From the Costa Tropical the peloton climbs the Puerto de los Guájares early, before a flat run-in to Loja.
Officially billed as a medium-mountain stage, this one starts hard with the Puerto de los Guájares climb, still 160 kilometres from the finish. Survive that and there's a largely flat run to a finale in Loja.
The final twenty kilometres are close to flat, which could open the door to either a small group sprint or a bunch finish. A genuine swing-state stage for the points classification.
After the shock of Pogačar's crash, the Vuelta heads into the Andalusian mountains for its first rest day on Sunday. Week 2 holds off on a summit finish until stage 12, but then delivers a one-two punch: the Alto de Velefique followed by the climb to the Calar Alto observatory, and three days later the feared Sierra de la Pandera. Everything you need to know about stages 10 through 15.
Vera to Calar Alto, this Vuelta's first real summit finish since the rest day, produced two separate stories in one afternoon. Up front, 20-year-old Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) attacked clear of the day's breakaway with just over 12 kilometres to go and soloed to his first-ever Grand Tour stage win, ahead of Urko Berrade and Santiago Buitrago — making him the youngest Slovenian rider ever to win a Grand Tour stage, ahead of Tadej Pogačar. Further back, Enric Mas launched his own attack at the same distance from the line, dropping Primož Roglič, Felix Gall and Richard Carapaz to gain 27 seconds and extend his overall lead to 1:45 over Roglič and 2:06 over Gall. The full story of stage 12, the GC after twelve stages, and a look ahead to stage 13 in Loja.
A gigantic 43-rider breakaway swallowed nearly a third of the peloton on the rolling road to Loja, and it was Visma-Lease a Bike's numbers advantage that decided it: after Matthew Brennan spent the finale snuffing out every counter-attack, Wout van Aert struck clear with 3.8 kilometres to go and held off Valentin Paret-Peintre in a two-up sprint for his first stage win of this Vuelta — with Brennan still having enough left to win the chase group sprint for third. Behind, the GC group crossed the line together, so nothing changes at the top: Enric Mas keeps the red jersey, 1:45 clear of Primož Roglič and 2:06 clear of Felix Gall. The full story of stage 13, the standings after thirteen stages, and a look ahead to the fearsome Sierra de la Pandera in stage 14.