According to his Decathlon CMA CGM team, Felix Gall is only just approaching his favoured terrain at the Vuelta a España: the most vicious, long and steep climbs, and with a solid buffer to defend his spot on the podium, it could open the door to more adventurous attacking from the Austrian.
Gall showed his bags of climbing talent to finish second at the Giro d’Italia this year behind only Jonas Vingegaard, but as it stands at the Vuelta, he’s third, and with 2:06 to make up on race leader Enric Mas (Movistar) in the race for the red jersey.
Having utilised his strong climbing core several times to put his rivals to the sword, Gall has been a step below Mas on the toughest days so far, but having put solid distance between his third place and Richard Carapaz and Oscar Onley, who sit 1:47 and 2:23 behind him in fourth and fifth overall, could now be the best time to throw caution to the wind?
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“For sure,” said Decathlon sports director Luke Roberts to Cyclingnews when asked that very question ahead of stage 12. “It’s too much to say the podium is secure, but we have a nice buffer to fourth place, so we can change our tactics a little bit, and look to target the guys ahead of us without having to worry too much about the guys behind us anymore. Put it that way.”
Unfortunately for Roberts, Decathlon suffered a major hit as stage 13 got underway on Thursday, when Gregor Mühlberger – Gall’s “best friend and good motivator,” according to Roberts – crashed out of the race, leaving him without his top climbing domestique who had been sat in ninth overall.
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This may throw a spanner into the works when it comes to changing up how they approach the racing, having previously just been operating with a very Team Sky-train to lead out Gall on the previous mountain days.
Even still, starting with today’s brutal finish to Sierra de la Pandera, Gall, Mas, and second-place Primož Roglič are heading into the key climbing battles which will decide the red jersey, and 12km at 7% is most likely to see some more haymakers thrown.
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“The longer and steeper the climb is, the better it’s going to suit Felix. And until now, we’ve had some steeper sections on climbs, but nothing that’s been steep all the way to the line, basically,” said Roberts.
“Some days like that are still to come. [Today] will be more suited to Felix, so, as I said, until now we’ve put the pressure on, done what we could on those days, and now we’ll be ready to really target the ones that suit Felix.”
Handling the mental pressure of Grand Tour GC racing
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Roberts praised Gall for how he’s been handling the mental pressure of taking on a second Grand Tour in 2026, especially this time racing with overall victory as a realistic outcome, but also admitted how, at times, his eagerness to perform can come back to bite him.
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“I think he’s handling it quite well. I did quite a bit of work with him before the Giro, just on how he approaches the racing, his attitude towards it. In the past, he’s often had a reputation for being overambitious or trying too much,” said Roberts.
“We tried to have him look at things a bit differently and have a calmer approach to the race and focus a bit more on what he can do, rather than what he perhaps shouldn’t do. At the Giro, he managed it really well and gained a lot of confidence out of that.
“Sometimes he falls into that trap of pushing too much, wanting too much, but slowly he starts to be a bit more relaxed, and he sees his goal of the podium becoming more and more realistic here. He sees what he’s capable of, and we’re confident going into the second half of the race.”
Unfortunately for Gall’s chances of chasing red, they may simply have to concede that Mas is stronger, whatever the tactics employed, as was the case to Alto de Aitana last weekend and Calar Alto on Thursday, but even still, podiums at two Grand Tours in the same year would mean a stunning year for Gall, who has really found his best form in 2026.
“Once Pogačar unfortunately left the race, the race changed completely. But our goal is to aim for a podium place here – that doesn’t change even with Pogačar leaving the race,” said Roberts.
“Obviously, winning becomes more possible than just aiming for that podium place, and we want to keep the pressure on. Last Sunday [on stage 9], the timing was off, and the boys were maybe a bit overambitious.
“Then [on Calar Alto] we just tried to shake the tree a bit and see if one of the three closest contenders to us for the podium might drop, and it was Oscar Onley that did. But in the end, when Mas attacked, he’s riding incredibly strong at the moment; there’s not a lot we can do when he goes.
“We’ve still got quite a way to go in the race, and obviously still some climbs to come that are going to suit Felix a lot more. So it’s up to us to keep putting the pressure on and see if we can secure that podium place and yeah, even try to step up a place or two.”
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