Slovenian Jakob Omrzel becomes the young stage winner of the Vuelta

CALAR ALTO (Spain) – At 2,153 meters above sea level, Calar Alto hosted the highest finish of the Vuelta 26 and proved the perfect setting for Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) to establish himself as a rising star of the Grand Tours and secure a historic victory. At 20 years, 5 months, and 13 days old, the new Slovenian prodigy set a new record as the youngest stage winner in a Grand Tour this century, breaking the mark set by Tadej Pogacar at the Vuelta 19 (20 years, 11 months, and 10 days for his first victory on stage 9). After joining the breakaway, Omrzel rode the final 12 kilometers solo and moved into sixth place in the general classification. With almost three minutes to go, Enric Mas (Movistar) managed to break away from his rivals and gain half a minute on Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who now follows him at 1'45", and on Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), who follows him with a gap of 2'06". Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos) fell at the start of the stage and crossed the finish line more than 5 minutes behind the winner, but retained the white jersey with half a minute's advantage over Omrzel.