Enric Mas Wins Vuelta Stage 9 on Aitana and Extends Red Jersey Lead
Enric Mas won stage 9 of the Vuelta a España on the Alto de Aitana summit finish, outsprinting Britain's Oscar Onley to the line and extending his overall race lead to 1 minute 18 seconds over Primoz Roglic. BBC Sport
The 187-kilometre stage climbed steadily to the summit of Aitana, a mountain above the Costa Blanca, and Mas — a 31-year-old Spaniard riding for the Movistar team — attacked with three kilometres remaining. Onley, 23, chased hard but could not come past. Roglic crossed the line third. Felix Gall finished fourth on the stage, conceding 18 seconds, but held onto third place overall.
For Mas, the victory carried extra weight. Three times a runner-up at the Vuelta — the three-week Tour of Spain — he had never worn the red leader's jersey as a race leader rather than an inheritor. He took it over when Tadej Pogacar, who had been controlling the race, crashed on stage 8 and was forced to withdraw. Pogacar is in hospital and requires surgery. He later posted a photo of himself in a neck brace on social media, soundtracked by the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive". BBC Sport
The win was also Movistar's first on home soil in five years — a long wait for Spain's flagship team, whose fans line the roadside from Andalusia to the Pyrenees every August.
Mas now leads the general classification — the overall standings, where the rider with the lowest cumulative time wins — by 1:18 over Roglic, the Slovenian three-time Vuelta champion who rides for Red Bull–Bora. Gall sits third. Onley's strong ride moved him up to fourth overall, 41 seconds behind Gall.
The race now heads into its first rest day on Monday, giving the contenders a brief pause before stage 10 — a 184-kilometre route from Alcaraz to Elche de la Sierra featuring three category-three climbs. BBC Sport
With Pogacar gone and Mas in red, the question hanging over the rest day is whether Roglic can claw back more than a minute on a rider who has come close here three times before. The mountains of eastern Spain will provide the answer.
