Vuelta a España stage 13 LIVE: Brennan and Van Aert both at the front of the race in tactical finale

Skjelmose hasn’t made the split into this front group, and is among the chasers who are now 1:11. In turn, they’re 3:10 ahead of the peloton, which means as things stand he’ll move up to fifth on the virtual GC – which isn’t quite as big a leap as he poised to make earlier.

2026-09-04T14:59:08.752Z

Things have calmed down a little in the lead group of nine, with no attacks in the last few kilometres. The other riders present will be very aware of the threat posed by the two Visma riders, both of whom none of them will want to have to sprint against. Surely they will have to attack if they want to win the stage.

2026-09-04T14:54:06.650Z

There are only seven riders left with Van Aert and Brennan – Vermaerke, Fisher-Black, Bisiaux, Paret-Peintre, Widar, Albanese and Dalby.

Vermaerke appears to be one of the strongest, and just tried his own attack, but Van Aert managed to mark it.

Van Aert’s latest attack saw him go clear with Vermaerke and Paret-Peintre. Neither of them offered a turn, and they’ve been brought back, but more attacks are surely on the way in this breathless finale.

2026-09-04T14:44:56.881Z

Van Aert and Brennan are now attacking in tandem, and the others are struggling to follow. The group has been reduced to about ten riders, though Skjelmose is still present, and is now up to fourth on the virtual GC.

Now in the front group, Van Aert is on a mission. He’s tried an attack, and though the rest of the group have just about managed to bridge up to him, he looks fresh. Visma now have the luxury of having both cards of Van Aert and Brennan to play – but they’re lacking a domestique, as Armirail was used up in the earlier chase.

Vermaerke attacks out of the lead group at the summit, and leads a group of four over the summit. But behind them both chase groups are mere seconds behind, and have rejoined on the descent.

So we now have a group of almost 20 together, including both Brennan and Van Aert, plus Buitrago, Skjelmose, Widar, Rodríguez and Berthet. Visma are looking good, but the stage win is still wide open, with 35km still to ride.

2026-09-04T14:30:46.727Z

It’s all kicking off now, as Van Aert takes matters into his own hands. He’s taken off the front, and is picking off riders who are being dropped from the first group, with a handful of riders just about managing to cling on to his wheel.

Up ahead, Leknessund has been caught by several riders, including Brennan.

Attack from Vermaerke! As Armirail brings the chase group to within 15 seconds of the leaders, the UAE riders responds. He’s caught, but is countered by Leknessund. Hostilities have ignited.

2026-09-04T14:21:55.991Z

This is an interesting development. The chase group have slashed the advantage to the leaders, to just 30 seconds – and it’s down to work done by Visma’s Armirail. The team have made the call that they don’t believe Brennan can win from the front group, and are instead trying to bring back the chase group to get Van Aert back into contention.

It’s a big call, especially as Brennan looks comfortable so far on the climb and hasn’t come under any attacks. A lot of pressure would be on Van Aert to deliver the win for them.

2026-09-04T14:18:25.778Z

We’ve entered a crucial part of the stage now, as the riders start climbing the final hill of the day, the category two Puerto de Granada. Its average of 5.6% for 7.4km is hard enough to cause selections in the front group, especially as everyone there is fully aware of the need to drop Brennan.

Brennan takes the 20 points on offer at the intermediate sprint, partly to defend his teammate’s Van Aert’s lead partly to solidify his own place in second in the classification. Here’s what it looks like now:

1 Van Aert 194

2 Brennan 137

3 Romele 96

4 Coquard 94

5 Hayter 77

Movistar continue to do most of the work in the peloton, with a little help from EF, but they’re been losing ground on the front groups. They’re now 4:45 behind the leaders and 3:45 ahead of the Skjelmose group, which is enough to see the Dane leap to fifth on the virtual GC.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Another factor to consider is how hot it is out there. Some riders reported suffering in the conditions yesterday, and temperatures are again nearing 40 degrees.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Still the leaders work well together, as the chasers remain 1:30 adrift. The latter are on a difficult situation, as by pacing they’re also giving Brennan’s teammate Van Aert a free ride. But from Visma’s perspective, Brennan is in a vulnerable position in the lead group as everyone will be aware of the need to attack him.

