{"id":763922,"date":"2026-09-08T12:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T12:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/763922\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T12:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T12:10:15","slug":"vuelta-a-espana-stage-16-live-can-anyone-challenge-visma-lease-a-bikes-sprinting-dominance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/763922\/","title":{"rendered":"Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a stage 16 LIVE: Can anyone challenge Visma-Lease a bike’s sprinting dominance?"},"content":{"rendered":"

2026-09-08T11:59:35.527Z
\n150km to go<\/p>\n

Well, we definitely have a breakaway, our five leaders are now 2:20 up the road and it seems their advantage has settled there.
If you missed it, this is who they are.<\/p>\n

Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ United), Simon Dalby (UNO-X Mobility), Jasha S\u00fctterlin (Jayco-AlUla) and Roland Thalmann (Tudor ProCycling).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T11:54:47.423Z<\/p>\n

It was a hugely impressive performance from Wout van Aert to take the win on Sunday.
But he said; “I’m not coming back, I can’t maintain this statistic.”<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Wout\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T11:48:49.724Z<\/p>\n

Sunday’s stage 15 presented a very different route to today’s, but the breakaway was never allowed any real advantage, Visma-Lease a BIke holding close. Will they do that again?
The gap is still only 1:40.<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T11:44:56.969Z<\/p>\n

The front of the race is over an early unclassified peak and onto the rolling terrain which characterises the course until just after the half-way mark.<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T11:43:22.627Z
\nWe have a breakaway – 160km to go<\/p>\n

Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ United), Simon Dalby (UNO-X Mobility), Jasha S\u00fctterlin (Jayco-AlUla) and Roland Thalmann (Tudor ProCycling) lead by 1:20<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T11:40:16.242Z<\/p>\n

Whoever’s doing the chasing, the breakaway’s lead is increasing. It’s now 1:10 seconds. Is it all done so quickly?<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T11:39:15.010Z<\/p>\n

The gap is creeping up, but they are being chased, with Visma-Lease a Bike and – strangely – UNO-X at the front. It could be that the Scandinavian team are interfering with the chase.<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T11:36:37.910Z
\n165km to go<\/p>\n

We’ve got some reasonably steep ramps here, well into double figures, ad we have five clear.
Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ United), Simon Dalby (UNO-X Mobility), Jasha S\u00fctterlin (Jayco-AlUla) and Roland Thalmann (Tudor ProCycling) have only 15 seconds.<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T11:32:55.881Z<\/p>\n

Now we have another group with a tiny advantage, this time it’s five riders.<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T11:30:21.473Z<\/p>\n

And that group of eight?
They’re caught.<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T11:29:52.954Z<\/p>\n

Bryan Coquard is one of only two sprinters not in the Vimsa-Lease a Bike team to have won one of the bunch sprints in this Vuelta, so naturally the Cofidis rider was in demand this morning.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Bryan\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T11:25:27.068Z<\/p>\n

And there they go! Eight riders are trying to get away.<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T11:22:56.181Z<\/p>\n

Almost all the climbing comes in the opening half of the stage and after the downhill start the rolling terrain starts.
With 5km done, that’s where we are now, so expect the attacks to begin.<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T11:18:13.424Z
\nThe official start is given <\/p>\n

Let’s go. 181.1km of racing ahead of us, and it’s a down hill start.<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T11:07:03.135Z<\/p>\n

And we’re rolling! We have 4.6km of neutral before we get going. The day after the rest day will there be a huge fight for the break, or will teams accept that a bunch finish is inevitable?<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T11:01:50.921Z<\/p>\n

Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d is one of the favourites for the Thursday’s time trial, but can he gain enough time to overhaul Mas?<\/p>\n

“Anything could happen,” says the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe rider. <\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Primoz\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T10:56:15.115Z<\/p>\n

Whatever happens today this is a big week of racing.
Enric Mas (Movistar) still leads, but can he hold on?<\/p>\n

Movistar’s Director of Racing, Matt White certainly thinks so, saying, “More than two minutes is comfortable.”<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Enric\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T10:48:53.169Z<\/p>\n

It’s not just the heat Brennan with have to worry about today, it’s windy down near the finish, with a cross tailwind from 23km to go, then cross head from 12km.
This could be an exciting, nervy finish.<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T10:45:49.240Z<\/p>\n

Visma-Lease a bike have dominated the sprints at this year’s Vuelta and Matthew Brennan is surely a favourite for today’s stage.
The British sprinter is one who’s been critical of racing in such hot weather.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Matthew\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T10:39:44.713Z<\/p>\n

After days of ridiculously high temperatures, the peloton have the tiniest bit of respite today, with maximum temperatures forecast only at 34\u00ba.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Enric\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T10:34:10.402Z<\/p>\n

We\u2019re still in Andalucia for today\u2019s stage, right down in the far south-west, very close to the Portuguese border.<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T10:27:05.473Z<\/p>\n

There are no classified climbs today, though there are not far off 2,000m of vertical ascent as the race heads south down to the coast.<\/p>\n

2026-09-08T10:17:47.303Z<\/p>\n

It looks like one for the sprinters today, with the vast majority of the 181.1km between Cortegana and La R\u00e1bida. Palos de la Frontera all downhill.
The race rolls out at 1:05pm local time.<\/p>\n

Good morning and welcome to stage 16 of the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a>, we\u2019ll be bringing you live coverage throughout the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2026-09-08T11:59:35.527Z 150km to go Well, we definitely have a breakaway, our five leaders are now 2:20 up the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-763922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}