A day after Matthew Brennan's third stage victory, the Vuelta a España featured a stage for the climbers. The peloton set off from Vera for a tough 166-kilometer stage through Andalusia. Five categorized climbs awaited the riders along the way, including the final ascent to Calar Alto.  

During the first hour, many riders were eager to make the early breakaway. An active Van Aert was one of the main instigators of the day's breakaway. The points classification leader brought more than 20 riders with him. The large breakaway immediately built a substantial lead over the peloton.  

Van Aert was first over the top of each of the first three climbs of the day. As a result, he moved up to second place in the mountains classification. Van Aert also made significant gains in the points classification, taking the maximum number of points at the intermediate sprint. At the foot of the Alto de Velefique, the penultimate climb of the day, Van Aert eventually chose to ride his own pace.  

The pace also increased in the peloton on the Alto de Velefique. A small group of favorites, including Kuss and Jørgen Nordhagen, reached the summit together. At that point, the early breakaway still held a lead of more than five minutes. On the final climb to Calar Alto, however, the pace ultimately proved too high for Kuss and Nordhagen. Kuss finished 20th. In the overall standings, the former Vuelta winner now sits in eighth place. Meanwhile, early breakaway rider Omrzel rode solo to the stage victory.  

Van Aert looked back on his day on the attack: “It was an ideal stage to take the maximum number of points at the intermediate sprint. A large group got away, so the key was to make sure I was in it. In the end, I was the only rider in the breakaway with ambitions for the green jersey, so the situation was ideal. I also picked up some points for the mountains classification. That's definitely something I'm focused on as well, but for now, the priority is the green jersey,” the Belgian said.  

“Wout was given the freedom to go on the attack today,” sports director Maarten Wynants added. “Our other riders were instructed to save their energy for the tough finish. In the end, Wout was able to pick up a lot of points along the way, which was a nice bonus. Sepp struggled on the difficult finale. He lost a little more time than we had hoped beforehand. He dropped a few places in the standings, but he is still in a strong eighth place.”