2026-09-04T13:48:43.249Z

The race is in a holding pattern, as the leading ten continue to focus on maintaining their lead over the chasers, which is at 1:30, and the peloton, which is 4:30. At some point, they will have to switch to start thinking about how to beat each other the win to win the stage, especially considering the fastest finisher of the race, Matthew Brennan, is in it. The others will likely start to attack him come the next, and final, climb, coming up in about 20km.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-09-04T13:38:25.110Z

Today’s finale isn’t hard enough for Primož Roglič to attack, but he will need to go on the offensive at some point if he’s to take the red jersey from Enric Mas, now that the deficit has grown. Overall victory remains the clear goal, and Roglič can’t just rely on the third week time trial to make up the time.

It’s not over yet, but if the advantage of the lead group (pictured) can grow much beyond its current time of 1:30, they will be difficult to catch. And the peloton are currently chasing to control Skjelmose, who is in the chasing group – if that’s neutralised you imagine they will be happy to let the break contest the stage.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-09-04T13:20:16.237Z

This is looking good for the ten leaders. The chase group (now lacking De La Cruz, who is back in the peloton after becoming the latest rider to crash) is now 1:30 adrift, and not working well enough together to bridge the gap.

2026-09-04T13:10:23.133Z

Enric Mas in the peloton in red, who, despite the size of the breakaway group, is having a fairly straightforward day, especially as his Movistar team is getting help from EF leading the bunch in response to Skjelmose’s presence in it. The Spaniard is enjoying the kind of form he has rarely, if ever, had throughout his career, and wants to make the most of it to win a first ever Grand Tour title.

2026-09-04T13:03:51.258Z

The pace remains high and the lead group want to put the chasers out of sight. But Axel Laurance presses on a bit too hard going round a corner, and hits the deck. He’s up and riding, but is now caught in no-man’s land behind the eight leaders, and the large group of chasers.

Both Van Aert and Buitrago missed the split, and therefore weren’t around to compete for the KOM points. Instead, they went to Albanese, Martin and Kron.

The riders are now descending the climb, the leading nine one having grown their lead to the chasers to one minute, and to the peloton to four minutes.

Another abandon for UAE, who’s Pavel Sivakov joins Pogačar, Torres and Vine in leaving the race. The team hasn’t managed to bounce back in quite the way as was anticipated following their leader’s withdrawal, although they have Vermaerke up the road in the lead group.

Sivakov is the fourth abandon of the day, following Mühlberger, Busatto and Sentjens.

2026-09-04T12:47:53.019Z

Bisiaux and Craps have bridged up to the leading group, brining its number up to 11. There’s now a gap between them and the chase group of 30 seconds – things could be at breaking point, and if the chasers don’t work together, their hopes of winning the stage might disappear already.

2026-09-04T12:44:01.044Z

Interestingly, it’s EF Education-EasyPost who are leading the peloton, rather than Mas’ Movistar. They could be riding out of fear of the threat posed to Carapaz’s fourth-place; but could they also be plotting something to launch him up the road? The Ecuadorian is famous for his aggression, so you can never count it out.

2026-09-04T12:38:20.612Z

The 6 leaders are now 9, with Rodríguez, Berthet and Kron joining them. They’re also building more of an advantage now they’ve started the climb, and are over 40 seconds ahead of the rest of the break.

2026-09-04T12:30:13.234Z

The breakaway is in bits. Brennan, Leknessund and Vermaerke have been joined by Martin, Laurance and Albanese, while more riders are chasing up to them in small groups. The situation might become more stable once they start climbing in a few kilometres, up the 5.8km, 4.9% Alto del Legionario.

The various splits in the breakaway group came back together again, and now three new riders have attacked out of it to go clear – Brennan, Leknessund and Vermaerke. This break is simply too big to function as a whole, and these attacks will consequently keep coming.

2026-09-04T12:18:20.700Z

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Widar and Martin were also part of the group of riders who bridged up to this lead group, which means every rider between 11th – 16th on GC is in it.

