Tronchon wins Vuelta stage 10 in photo-finish sprint

Bastien Tronchon won stage 10 of the Vuelta a España on 1 September 2026, prevailing in a photo-finish bunch sprint after the 184.7km stage from Alcaraz to Elche de la Sierra. He held off Magnus Cort Nielsen and Thibau Nys, with Wout van Aert relegated to fourth place.

Riding for Groupama-FDJ United, Tronchon crossed the line first after a late attack by Astana's Yevgeni Fedorov and Xabier Azparren of Q36.5 was reeled in just before the finish. The break by Fedorov and Azparren came with one kilometre remaining but could not stay away, setting up the contested sprint for the stage win. Race coverage described the finish as a photo finish between the leading riders.

"I launched my sprint and I just finished it on the line, but I wasn't sure if there was some guys in front or not, so I did not put my hands in the air," Tronchon said. "That's crazy, I can't believe it. The last two days were really hard for me and today I was good, and I said to [team-mate] Guillaume [Martin] go full gas until you die and I take the win, so it's crazy."

Stage 10 official placings were: Bastien Tronchon (Fra/Groupama-FDJ United) 4hrs 7mins 41secs; Magnus Cort (Den/Uno-X Mobility) same time; Thibau Nys (Bel/Lidl-Trek) same time; Wout van Aert (Bel/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) same time; Alessandro Romele (Ita/XDS Astana) same time; Xabier Azparren (Esp/Pinarello-Q36.5) same time; Finn Fisher-Black (Nzl/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) same time; Orluis Aular (Ven/Movistar) same time; Jordan Labrosse (Fra/Decathlon CMA CGM) same time; Hugo Hofstetter (Fra/NSN Cycling Team) same time.

Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) retains the red jersey as leader of the general classification on 32hrs 41mins 44secs, with Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) +1mins 18secs and Felix Gall (Aut/Decathlon CMA CGM) +1min 39secs. Oscar Onley (GB/Netcompany Ineos) is fourth at +2mins 20secs, followed by Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education-EasyPost) +3mins 26secs, Mattias Skjelmose (Den/Lidl-Trek) +3mins 55secs, Sepp Kuss (US/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) +4mins 9secs, Harold Tejada (Col/XDS Astana) +4mins 39secs, Gregor Mühlberger (Aut/Decathlon CMA CGM) +7mins 33secs and Jakob Omrzel (Slo/Bahrain Victorious) +8mins 5secs.

Wednesday's stage 11 runs from Cartagena to Lorca over 153.8km and is described as largely flat, with a category three climb up Morron de Totana, so should suit the sprinters.