Mas boosts Spanish Vuelta lead as organizers shorten next stage due to heat

SIERRA DE LA PANDERA, Spain (AP) — Enric Mas added to his lead of the Spanish Vuelta on a mountainous 14th stage won by Marco Brenner amid continued hot weather in southern Spain on Saturday.

Mas tacked some 25 seconds onto his advantage over Primož Roglič after dropping the four-time former winner on the final climb and linking up with Raúl García from his Movistar team.

“It was a perfect strategy from the team,” Mas said. “He (García) saw that Primoz was dropping, so we went full to the finish.”

Félix Gall crossed with Mas and moved into second place ahead of Roglič in the general classification. Gall is 2 minutes, 6 seconds behind Mas, with Roglič falling to 2:10 behind the leader.

Brenner won the grueling 151.9-kilometer (94.4-mile) stage after he overcame his fellow breakaway riders and edged Santiago Buitrago at the finish. Brenner had time to zip up his Tudor team suit just as he crossed the line in 4 hours, 15 minutes, 9 seconds. It was the 24-year-old German rider’s first win at a Grand Tour.

“I think it’s the best day of my cycling life, but I cannot really believe it yet,” Brenner said. “There’s not many cyclists who achieve a stage win in a Grand Tour, and to add this to my palmares (triumphs) is really amazing.”

The stage was held in an area just north of Granada that was under a heat warning with highs forecast for 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) in Jaen, where the day’s racing started. Riders tackled a pair of category-two climbs as they rode through a landscape of sunbaked olive groves before a final ascent to the category-one Sierra de la Pandera.

Riders were regularly grabbing water bottles from team helpers and promptly pouring them over their heads or squirting them on teammates.

Sunday’s stage shortened because of heat

Race organizers announced they were shortening Sunday’s 15th stage with “the aim of protecting the health of the riders and ensuring the best possible conditions for the competition.”

The hilly stage ending in the city of Cordoba will be shortened from 189 to 110 kilometers (117 to 68 miles). The start will also be delayed until later in the afternoon.

The province of Cordoba is under a level 2 heat warning on Sunday with highs expected of 40C (104F).

The Tour de France also had a stage shortened because of a heatwave in France in July.

This year’s Vuelta is based in southern Spain and without any of its classic mountain finishes in the country’s greener north.

Mas is one week away from elusive title

Mas has led the race since Tour champion Tadej Pogačar withdrew following a crash the previous weekend that has ended his season. Now he has one week of racing left at the Vuelta, where he has finished runner-up on three occasions, in 2018, 2021 and 2022.

Mas is trying to become the first Spanish rider to win the home race since Alberto Contador in 2014.

The key to Mas finally coming out on top will likely rest on him having a big enough lead to withstand Roglič during a time trial on Stage 18.

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