2026 Vuelta a España Stage 11 Results & Recap
Stage 11 of the 2026 Vuelta a España is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Matthew Brennan (TVL) took the third stage win in his debut Grand Tour, capping off a superb lead-out by his Team Visma | Lease a Bike teammates in Lorca. After being led around a tight left-hand bend 400m from the finish by Wout van Aert (TVL), Brennan accelerated to the front and won by two bike lengths ahead of Bryan Coquard (COF), with Jordi Meeus (RBH) third and Magnus Cort (UXM) fourth.
With only one categorised climb on this relatively short stage and a flat, straight run-in to the finish, a sprint looked almost inevitable. But that didn't stop four riders clipping away from the bunch in the opening moments, Domen Novak (UEX), Ethan Hayter (SOQ) and Alessandro Covi (JAY) the first to move, regular breakaway member Sinuhe Fernandez (BBH) soon joining them.
The quartet were kept on a tight rein as they raced along the Mediterranean coast, their lead reaching a maximum of 1'35". Heading inland, the bunch began to speed up as the prospect of crosswinds loomed.
Soon after taking the left-turn that move the wind from head to cross/tail, the peloton split into two main parts. The first section soon caught the breakaway, while the second section had to chase for some kilometres before closing the gap to the front.
Soon after that regrouping, Hayter attacked again, this time with Lawrence Warbasse (TUD) for company. The pair never gained much more than 30 seconds on the bunch, but they did reach the intermediate sprint first, Hayter leading through. Behind, Van Aert won the contest for third ahead of Bryan Coquard (COF) and Alessandro Romele (XAT).
The breakaway duo were caught on the cat 3 Aledo climb that followed. In the final, steeper section of the climb, Pinarello - Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team set a rapid pace on the bunch, which thinned out considerably.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike were always prominent at the front in the closing kilometres, despite attempts to harry them. Bruno Armirail (TVL) did a huge pull to 3km to go, where Uno-X Mobility took over the pace-setting.
Going into the final kilometre, Christophe Laporte (TVL) led Brennan up to the front coming towards that final left-hander, where Van Aert took over shepherding duties. Once off the leash, Brennan never looked like being caught.
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