Wout van Aert claimed his first stage win of this Vuelta a Espana with a two-up sprint victory on stage 13, a 192.8km route from Alumencar to Loja.
The Belgian was part of a 43-rider breakaway that formed early. His Visma-Lease a Bike team had several options, with Matthew Brennan also in the move and Bruno Armirail helping Van Aert rejoin the front after he dropped into the second group.
Van Aert attacked with 3.5km remaining, and only Valentin Paret-Peintre could follow. The Frenchman launched his sprint early on the uphill finish, but Van Aert was stronger on the line.
Brennan won the sprint for third, 24 seconds back, and praised his teammate: “I’m quite speechless for Wout. It’s been a long time coming. To do that work for him today is actually sweeter than a win.”
Race leader Enric Mas finished safely in the bunch, and the top eight in the general classification were unchanged. In the absence of Tadej Pogacar, his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad have struggled, losing Pavel Sivakov to abandonment on stage 13.
Mattias Skjelmose gained more than two minutes on the overall standings after joining the breakaway, moving to 5’32” behind Mas.