La Vuelta 2026 Stage 13 – Wout van Aert finally gets his win after Visma-Lease a Bike tactical masterclass as team-mate Matthew Brennan takes third

Vuelta a España

Stage 13 | Semi mountain | Men | 04.09.2026

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STAGE 13 HIGHLIGHTS

That's all for today, but before we go, here are the highlights from Stage 13, featuring a Visma-Lease a Bike tactical masterclass.

We'll be back tomorrow for Stage 14, as the race takes riders to Sierra de la Pandera.

Highlights: Van Aert ends wait for victory on Stage 13 in Visma masterclass

Video credit: TNT Sports

17:25

VAN AERT GETS HIS WIN AFTER VISMA PLAY THEIR CARDS RIGHT IN STAGE 13

Visma-Lease a Bike played the power-in-numbers game in an absorbing Stage 13 of La Vuelta as Matthew Brennan helped guide team-mate Wout van Aert to a memorable win in Andalucia.

The Belgian proved himself the strongest of a whopping 43-man breakaway to secure the 15th Grand Tour stage win of his career after a rather one-sided two-up sprint against Frenchman Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) in Loja on a day temperatures almost broke the 40-degrees barrier.

With victor-turned-provider Brennan riding off the front of the break in a leading 10-man faction for a large part of the sweltering stage, Van Aert was able to keep his powder dry until the fast and frenetic run into the finish.

The green jersey then took turns with his British team-mate to attack their fellow leaders before going clear with climber Paret-Peintre inside the final 3.5km.

Both riders may be previous winners in a Mont Ventoux stage of the Tour de France, but side by side, in a sprint, they were chalk and cheese - even one that played out on a moderately punchy incline.

And after Paret-Peintre gamely launched from behind Van Aert in the closing metres, his opponent was able to surge clear and finally open up his account in this Vuelta - his first win since crashing out of the 2024 edition.

'He's like a young Wout!' - Brennan draws Van Aert comparisons

Video credit: TNT Sports

Three times a stage winner in his maiden Grand Tour, Brennan led home a group of chasers to take third place and cap a fantastic day for Visma, who also had the experienced Frenchman Bruno Armirail marshalling the breakaway.

Over rolling roads in southern Spain, the largest breakaway in any Grand Tour this season had established a maximum lead of over five minutes on the peloton, with GC dangerman Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) - seventh place entering Friday’s stage - at one point knocking on the door of the virtual podium.

Van Aert got the better of Colombia’s Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) on the first of three categorised climbs shortly after the 43 riders had extricated themselves from the bunch - and before Brennan infiltrated a splinter group of 10 escapees that went up the road ahead of the second climb.

A series of crashes took their toll on both the breakaway and peloton, with Frenchman Axel Laurance (Netcompany Ineos) notably losing his place in the leading group after skidding on a corner.

Crashes to Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Gregor Muhlberger (Decathlon-CMA CGM ) proved costlier, with the Frenchman and Austrian both forced to abandon - the latter a huge blow to compatriot and team-mate Felix Gall’s GC hopes.

'Oh no!' - Laurance suffers nasty crash on Stage 13

Video credit: TNT Sports

Decathlon, nevertheless, looked for an instant rebound from Frenchman Leo Bisiaux, who helped the second group of escapees reel in the leaders on the final climb of the Puerto de Granada, before battling into the decisive nine-man move that went clear on the descent.

With both Van Aert and Brennan in this leading group, Visma held two aces. American Kevin Vermaeke (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Norway’s Simon Dalby (Uno-X Mobility) and Australia’s Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) were all very active, but Van Aert and Brennan took it in turns to snuff out the threats while keeping an eye on the remaining challengers in Jarno Widar (Lotto-Intermarche), Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost) and the French duo of Bisiaux and Paret-Peintre.

When Van Aert made his move, it was the whippet-thin climber Paret-Peintre who had his measure. But it was only ever going to be a sprint for second for the Soudal Quick-Step rider, who duly did his duty and rode with honour all the way to the line.

So, Van Aert got his Vuelta duck off his back, adding yet more green jersey points in the process. He now leads his team-mate Brennan by 65 points in that competition, while trailing Buitrago by 18pts in the polka dot King of the Mountains competition.

