The king is dead – long live the king! The Spaniards could hardly have imagined a better ‘stand-in winner’ than the 31-year-old. Whilst Mas had merely held the red jersey in his hands during the previous day’s victory ceremony, this time he slipped it on with pride. Mas was the strongest on the 22-kilometre-long final climb. Even though Onley crossed the finish line in the same time, the young Scot struggled considerably just to stay on his wheel. Despite Mas’s well-known weakness in the sprint, Onley didn’t even attempt to get past the Mallorcan in any way.

Three kilometres from the finish, he had moved to the front of the peloton with a counter-attack. Alongside Onley, Roglic also closed the gap for a short while, but the Slovenian was unable to stay with him right to the finish. Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) also had to drop back, after his team had pulled off a last-ditch effort at the foot of the climb to ensure that a stage win was still a possibility and wouldn’t go to the breakaway riders. Thanks to a strong finish, the Austrian managed to limit the damage after the 187-kilometre stage from Villajoyosa to the radar station on Mount Aitana, conceding just 18 seconds.

In the overall standings, Mas now leads by 1 minute and 18 seconds ahead of Roglic going into the first rest day, 1 minute 39 seconds ahead of Gall and 2 minutes 20 seconds ahead of Onley, who is now a lone contender in the battle for the white jersey, even though Jarno Widar (Lotto Intermarché) was once again among the frontrunners this time and finished seventh, 25 seconds behind.

“The red jersey gave me wings,” said Mas in his post-race interview on the rollers, “but the team also gave me tremendous support.” Although he has already finished runner-up overall in the Vuelta three times, this is only his second stage win – the first came back in 2018. It is only the seventh victory of his professional career and his first in four years. Movistar victories at the Vuelta have also been few and far between in recent years. The Spanish team last celebrated a win in 2021.

“I’m really proud and happy, because I’ve faced a lot of criticism in the past,” Mas went on to say. “That’s why this is the best response I could have given.”

Meanwhile, Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) defended his lead in the points classification. The new holder of the mountains jersey is Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain - Victorious), who picked up enough points from the breakaway group to knock Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) off the top spot.

2026 Vuelta a España – Results of Stage 9

Here’s how the 9th stage of the 2026 Vuelta a España unfolded

The battle for the leading group proved to be a tough one. After several unsuccessful attempts, a six-man group led by Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) and Alexey Lutsenko (NSN Cycling Team) managed to break away, building a lead of around 40 seconds after 25 kilometres. A chasing group featuring Lennard Kämna (Lidl – Trek) was unable to catch up.

However, attacks continued to come from the peloton. First, Buitrago was unsuccessful, before, on the initiative of Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), Stefan Küng (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) and Urko Berrade (Equipo Kern Pharma), a new group formed, which was joined by further riders and, after just over 50 kilometres, made contact with the leaders.

Although the leading group, now comprising 15 riders, was not entirely in sync, it initially extended its lead. After the Puerto de El Miserat (Category 1), which is over five kilometres long and has an average gradient of ten per cent, they had a lead of a good three minutes over the peloton, in which, rather unusually, Team Movistar was setting the pace. In between, there were still several stragglers, some of whom managed to catch up with the leaders.

Buitrago is in the running for the mountains classification

By the halfway point of the race at the Puerto de Tollos (3rd category), where Buitrago – who had managed to break away on his second attempt – secured the points just as he had done earlier at El Miserat, the gap had grown to a good four and a half minutes. At the Puerto de Tudons (2nd category), Buitrago once again secured the points, whilst Movistar had made up another half a minute. But no sooner won than lost. By the intermediate sprint 53 kilometres from the finish, the gap had widened to five and a half minutes, making it seem clear that the stage victory would remain within the peloton. When the gap then stretched to six minutes, Decathlon joined in the chase.

Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana Team) had already broken away from the leading group by then. With 42 kilometres to go, Sivakov and the Spanish champion Marcel Camprubí (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) caught up with him on the Puerto de Benifallim (2nd category). With a lead of 1 minute 20 seconds, the trio then began the 22-kilometre final climb to the Alto de Aitana (1st category). There, Sivakov and Camprubí quickly left Romele behind.

​Sivakov is running out of steam

Buitrago, Lutsenko, Filippo Zana (Soudal Quick-Step) and Milan Vader (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) now formed the leading chasing quartet. With ten kilometres to go, and the tough section of the Aitana still to come, Camprubí was also forced to throw in the towel. And the peloton was now only two minutes behind.

From there, Gall launched an attack seven kilometres from the finish. Mas, Roglic, Onley and Richard Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost) went with him, and Widar was also able to keep up with the increased pace. However, the group of favourites then temporarily came to a standstill, prompting Carapaz to launch the next attack – a move he would later come to regret.

After 4.5 kilometres, Sivakov had finally run out of steam, and the group of favourites simply flew past the Frenchman. However, as all the favourites were riding without support riders, the pace dropped off again afterwards, allowing some riders who had already been dropped to catch up once more. Mathias Skjelmose (Lidl – Trek), who came up from behind alongside Harold Tejada (XDS Astana Team) and took Widar with him. However, this breakaway was also short-lived.

Mas’s disguised attack

Mas closed the gap, thereby disguising his attack; for instead of easing off after catching up, the man in red pushed on and, with 3 kilometres to go, had built up a lead of a few metres, which initially only Onley was able to close quite quickly. Whilst Gall didn’t react at all and simply went through the motions, Roglic had closed the gap 1,000 metres later, though he couldn’t quite latch on properly. A small gap opened up, but it remained small right up to the finish.

Mas had to start all over again, whilst Onley was simply tagging along on his rear wheel. However, the same was true for the final metres. The Briton was unable to get out of the saddle to possibly challenge the eventual winner in a sprint finish. He stayed in front right up to the finish line and had one of his rare moments to raise his fist in triumph.