Another challenging mountaintop finish saw Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling) emerge victorious atop the Sierra de la Pandera on stage 14 of the Vuelta a España. The German rider faced stiff competition from the current polka-dot jersey Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) on the final climb, but had enough in the legs to match and overcome the Colombian in the final kilometre to win the stage from the breakaway.
It marked a first Grand Tour stage win for his Tudor Pro Cycling team, who have put a lot of faith in Brenner since signing him in 2024, with a recent contract extension set to see him stay with the team until the end of the 2030 season. The 24-year-old now seems to be delivering on the promise he once showed as a junior rider and has clearly been in a strong vein of form as of late, as this follows on from his overall victory at the Tour de Pologne in August.
Elsewhere, overall leader Enric Mas (Movistar) further strengthened his grip on the red jersey, as he gained yet more time on Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who slipped to third place behind Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) in the general classification. The Slovenian rider constantly found himself on the back foot on the final climb and was simply unable to match the other two in the final kilometres.
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Mas is now set to go into the final week of the race with an advantage of more than two minutes over Gall and Roglič, with his main challenge set to be the 32km-long individual time trial on stage 18, as he has historically struggled in the race against the clock. The two summit finishes that follow will also decide who will ride into Granada in the red jersey on the final stage, but Mas has shown no signs of cracking on any of the climbs at this year’s race.
Meanwhile, Oscar Onley (Ineos Grenadiers) had his podium ambitions slip further away, as he lost yet more time on those ahead of him in the general classification and is now more than three and a half minutes off the podium in fifth place. After his victory on stage 12, Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) now sits just thirty seconds behind the British rider on the general classification and poses a serious threat to Onley’s white jersey as the best young rider heading into the final week, as there was nothing to separate the pair on the Sierra de la Pandera.
Results
Vuelta a España stage 14: Jaén > Sierra de la Pandera (154.5km)
1. Marco Brenner (Ger) Tudor Pro Cycling, in 4:34:00
2. Santiago Buitrago (Col) Bahrain Victorious, +1s
3. Cristián Rodríguez (Spa) XDS Astana, +11s
4. Iván Ramiro Sosa (Col) Equipo Kern Pharma, +14s
5. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +22s
6. Clément Berthet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, +27s
7. Jørgen Nordhagen (Nor) Visma-Lease a Bike, +39s
8. Filippo Zana (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step, +43s
9. Walter Calzoni (Ita) Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +1:06
10. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:09
General classification after stage 14
1. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, in 45:08:51
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
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