Skjelmose finished in a chase group 50 seconds down to take over two minutes on his GC rivals after the peloton fought back to limit its losses after another tough day in the saddle. The Dane stays in seventh place but is now just over one minute off the top five ahead of Saturday’s summit finish at La Pandera.

After coming through another day unscathed, Spain's Enric Mas (Movistar) will take a 1’45” lead over the four-time champion Primoz Roglic (Red Bull) into the weekend, with Gall in third at 2’06”.

16:42

WOUT VAN AERT: ‘THE FINAL ATTACK WORKED’

Paying tribute to his team-mates Matthew Brennan and Bruno Armirail, today’s stage winner said he had identified the point at which he put in his decisive attack – and said that Visma always intended to play a numbers game.

The plan was to go in the break. It was a very difficult stage to control and we knew that with Matthew, Bruno and myself, we could always play it – and it worked out perfectly. Me and Bruno spent a long part of the day in the wheels because we had Matty in the front group. We both has a chance and were also able to sacrifice each other. We kept on attacking and the final attack worked. When I saw the profile, I saw that there was a kicker coming into the village and so I had this in mind. It was close enough to the finish to be worth it. With Valentin, I had a nice companion and he gave me a few turns and it was nice to battle to the line together.

16:35

HERE'S HOW VAN AERT FINALLY GOT HIS WIN

A fifteenth Grand Tour stage win for the Belgian, who extends his lead in the green jersey competition...

16:34

GC TOP 10 AFTER STAGE 13

Another day in red chalked off for Enric Mas… Can the Spaniard start to believe? He’ll wait until the outcome of next week’s time trial before getting carried away.

Meanwhile, Gregor Muhlberger’s withdrawal after his crash means Clement Berthet rises into the top 10. That man Skjelmose stays seventh but gains back the time he lost in yesterday’s stage to Calar Alto and is now just 33 seconds off sixth place and within touching distance of the top five.

1. Enric Mas (Movistar) 45:08:51
2. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull) +1:45
3. Felix Gall (Decathlon) +2:06
4. Richard Carapaz (EF Education) +3:53
5. Oscar Onley (Netcompany) +4:29
6. Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain) +4:59
7. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +5:32
8. Sepp Kuss (Visma) +7:58
9. Harold Tejada (Astana) +8:33
10. Clement Berthet (Groupama) +11:06

16:30

ALL THAT EFFORT FOR NEXT-TO NOTHING FOR SKJELMOSE

The Dane came in a group 50 seconds down on Van Aert after his role in the breakaway. But with the peloton coming in at +3:00, Mattias Skjelmose did not make up any positions today despite a 2:10 swing for the Lidl-Trek rider. A nice haul, nevertheless.

16:26

STAGE 13 RESULT – TOP 10

A near-perfect day for Visma-Lease a Bike, who put three men into the breakaway and then got the best out of Brennan and Van Aert all the way to the finish.

1 Wout van Aert (Visma) 4:34:00
2. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal) ”
3. Matthew Brennan (Visma) +24
4. Jarno Widar (Lotto) ”
5. Vincenzo Albanese (EF) ”
6. Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull) ”
7. Kevin Vermaeke (UAE) ”
8. Leo Bisiaux (Decathlon) +28
9. Simon Dalby (Uno-X) +32
10. Filippo Zana (Soudal) +45

MATTHEW BRENNAN SAYS TODAY WAS ‘SWEETER THAN A WIN’

A lovely and humble interview after the stage from Matthew Brennan who, having won three stages himself, helped a team-mate to a victory today…

Proper racing that, wasn’t it? We wanted to try and get as many guys as possible up front. I got in the break and I don’t think I was very popular [in the lead group] – but I knew I had a superstar behind me. When we got to the top of the climb, we knew that we had to take ownership of the race. I’m quite speechless for Wout. It’s been a long time coming. To do that work for him is actually sweeter than a win. Chapeau to him and well done to the team. He’s a super guy and works so hard – for him and for me and the team. It’s a huge win for Visma-Lease a Bike today.