Cycling-Swiss Kung wins Vuelta stage 18, Mas retains healthy overall lead

Cycling - Vuelta a Espana - Stage 18 - El Puerto de Santa Maria to Jerez - Jerez, Spain - September 10, 2026 Tudor Pro Cycling Team's Stefan Kung celebrates on the podium after winning stage 18 REUTERS/Marcelo Del Pozo

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, Spain, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Swiss ⁠rider Stefan Kung claimed asecond career time trial win on stage 18 of the Vuelta aEspana, finishing ahead ⁠of Briton Callum Thornley and Portuguese Joao Almeida.

In the general classification, Movistar rider Enric Mas maintained a healthy lead ‌of one minute 37 seconds over Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's Slovenian Primoz Roglic, who finished fourth in the stage and moved up to second overall.

Mas, who is hoping to become the first Spanish rider to win the Vuelta since Alberto Contador in 2014, came into the day with a 2:06 lead over Austrian Felix ​Gall, withRoglic a further four seconds behind.

The questionwas how much of a lead Mas ⁠could hold onto, with the individual time trial ⁠highlighted as the primary opportunity for Roglic to close the gapbefore the final two mountain stages.

The 32.1km flat run on Spain's ⁠south ‌coast saw riders speed through the heat, with 149 of them setting off at one-minute intervals.Thornley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) set the early pace, finishing with a time of 35:25.

Another 88 riders went down the ramp before Tudor Pro Cycling's Kung stolein ahead ⁠of Thornley by three seconds. Almeida completed the podium, nine seconds behind Kung.

"It's ​always a hard TT in the third ‌week of a Grand Tour. You just have to go as hard as you can and try to ⁠hang on," said a ​visibly exhausted Kung at the finish line.

"Honestly, some corners looked super slippery today, so I was not so confident in that but I had power to push until the finish and I think that's where I made the difference."

After a second stage win for Tudor Pro Cycling, Kung credited ⁠his whole team with the victory once it was confirmed.

ROGLIC UNABLE TO ​APPLY PRESSURE ON MAS

Roglic has won four Vuelta time trials previously, hence the anticipation that he could make up significant time on Mas, who is more comfortable in the mountains.

Hitting the first intermediate point nine seconds behind the leading pace, hopes of a stage win ⁠for Roglic looked slim, with the gap to Kung growing to 14 seconds at the second checkpoint.

On arrival in Jerez de la Frontera, his eyes were firmly on Mas' time.

Roared out at the start by the home crowd, Mas hit the first intermediate point 22 seconds behindRoglic, but only lost a further 14 seconds in the following 10.4km.

Eventually, Mas would lose 33 seconds to Roglic, a ​number that will leave the Mallorcan rider satisfied with his efforts before an ascent into ⁠the mountains again on stage 19.

Gallslipped to third in the general classification, 3:01 off the pace.

The race for the green jersey is firmly ​in the control of Visma-Lease a Bike's Wout van Aert, who finished 20 ‌seconds behind Kung in fifth.

The Belgian is now 67 points ahead ​of teammate Matthew Brennan and has eliminated third-placedAlessandro Romele (XDS Astana) from contention.

Stage 19 begins on Friday in Velez-Malaga, where the Vuelta follows a hilly 210.8km route to Penas Blancas in Estepona.

(Reporting by Ruairidh Barlow; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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自行车 - 环西班牙 - 第 18 赛段 - 圣玛丽亚港至赫雷斯 - 西班牙赫雷斯 - 2026 年 9 月 10 日，都铎职业自行车队的 Stefan Kung 在赢得第 18 赛段后在领奖台上庆祝 REUTERS/Marcelo Del Pozo

西班牙赫雷斯-德拉弗龙特拉，9 月 10 日（路透社）——瑞士车手斯特凡·孔在环西班牙自行车赛第 18 赛段的计时赛中第二次获得职业生涯冠军，领先于英国车手卡勒姆·索恩利和葡萄牙车手若昂·阿尔梅达。

在总成绩榜上，移动之星车队的恩里克·马斯保持着1分37秒的领先优势，领先于红牛-博拉-汉斯格雅车队的斯洛文尼亚车手普里莫兹·罗格利奇，后者在该赛段获得第四名，总成绩上升至第二名。

马斯希望成为自 2014 年阿尔贝托·康塔多以来首位赢得环西自行车赛的西班牙车手。比赛开始前，他领先奥地利车手菲利克斯·加尔 2 分 06 秒，罗格利奇落后加尔 4 秒。

问题是马斯能保持多大的领先优势，而个人计时赛被认为是罗格利奇在最后两个山地赛段之前缩小差距的主要机会。

在西班牙南部海岸举行的 32.1 公里平坦赛道上，车手们顶着酷热奋力骑行，149 名车手以一分钟的间隔出发。索恩利（红牛-博拉-汉斯格雅车队）率先领骑，最终以 35 分 25 秒的成绩完赛。

随后又有88名车手冲下坡道，最终Tudor Pro Cycling车队的孔以三秒优势领先索恩利夺得冠军。阿尔梅达落后孔九秒，获得第三名。

“在大环赛的第三周，计时赛总是很艰难。你只能尽全力，努力坚持下去，”筋疲力尽的孔在终点线说道。

“说实话，今天有些弯道看起来超级滑，所以我不太有信心，但我有足够的体力坚持到终点，我认为这就是我取胜的关键。”

在 Tudor Pro Cycling 车队赢得第二个赛段冠军后，Kung 在确认胜利后将功劳归于他的整个团队。

罗格利奇无法对马斯施加压力

罗格利奇此前曾四次赢得环西自行车赛计时赛冠军，因此人们预期他能够大幅缩小与马斯之间的差距，而马斯更擅长山地赛。

罗格利奇落后领先集团 9 秒到达第一个中途点，他赢得赛段冠军的希望渺茫，而到第二个检查点时，他与孔的差距扩大到 14 秒。

抵达赫雷斯-德拉弗龙特拉后，他的目光牢牢地锁定在马斯的时间上。

在主场观众的欢呼声中，马斯起跑后落后罗格利奇 22 秒到达第一个中间点，但在接下来的 10.4 公里中只落后了 14 秒。

最终，马斯落后罗格利奇 33 秒，这个数字会让这位马略卡岛车手对自己在第 19 赛段再次爬山之前的努力感到满意。

加尔斯滑落至总成绩第三名，落后领先者 3 分 01 秒。

绿衫之争牢牢掌握在 Visma-Lease a Bike 车队的 Wout van Aert 手中，他落后 Kung 20 秒，获得第五名。

这位比利时车手目前领先队友马修·布伦南 67 分，并将排名第三的亚历山德罗·罗梅莱（XDS 阿斯塔纳车队）淘汰出局。

第 19 赛段将于周五在贝莱斯-马拉加开始，环西自行车赛将沿着 210.8 公里的丘陵路线前往埃斯特波纳的佩尼亚斯布兰卡斯。

（Ruairidh Barlow 报道；Ken Ferris 编辑）

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