Red jersey Enric Mas extended his lead in the Vuelta a Espana to two minutes and six seconds as Marco Brenner won from the breakaway in stage 14.The Swiss rider’s victory was the first Grand Tour win of the 24-year-old’s career — as well as for his Tudor Pro Cycling Team.Tudor, founded by one-day legend Fabian Cancellara in 2022, are appearing in their sixth Grand Tour. Their leader, French puncheur Julian Alaphilippe, announced his retirement from the sport last month.Brenner was a member of a 44-strong breakaway in the Sierra Sur de Jaén mountains, with the stage 14 traversing 154km from Jaén to La Pandera, a 12km climb with sections topping out at 17 per cent in its upper reaches.American climber Kevin Vermaerke went clear with 25km remaining, gaining a lead of almost 90 seconds solo, but was reeled in before reaching the final climb.
A group including Brenner, polka-dot jersey wearer Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Gerg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Guillaume Martin (FDJ), and ProTeam rider Mario Aparicio (Burgos Burpellet BH) broke away on the steepest ramps — with Buitrago attacking at the flamme rouge.Brenner countered him over the top, and held on to a 20m lead over the Colombian in the final desperate pedal strokes, delivering his Swiss team their most famous day.Brenner secured his first Grand Tour stage win (Jorge Guerrero / AFP via Getty Images)Behind, the leading GC quartet of Mas (Movistar), Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) were initially glued together.However, when satellite rider Raul Garcia Pierna fell back to help Mas, Carapaz and then second-placed Roglic were dropped by the acceleration.The 36-year-old Slovenian shipped 25 seconds to the red jersey, falling to third behind Gall, and now has over two minutes to make up in next Thursday’s key 32km time trial in Cadiz.Elsewhere, Canadian rider Hugo Houle abandoned the stage after 20km, failing to finish a Grand Tour for the first time in his 11-start career.Saturday began with UAE Team Emirates announcing a contract extension for five-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar, who crashed out of the Vuelta on stage eight — which also came with confirmation that the 27-year-old will not compete in this month’s road world championships in Montreal.
