Stage winner Dunbar has won six races in his professional career to date. This now includes three stages at the Vuelta, having already claimed victory in two stages in 2024. The fact that he managed to win this stage, just under 211 kilometres long, could almost be described as a blessing in disguise. The 30-year-old Irishman was actually supposed to be riding the Giro d’Italia. However, that came to nothing after he was hit by a scooter in March whilst off-duty in his adopted home of Monaco – the starting point of this Vuelta. The result was a shattered ankle, which required surgery and a three-month break from racing.

With a new focus for the season, he has now achieved something truly special, particularly from his team’s perspective. Dunbar secured the first Grand Tour stage victory in the team’s history for Pinarello Q36.5. “After my crash, I didn’t think I’d be here competing for stage wins. I can hardly believe it,” he said after the race, which he won 14 seconds ahead of Buitrago.

Pinarello dominates the breakaway group

The Colombian had attacked two kilometres from the finish from the remaining four-man breakaway group, in which Pinarello was represented by two riders. 500 metres from the finish, Dunbar caught up with the attacker and eventually left him behind. Gloag finished third, 23 seconds behind. Spanish champion Marcel Camprubí, a third Pinarello rider who had also been part of the day’s breakaway, managed to secure fifth place. “I had two team-mates with me and that always helps. It just made me feel better in the group,” said Dunbar, who had struggled to get into his stride at the start. “I even said over the team radio after 50 or 60 kilometres that today wasn’t my day and I wasn’t feeling well. Then I joined the group and my legs started to respond a bit after all.”

The general classification favourites then crossed the finish line a good five minutes behind. Mas, Roglic, Gall, Richard Carapaz (EF Education – EasyPost) and Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS) in the white jersey did not cross the finish line without attacking one another, but were unable to create any time gaps. Mas therefore retains a lead of 1 minute and 37 seconds over Roglic and 3 minutes and 1 second over Gall, meaning the battle for the podium will be decided on the penultimate day of the tour.

2026 Vuelta a España – Results of Stage 19

Here’s how the 19th stage of the 2026 Vuelta a España unfolded

It took a few kilometres for the day’s breakaway group to form. Among the first professionals to try their luck, but who ultimately failed to get away, was the German Tudor rider Hannes Wilksch. A group led by his compatriot Jasha Sütterlin (Team Jayco AlUla) was more successful, breaking away after just over 30 kilometres alongside Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) and Steven Kruijswijk (Team Visma | Lease a Bike).

On the still flat terrain, four more riders caught up over the next few kilometres, but the gap to the peloton remained small. By the time the first mountain classification came up after 91 kilometres, a new group had formed, initially consisting of 20 riders. Sütterlin was no longer in the group, but Dunbar, Leo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM), Leknessund and his team-mate Tobias Johannessen, Jarno Widar (Lotto Intermarché), Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin – Premier Tech) and four Groupmama professionals led by Valentin Madouas.

But this group, too, was soon caught. Only Dunbar refused to accept this and carried on fighting. On the very next climb, Carapaz and Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) launched an attack. A group formed around them, but the peloton was unable to let them get away because Carapaz was fourth in the general classification. Whilst Dunbar won the second mountain classification at the Puerto del Viento (2nd category) on his own, another chasing group formed behind him around Buitrago and Gloag, comprising a total of 15 riders, who soon caught up with Dunbar.

Buitrago’s late attack is countered by Dunbar

Behind them, the peloton gave up the chase, allowing the breakaway riders to build a lead of more than seven minutes by the time they reached the final climb. Right at the start of the almost 19-kilometre-long final stretch to the Alto de Peñas Blancas, the Frenchman Rudy Molard (Groupama – FDJ United) launched an attack, but was caught again after just over four kilometres.

Shortly afterwards, Gloag, Dunbar and Buitrago managed to break away from the rest of their companions. Urko Berrade (Equipo Kern Pharma) also managed to make the break. The four then proved to be the strongest in the group, keeping their pursuers at bay for a long time. It was only two kilometres from the finish that Buitrago launched the first attack from the quartet. Dunbar managed to catch up with the attacker 400 metres from the finish and quickly left him behind to ride solo to victory.

Further back, amongst the general classification contenders, it was business as usual. A series of drop-outs meant that, in the end, only Mas, Roglic, Gall, Carapaz and Onley remained together. Mas, however, had everything under control; he didn’t let his rivals catch him off guard and countered the few attacks without taking the initiative himself, so that the group crossed the finish line a good five minutes behind the winner without losing any time to one another.