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An audacious move from Wout van Aert saw him triumph in Córdoba on stage 15 of the Vuelta a España, as he seized an opportunity to jump out of the peloton at the intermediate sprint with around 30km to go and drew a five-rider group clear to the finish, where he won the sprint convincingly.
After trying to go solo over the top of the final uncategorised climb, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider had to mark attacks in the closing kilometres, but he ultimately proved too strong for his breakaway companions, as he was able to control the race from the front and follow any moves with relative ease before outsprinting them in the final few hundred metres.
Van Aert is no stranger to winning in Córdoba, having already won in the Andalusian city when the race last visited in 2024. He now has two stage wins to his name at this year’s race and a seemingly unassailable lead over his teammate Matthew Brennan in the points classification, with the green jersey firmly on his shoulders with six stages remaining.
“We tried to surprise the bunch. We took control the whole day and we were still there with a few strong guys to help us, but I knew people would not expect us to choose to go on the attack. I smelled the moment there at the intermediate sprint and with Matthew behind, there was no risk at all to give it a try, because we always had a good option in the bunch. That was how I like to race,” Van Aert said in his post-race interview.
With five stage wins between him and Brennan, as well as the green jersey looking a near-certainty, Visma-Lease a Bike have been one of the most successful teams at this year’s Vuelta a España.
“It’s amazing! Most of the days we thought we were able to win, we won actually, so that’s pretty impressive,” Van Aert said on the race as a whole. “On a stage like today, how we took control as a team is something to be really proud of and I have to be very grateful for the work of the boys again.”
Meanwhile, there were no changes in the general classification, as overall leader Enric Mas (Movistar) and the rest of the contenders finished safely in the peloton ahead of the second rest day. The Spaniard now goes into the final week of the race with an advantage of more than two minutes over Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), with an individual time trial and two summit finishes still to come.
How It Happened
With temperatures soaring to highs of 40°C in Andalusia, the race organisers were forced to shorten stage 15 of the Vuelta a España from 190km to 110km in length, as the race headed from Palma del Río to Córdoba. Even with the shortened distance, the heat put a clear strain on the peloton throughout the day, with riders even looking to rival teams for bottles at points during the stage.
Unfazed by the heat were the eleven riders who formed the day’s early breakaway, with stage 1 runner-up Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) and stage 7 winner Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) among those at the head of the race. They were kept on a tight leash throughout the stage and never allowed much more than a minute of an advantage by the peloton.
Their number then increased to twelve, as Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) bridged across from the peloton with around 70km to go, but at this point the gap was little more than thirty seconds, as Visma-Lease a Bike and Cofidis set the pace behind.
The lead group then began to splinter on the Puerto Artafi (5.9km at 5.5%), with Leknessund going solo off the front with 40km to go, whilst counterattacks began from the peloton behind. The Norwegian rider took maximum points over the top of the climb, before then being joined by Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) on the descent.
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) then attacked with Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana) through the intermediate sprint and bridged across to the leading duo, before Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) also made contact to form a five-rider group at the head of the race.
A chasing group then also formed behind, as more riders attempted to bridge across, but they struggled to make any inroads into the gap, as the size of the group caused a lack of cooperation. However, there was not total cohesion in the leading group either, as Debruyne and Van Aert both launched moves on a series of short, uncategorised rises, but neither were able to get away before beginning the descent towards Córdoba.
As they entered the outskirts of the city with around 10km to go, their gap to the chasing group stood at just under a minute, with a further minute of an advantage over the peloton. It was therefore clear that the stage winner would, in all likelihood, come from the leading group, which then led to a flurry of attacks in the closing kilometres.
The first move came from Nys with just over 3km to go, with Debruyne following him instantly, whilst Van Aert was forced to close the gap with the other two riders in his wheel. Leknessund then made the next acceleration, but he too was quickly marked by Van Aert.
The Norwegian then tried again going into the final few hundred metres, but it only served to position himself at the front of the group as they went into the sprint.
Nys was the first to launch for the line, but went too early with around 300m to go, giving Van Aert the perfect leadout, as he came around his young compatriot to win the stage, whilst Romele also came through to take second place.
Behind, Alessandro Covi (Jayco AlUla) won the sprint for the minor placings from the chasing group to finish sixth on the stage, just under a minute behind Van Aert, whilst all of the general classification contenders finished safely in the peloton nearly three minutes down.
Vuelta a España 2026 stage 15: Palma del Río > Córdoba (110km)
1. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 2:35:00
2. Alessandro Romele (Ita) XDS Astana
3. Thibau Nys (Bel) Lidl-Trek
4. Ramses Debruyne (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech
5. Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, all at same time
6. Alessandro Covi (Ita) Jayco AlUla, +58s
7. Bastien Tronchon (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8. Henok Mulubrhan (Eri) XDS-Astana
9. Stefan Küng (Swi) Tudor Pro Cycling
10. Ivo Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, all at same time
General Classification after stage 15
1. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, in 52:05:56
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +2:06
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +2:10
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +4:24
5. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany Ineos, +5:44
6. Jakob Omrzel (Slo) Bahrain-Victorious, +6:14
7. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +6:49
8. Cristián Rodríguez (Spa) XDS-Astana, +7:01
9. Clément Berthet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, +7:19
10. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +8:55
