Spain's Enric Mas secured the Vuelta a Espana title on the final day in Granada, while Britain's Matthew Brennan finished fourth on stage 21 and narrowly missed extending his debut Grand Tour stage-win tally to six. The 21-year-old sprinter from north east England had dominated the race's bunch finishes throughout the three-week event, but fell short of adding a sixth victory when Norway's Tobias Halland Johannessen of Uno-X Mobility and Italy's Alessandro Romele of XDS-Astana Team contested the closing kilometres on the 112km final stage.
Tadej Pogacar, the overwhelming pre-race favourite and five-time Tour de France champion, had abandoned the race on stage eight after sustaining multiple injuries in a crash that required surgery. His departure transformed the competition for the overall red jersey into a genuine contest among the remaining contenders.
Brennan's five stage victories in his maiden Grand Tour represented a historic achievement. According to La Vuelta's official report, he became the first rider since Eddy Planckaert to win five stages on his La Vuelta debut, with the feat not accomplished since Fons De Wolf in 1979. His success came through repeated bunch-sprint victories rather than breakaway triumphs, and his consistent performances drew early comparisons with Sir Mark Cavendish, who retired at the end of 2024 having won a record 35 stages of the Tour de France.
Has the new Cavendish landed?
Brennan did not emerge from obscurity. He had established himself as a successful junior competitor and claimed victories in several of cycling's more prestigious races, including the one-day classic Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. His current team, Visma-Lease a Bike, ranks among cycling's elite outfits and also houses two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark and Belgian star Wout van Aert, the 2026 Paris-Roubaix champion—both considered among the sport's finest talents during what many regard as a golden generation of riders.
Standing 5ft 8in and weighing 68kg, Brennan deploys considerable power on flat and undulating terrain typical of one-day classics. He already demonstrates the tactical awareness and timing required to outmanoeuvre rivals in mass-sprint finishes. He represents a transitional generation of riders, positioned between the now-aging classics powerhouses Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands—both in their thirties—and possesses the potential to win cycling's grandest prizes, including the five monuments such as the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, as well as the green jersey competition at the Tour de France.
We came here as team to win stages, but we never dreamed of winning seven [including two for Van Aert]. We're making history, Brennan said after securing his fifth victory. His team's seven stage wins at this Vuelta represented a new team record for a single Grand Tour.
Excitement for British talent but safety an issue never far away
Brennan's achievements at the Vuelta underscore the presence of a record 49 British riders competing in the men's and women's World Tour in 2026—a consequence of the UK's cycling renaissance beginning in 2012, when Team Sky captured seven Tours de France in a decade, Cavendish accumulated more Tour stage victories than any other rider, and Lizzie Deignan won numerous major races.
The Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes will both depart from the UK in 2027, a double-headed Grand Départ expected to elevate the sport's popularity and participation across Britain. Despite recent years of dominance by Pogacar across road cycling's disciplines, British riders are beginning to make their mark in sprinting, classics, general classification racing and time trialling.
Josh Tarling, a European time-trial champion, contested the opening six stages of this race just over a week after the tragic death of his younger brother Finlay, aged 19. Tarling finished third in the Vuelta's opening stage time trial in Monaco before deciding to withdraw and return home. His team, Netcompany Ineos, later stated:
After the unimaginable loss of his brother Fin, Josh showed incredible courage in starting La Vuelta. We are immensely proud of him, and he now returns home to be with his family with the full love and support of everyone at Netcompany Ineos. Family comes first. Always.
Finlay Tarling, also a skilled time triallist, was killed in August after striking a van that had strayed onto the course of the Volta a Portugal. An investigation into the circumstances remains ongoing. The tragedy has prompted calls within the sport for enhanced safety protocols during road races, with critics arguing that smaller events struggle to afford the costs of organising adequate safety measures such as rolling roadblocks.
Brennan himself raised safety concerns after stage 15, suggesting that decision-makers at the UCI, cycling's world governing body, were
making decisions in their air-conditioned officesafter the peloton raced in 44-degree Celsius heat.
