Van Aert turns another breakaway into a win and claims his second La Vuelta victory

Wout van Aert has once again demonstrated that he is going through one of his best moments in this Vuelta a España 2026. Just two days after his debut in Loja, the Belgian from Visma also triumphed in Córdoba after a finish where he was able to read every movement and ended up overtaking Thibau Nys in the sprint. Alessandro Romele slipped between them to finish second, while Ramses Debruyne completed a notable Belgian performance with fourth place.

Wout van Aert wins stage 15 of La Vuelta and claims his second victory in three days

Stage 15 had changed radically even before it began. The extreme temperatures forecasted in Córdoba led the organization to activate the heat protocol and reduce the original route to just 110.2 kilometers between Palma del Río and Córdoba.

What could have been a transition day thus turned into a short, very fast, and difficult-to-control race. The average speed during the first 25 kilometers reached 50 km/h, a good indication of how aggressive the stage was from the starting gun.

The first established breakaway consisted of eleven riders, including Andreas Leknessund, Ethan Hayter, Ivo Oliveira, and Xabier Mikel Azparren, but Visma | Lease a Bike never allowed their advantage to grow too much.

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Van Aert's team was clear that they wanted to contest the victory and kept the breakaway riders continuously within reach.

Visma toughened the race at Puerto Artafi

The race changed definitively as they approached Puerto Artafi, the main difficulty of the modified route, with almost 6 kilometers at around 5.5% gradient.

Visma significantly increased the pace and began to reel in the breakaway riders one by one. Bryan Coquard was one of the victims of the toughening and lost contact with the main group, making it clear that the victory would not be decided among the pure sprinters.

Andreas Leknessund managed to stay ahead, while Ramses Debruyne launched a move from the peloton and managed to catch up with the Norwegian. It was then that Van Aert appeared.

After the intermediate sprint at Santa María de Trassierra, the Belgian accelerated and practically linked up with the two leading riders at once. Shortly after, Thibau Nys and Alessandro Romele also arrived, forming a quintet that would end up contesting the stage.

Behind, the peloton ended up easing off. The main contenders for the general classification decided not to expend more energy before the second rest day, and the gap increased enough to ensure that the victory was ahead.

Van Aert controls all attacks before the sprint

The last kilometers presented a very favorable situation on paper for Van Aert, but also extremely complicated from a tactical point of view. He was clearly the fastest rider in the group, and all his rivals knew it.

Debruyne tried to anticipate before the descent, but he couldn't open a gap. Leknessund also launched several attacks during the final kilometers, and Van Aert had to respond personally to practically all the moves.

The Belgian even increased the pace on the descent and showed that he still had enough strength despite the enormous effort made during the stage. With ten kilometers to Córdoba, it was already clear that Van Aert, Nys, Romele, Debruyne, and Leknessund would be the five riders fighting for victory.

The vigilance grew to the point of practically paralyzing the group in the last kilometers. Leknessund tried again at 2 kilometers from the finish, but Van Aert immediately closed the gap.

Nys surprises from afar, but Van Aert catches him

The situation seemed to inevitably lead to a sprint, and Thibau Nys decided to try to surprise by launching from very far away.

The Lidl-Trek rider made a huge effort and managed to maintain a small lead over his breakaway companions for several seconds. His acceleration even seemed sufficient to put Van Aert in trouble. But the points classification leader still had one more gear left.

The Belgian adds his second stage win and marks Belgium's 100th victory in @lavuelta. Enric Mas overcomes a trap day as leader.#LaVuelta26 #LaCasadelCiclismo pic.twitter.com/29wA4aB50z

— Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) September 6, 2026

Van Aert was closing the distance before clearly surpassing Nys in the final meters and crossing the finish line as the winner. Alessandro Romele also managed to overtake Nys to take second place, while the young Belgian finished third. Ramses Debruyne was fourth, two seconds behind, and Leknessund fifth with the same time. This is Wout van Aert's second stage victory in this Vuelta, just 48 hours after winning in Loja. Furthermore, he further strengthens his position at the top of the points classification.

Top 10 stage 15 of La Vuelta a España 2026

1. Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) — 2:35:00
2. Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana) — same time
3. Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) — same time
4. Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) — +0:02
5. Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) — +0:02
6. Alessandro Covi (Jayco AlUla) — +0:58
7. Bastien Tronchon (Groupama-FDJ United) — +0:58
8. Henok Mulubrhan (XDS Astana) — +0:58
9. Stefan Küng (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) — +0:58
10. Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) — +0:58

Top 10 of the general classification of La Vuelta 2026 after stage 15

1. Enric Mas (Movistar Team) — 52:05:56
2. Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) — +2:06
3. Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) — +2:10
4. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) — +4:24
5. Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS) — +5:44
6. Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) — +6:14
7. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) — +6:49
8. Cristián Rodríguez (XDS Astana Team) — +7:01
9. Clément Berthet (Groupama-FDJ United) — +7:19
10. Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike) — +8:55