In a In the highly technical finale, the roles had been reversed again for Visma compared to the previous day. Wout van Aert, who ultimately finished fifth himself, was the first to enter the 180-degree bend 400 metres from the finish line with Brennan on his wheel, and then accelerated again to bring his sprinter up to speed, before the latter went one better and was able to celebrate his next victory. The day before The 21-year-old had been acting as a domestique for van Aert, who ultimately missed out on the stage victory by quite a margin.

“We took the initiative again today and the lads did a brilliant job. We always held our position and were exactly where we wanted to be, even on the final ten challenging kilometres and especially in the last bend,” said Brennan after his victory, citing strong teamwork as the key to his latest success. “We’ve got riders here who’ve won Grand Tours and the major classics, and they’re all supporting me. That’s really special.”

As far as the general classification is concerned, nothing changed in Lorca or on the way there. Enric Mas (Movistar Team) defended the red jersey ahead of Primož Roglič (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe) and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM). Van Aert continues to lead the points classification by a comfortable margin, now once again ahead of Brennan. However, it seems the Belgian also has his sights set on the mountains classification, as he secured the most points today – and not just as an afterthought. He is 15 points behind Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain – Victorious) in this classification. Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS) remains at the top of the young rider classification.

2026 Vuelta a España – Results of Stage 11

Here’s how the 11th stage of the 2026 Vuelta a España unfolded

Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step), Alessandro Covi (Team Jayco AlUla) and Domen Novak (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) capitalised on the first breaks of the day to launch an attack that immediately looked promising. Sinuhé Fernández (Burgos Burpellet BH), who had already made several breakaway attempts, joined the trio to form a quartet that managed to build up a lead of up to one and a half minutes as the day progressed.

This was down to the high pace set during the first 90 minutes of the race. The breakaway riders had no answer to this; after 60 kilometres, the group was caught again because an attempt was made from the rear to split the peloton on the windward side. And it worked. For a good ten kilometres, around 30 riders had lost contact. When the pace eased off slightly afterwards, they were able to rejoin the main group.

Hayter also tried his luck with another attack. This time, he found an ally in Larry Warbasse (Tudor Pro Cycling Team). However, the gap had now stabilised at around half a minute. The breakaway came to an end after the intermediate sprint on the approach to the mountain classification. Van Aert secured the points for the battle for the mountains’ jersey ahead of Buitrago.

Over the remaining 30 kilometres, Visma shared the work at the front of the peloton with Uno-X Mobility, whilst Cofidis had provided support in the early stages of the stage. The two teams managed to keep the peloton well organised, meaning there were no further attacks right up to the finish line. In the technical finale, featuring numerous roundabouts over the final five kilometres, everything went smoothly and there were no mass crashes. In a fair sprint, Brennan edged out Coquard and Cort.