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.
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“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 are up there with 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.
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
