Van Aert finishes fourth after late flurry of attacks torpedoes Visma-Lease a Bike’s day controlling the bunch.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Updated September 1, 2026 09:36AM
Bastien Tronchon scored a wildly unforecasted sprint victory Tuesday at the Vuelta a España.
The young Frenchman on Groupama-FDJ narrowly outkicked Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) and Thibau Nys (Lidl Trek) after Visma-Lease a Bike lost grip on the race in a chaotic final kilometer of a long, hilly 10th stage.
The Killer Bees had the race on lockdown until a final Hail Mary attack into the final kilometer by Yevgeniy Federov (XDS Astana) and Mikel Azparen (Pinarello-Q36.5) threw a wrench into its perfectly laid plans.
The late two-up attack left the sprint teams scrambling to keep control, and the peloton scrambled into a hot mess as it panicked to bridge the gap.
Tronchon wasn’t waiting for a leadout. The 24-year-old turned on the burners at around 150 meters to go, pulled the peloton past Federov and Azparen just 30 meters out and still had the legs to beat the pack to the line.
After a day of Visma control, Van Aert finished fourth, just a few meters from the podium.
Enric Mas (Movistar) finished safe in the bunch with all his GC rivals, meaning the GC remains unaltered.
The great Spanish hope rides into stage 11 with a 1:18 gap over Primož Roglič (Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe). Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) is a further 21 seconds back on Roglič.
Tronchon could barely believe he won at the finish. The 24-year-old’s victory Tuesday was the biggest of his career, and one nobody would have predicted – maybe not even the rider himself.
“It’s crazy, I cannot believe this,” Tronchon said at the finish. “The last few days were really hard for me.
My preparation this year was not really good. I didn’t feel good last week; it was strange, not like the other years,” Tronchon said. “I just said, ‘trusted the process, and we’ll see.’”
Vuelta a España stage 10 results
The Vuelta a España rebooted for week 2 with a long, relentlessly hilly stage deep into Albacete.
The rolling terrain and shallow grades across the course were perfect for the small crop of fast finishers that dared show up to what’s statistically the hardest grand tour of the year.
Van Aert, Brian Coquard, and Mads Pedersen all pack a sprinting punch after a day in the hills. And with some 2,600 meters of climbing, it wasn’t out of reach of Matthew Brennan and Jordi Meeus either.
A strong break of seven formed early in the stage, but Visma-Lease a Bike and Cofidis were on a mission.
The two teams gave the break a reasonable gap before they trimmed it to around 1 minute ahead of a flurry of attacks over the final categorized climb of the stage at 40km to go.
Attacking chaos on final climb
Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick Step) were first to move as the stage briefly descended into chaos on the 10km long Puerto de Secovos.
After starting the stage as a favorite and hopeful for his chances, Pedersen found himself struggling at the back as Dunbar and Paret-Peintre opened up the bunch.
It soon became apparent that Visma-Lease a Bike was putting its chips on Van Aert after Brennan won two stages already. The young Brit helped neutralise many of the threats.
Kevin Vermaerke was next to throw a crucial haymaker. With Tadej Poačar out of the race, his teammates at UAE Emirates-XRG were off the leash.
GC stars Sepp Kuss, Richard Carapaz, and maillot rojo Mas were quick to respond to the American’s moves in what might be a sign of a wild race to come.
However, all the attacks ultimately neutralized each other.
The massed peloton roared into the final long downhill, caught the two lone breakaway survivors and braced for the 5km uphill drag to the line in Elche de la Sierra.
Walter Calzoni (Pinarello Q36.5) threw one final haymaker off the front of the bunch at 3.5km to go before Brennan pulled it back together for his Belgian teammate.