantial advantage, but the fight for the remaining podium positions is still wide open.<\/p>\n Rnk\u25bc\u25b2TeamClassTime1-\u00a0Decathlon CMA CGM TeamWT182:40:292-\u00a0XDS Astana TeamWT56:343\u25b21\u00a0EF Education – EasyPostWT1:13:464\u25b21\u00a0Groupama – FDJ UnitedWT1:15:245\u25bc2\u00a0Bahrain – VictoriousWT1:16:076-\u00a0Netcompany INEOSWT1:20:317-\u00a0Team Visma | Lease a BikeWT1:29:288-\u00a0Movistar TeamWT1:39:019-\u00a0Soudal Quick-StepWT2:02:2110-\u00a0Lidl – TrekWT2:27:05You can check the full standings of each of the classifications at the 2026 Vuelta a Espana<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sprint finishes and intermediate sprints will drive the points competition, breakaways can quickly transform the mountains standings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":887643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,190206,85,39562,58412],"class_list":["post-887642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-enric-mas","tag-sports","tag-vuelta-a-espana","tag-wout-van-aert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}