Mas seizes opportunity after Pogacar's dramatic exit
The race developed into a compelling battle for the overall red jersey following the high drama of Pogacar's stage-eight abandonment. The Slovenian, at his absolute peak having lost only once all year—to Van Aert at Paris-Roubaix—and having won a record-equalling fifth Tour de France, had positioned himself to become only the ninth rider to win all three Grand Tours. He had already demonstrated his likely dominance by winning stage four by more than two minutes, suggesting he would claim the overall victory by more than 10 minutes.
However, a stray rock on the road struck his wheel on stage eight, sending him onto the tarmac with facial injuries and a broken collarbone. The dazed Pogacar was transported by ambulance and forced to abandon—a reminder that even the sport's greatest talents remain vulnerable to road cycling's unpredictability. The crash removed him from competition for the remainder of the year and means he will relinquish his rainbow jersey in 2027, unable to defend his world championship title in Canada later this month.
Pogacar's departure meant fans would witness a far closer competition among the remaining contenders, including Britain's Oscar Onley, Ecuador's Richard Carapaz, Austria's Felix Gall, Mas and four-time Vuelta champion Primoz Roglic. On paper, the Slovenian Roglic of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe appeared the natural successor to the title. However, the 36-year-old is known for his laid-back, family-centred philosophy toward both life and sport, and gave the impression of a great talent whose hunger to win at all costs may be diminishing.
This presented 31-year-old Mas with what appeared to be his final realistic opportunity to win a Grand Tour. The Spanish rider, a long-time nearly-man for the high-budget but underperforming Movistar team, demonstrated a seemingly elevated level of performance than in recent years. After stage 11 in Lorca, Mas held the red jersey with a lead of 1 minute 18 seconds over Roglic. His stage-nine victory to the Costa Blanca appeared to catalyse his campaign, and acquiring the leader's red jersey of his home country following Pogacar's departure seemed to provide the momentum that would carry him to victory in Granada.
Stage 21 results and final general classification
Stage 21 (Granada, 112km):
1. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Norway/Uno-X Mobility) 2hrs 54mins 8secs
2. Alessandro Romele (Italy/XDS Astana Team) same time
3. Ramses Debruyne (Belgium/Alpecin-Premier Tech)
4. Matthew Brennan (GB/Visma-Lease a Bike)
5. Bastien Tronchon (France/Groupama-FDJ United)
6. Finn Fisher-Black (New Zealand/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
7. Pello Bilbao (Spain/Bahrain-Victorious)
8. Axel Laurance (France/Netcompany-Ineos)
9. Marco Brenner (Germany/Tudor Pro Cycling)
Final general classification:
1. Enric Mas (Spain/Movistar) 73hrs 52mins 55secs
2. Primoz Roglic (Slovenia/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +2mins 15secs
3. Felix Gall (Austria/Decathlon-CMA CGM) +2mins 44secs
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecuador/EF Education-EasyPost) +6mins 54secs
5. Sepp Kuss (USA/Visma-Lease a Bike) +8mins 45secs
6. Oscar Onley (GB/Netcompany Ineos) +9mins 28secs
7. Jakob Omrzel (Slovenia/Bahrain-Victorious) +10mins 38secs
8. Clement Berthet (France/Groupama-FDJ United) +11mins 41secs
9. Cristian Rodriguez (Spain/XDS-Astana) +11mins 59secs
10. Harold Tejada (Colombia/XDS-Astana) +12mins 51secs
Key facts
- Matthew Brennan won five stages on his Grand Tour debut, the first rider to achieve this at La Vuelta since Eddy Planckaert and the first overall since Fons De Wolf in 1979
- Enric Mas claimed his first Grand Tour victory, ending a long career as a nearly-man at Movistar
- Tadej Pogacar abandoned on stage eight after a crash requiring surgery, removing the five-time Tour de France champion from contention
- Visma-Lease a Bike recorded seven stage wins at the Vuelta, a new team record for a single Grand Tour
- British representation in the World Tour reached a record 49 riders across men's and women's competitions in 2026