They’re looking to make a leap into the top a la Jakob Omrzel, who is now up to 6th overall after so brilliantly winning yesterday’s stage. The Slovenian caught the attention of the cycling world with that ride, but remains little-known – learn more about the latest prodigious Slovenian talent here.

Bad news for Decathlon CMA CGM – Gregor Mühlberger has left the race following his crash earlier. Not only was he himself ninth on GC, he was performing sterling work for leader Felix Gall. Gall might not yet have managed to successfully utilise his compatriot and teammate to take the red jersey, but it will become a lot harder now without him.

The action is still very much on, and multiple other riders have bridged from the peloton to join this lead group – among them Skjelmose, who is still up in seventh at 7:42, and a threat on GC. With more than 40 riders up the road, Movistar have to keep this under control, and for now the peloton remains within 40 seconds of them.

As was the case yesterday, once again Van Aert and Buitrago sprinted for the KOM points, taking first and second respectively, followed by Fortunato, De la Cruz and Rodriguez. Here’s what the updated rankings look like:

1 Buitrago 58

2 Van Aert 40

3 Mas 24

4 Leknessund 19

5 Fortunato 18

2026-09-04T11:37:35.309Z

The group’s not being allowed to go clear just yet, the peloton keeping them at 20 seconds.

There are lots of strong climbers in it, and a few who could stand to break into the top ten – in fact, all of the riders currently ranked between 11th – 14th are in it (Berthet, Cristián Rodríguez, Bisiaux and Riccitello).

2026-09-04T11:31:39.301Z

A big group of about 30 riders have gone clear, before the summit. As well as Fortunato, many other eye-catching names are in it – King of the Mountains Buitrago, stage winner Leknessund, and the deadly Visma duo of Van Aert and Brennan.

Gall’s key climbing domestique Gregor Mühlberger has gone down in a crash on the climb. That’s potentially worrying news for Gall, as the Austrian has been crucial to him in the climbs of this Vuelta, but he’s back on his bike and riding so has hopefully not been affected.

2026-09-04T11:19:49.856Z

The break is caught, as the pace in the peloton is increased. Astana’s Fortunato has replaced them at the front of the road, but there is surely much more attacking to come as they approach the summit of the climb.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

No pursuing group has formed yet as they take on the lower slopes of the climb. The gap to the leaders has come down, to 30 seconds.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-09-04T11:03:11.990Z

The four leaders are about to start the climb with a lead on the peloton of 55 seconds, while a lone pursuer (Urko Berrade, who was second yesterday) is ten second ahead of the peloton.

This is the hardest climb of the day, the only one rated category one, and the longest, lasting 14.1km at 5.1%. Brace yourselves – this is where attacks from the peloton will ignite!

2026-09-04T10:55:49.302Z

The lead of the four riders has grown some more to 40 seconds. No pursuers are between them and the peloton for now, but that’s sure to change once the climb starts, especially while the gap between them remains so bridgeable.

2026-09-04T10:48:27.515Z

The first 10 or 15km of this stage are flat, and so pose a chance for non-climbers to get into the break before the road ramps upwards. Four such riders are on the attack, and lead by 25 seconds – Domen Novak, Enzo Paleni, Asbjørn Hellemose and Fabio Van den Bossche

And they’re off!

2026-09-04T10:36:12.864Z

The peloton is down another rider, as NSN’s Alexey Lutsenko failed to make the start today. He had looked in his best form for a long time, too, finishing fourth yesterday atop Calar Alto, and getting into many breakaways throughout the race. Unfortunately, he fell ill last night.

2026-09-04T10:32:00.801Z

There are three official climbs to be taken on, and they’re front-loaded, making an inviting springboard for any strong climbers who want to get into the break. And potentially any GC threats wanting to leap up the rankings? It will likely be very hard to control at the start of the day, and race leader Enric Mas’ Movistar team will need to be on their toes.

2026-09-04T10:27:30.076Z

You join us as the peloton is in Almuñécar, a first venture into the province of the Granada where this race will return to for its end just over a week from now. They’re making their way through the (long) neutralised section, ahead of what we’re anticipating to be a huge battle to get up the road on what looks like a nailed-on day for the breakaway.

Hello and welcome to stage 13 of the Vuelta a España!