2024 Vuelta a Espana GC Update after stage 3: Wout van Aert increases lead after first victory in six months
Cycling
For the first time since Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne all the way back in February, Wout van Aert was able to celebrate crossing the line first on stage 3 of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana, extending his advantage in the general classification of the Spanish Grand Tour as a result.
Thanks to the bonus seconds on offer at the line, Van Aert's advantage over Brandon McNulty in the general classification now rise to 13 seconds, with Mathias Vacek completing the podium at this early stage, 15 seconds down now. Also worth noting is that by ensuring he remains in the Red Jersey, Van Aert becomes the first man other than Tadej Pogacar to hold the leader's jersey in a Grand Tour for more than one day in 2024!
Further down the general classification, there's only one change in order as Joshua Tarling drops out of the top 10 and Nelson Oliveira replaces, meaning although Van Aert did extend his lead over the rest of the top 10, meaning Primoz Roglic remains best placed of the contenders for the final victory.
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2024 Vuelta a Espana GC after stage 3:
| 1 | van Aert Wout | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 10:05:59 |
| 2 | McNulty Brandon | UAE Team Emirates | + 13 |
| 3 | Vacek Mathias | Lidl-Trek | + 15 |
| 4 | Küng Stefan | Groupama-FDJ | + 19 |
| 5 | Affini Edoardo | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | + 21 |
| 6 | Schmid Mauro | Team Jayco-AlUla | + 29 |
| 7 | Roglic Primoz | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | + 30 |
| 8 | Armirail Bruno | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 31 |
| 9 | Almeida Joao | UAE Team Emirates | + 32 |
| 10 | Oliveira Nelson | Movistar Team | + 33 |
| 11 | Lipowitz Florian | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | + 34 |
| 12 | Skjelmose Mattias | Lidl-Trek | + 35 |
| 13 | Vine Jay | UAE Team Emirates | + 37 |
| 14 | Asgreen Kasper | Soudal Quick-Step | + 39 |
| 15 | Baroncini Filippo | UAE Team Emirates | + 39 |
| 16 | Cattaneo Mattia | Soudal Quick-Step | + 40 |
| 17 | Tiberi Antonio | Bahrain Victorious | + 40 |
| 18 | Frigo Marco | Israel-Premier Tech | + 41 |
| 19 | Vlasov Aleksandr | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | + 42 |
| 20 | Castrillo Pablo | Equipo Kern Pharma | + 42 |
| 21 | Tejada Harold | Astana Qazaqstan Team | + 42 |
| 22 | Arensman Thymen | INEOS Grenadiers | + 42 |
| 23 | Berrade Urko | Equipo Kern Pharma | + 43 |
| 24 | Geoghegan Hart Tao | Lidl-Trek | + 44 |
| 25 | Martinez Daniel | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | + 46 |
| 26 | Yates Adam | UAE Team Emirates | + 47 |
| 27 | Soler Marc | UAE Team Emirates | + 50 |
| 28 | Poole Max | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | + 50 |
| 29 | Mas Enric | Movistar Team | + 52 |
| 30 | Dunbar Edward | Team Jayco-AlUla | + 52 |
| 31 | Carapaz Richard | EF Education-EasyPost | + 53 |
| 32 | Sivakov Pavel | UAE Team Emirates | + 53 |
| 33 | Rafferty Darren | EF Education-EasyPost | + 53 |
| 34 | Scotson Callum | Team Jayco-AlUla | + 55 |
| 35 | del Toro Isaac | UAE Team Emirates | + 55 |
| 36 | Konrad Patrick | Lidl-Trek | + 57 |
| 37 | Schelling Ide | Astana Qazaqstan Team | + 57 |
| 38 | Haig Jack | Bahrain Victorious | + 57 |
| 39 | Juaristi Txomin | Euskaltel-Euskadi | + 57 |
| 40 | Uijtdebroeks Cian | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | + 58 |
| 41 | De Plus Laurens | INEOS Grenadiers | + 59 |
| 42 | Rodriguez Carlos | INEOS Grenadiers | + 59 |
| 43 | Lafay Victor | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 01:02 |
| 44 | Berthet Clément | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 01:03 |
| 45 | Goossens Kobe | Intermarché-Wanty | + 01:04 |
| 46 | Gaudu David | Groupama-FDJ | + 01:04 |
| 47 | Izagirre Ion | Cofidis | + 01:05 |
| 48 | O'Connor Ben | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 01:05 |
| 49 | Rivera Brandon | INEOS Grenadiers | + 01:06 |
| 50 | Kuss Sepp | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | + 01:06 |
| 51 | Van Eetvelt Lennert | Lotto Dstny | + 01:07 |
| 52 | Adrià Roger | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | + 01:07 |
| 53 | Zana Filippo | Team Jayco-AlUla | + 01:07 |
| 54 | Gall Felix | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 01:07 |
| 55 | Ciccone Giulio | Lidl-Trek | + 01:07 |
| 56 | Valter Attila | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | + 01:08 |
| 57 | Meurisse Xandro | Alpecin-Deceuninck | + 01:09 |
| 58 | Costa Rui | EF Education-EasyPost | + 01:10 |
| 59 | Aleotti Giovanni | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | + 01:10 |
| 60 | Rochas Rémy | Groupama-FDJ | + 01:12 |
| 61 | Oomen Sam | Lidl-Trek | + 01:12 |
| 62 | Taaramäe Rein | Intermarché-Wanty | + 01:13 |
| 63 | Tusveld Martijn | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | + 01:14 |
| 64 | Campenaerts Victor | Lotto Dstny | + 01:14 |
| 65 | Pacher Quentin | Groupama-FDJ | + 01:16 |
| 66 | Kron Andreas | Lotto Dstny | + 01:16 |
| 67 | Bennett George | Israel-Premier Tech | + 01:18 |
| 68 | Braet Vito | Intermarché-Wanty | + 01:18 |
| 69 | Caruso Damiano | Bahrain Victorious | + 01:18 |
| 70 | Landa Mikel | Soudal Quick-Step | + 01:18 |
| 71 | Groves Kaden | Alpecin-Deceuninck | + 01:19 |
| 72 | Vervaeke Louis | Soudal Quick-Step | + 01:19 |
| 73 | Rodríguez Óscar | INEOS Grenadiers | + 01:19 |
| 74 | Verona Carlos | Lidl-Trek | + 01:20 |
| 75 | Germani Lorenzo | Groupama-FDJ | + 01:21 |
| 76 | Strong Corbin | Israel-Premier Tech | + 01:21 |
| 77 | López Martin | Astana Qazaqstan Team | + 01:22 |
| 78 | Bittner Pavel | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | + 01:22 |
| 79 | Shaw James | EF Education-EasyPost | + 01:23 |
| 80 | Riccitello Matthew | Israel-Premier Tech | + 01:24 |
| 81 | Canal Carlos | Movistar Team | + 01:24 |
| 82 | Lazkano Oier | Movistar Team | + 01:25 |
| 83 | Meintjes Louis | Intermarché-Wanty | + 01:25 |
| 84 | Marit Arne | Intermarché-Wanty | + 01:26 |
| 85 | Soto Antonio | Equipo Kern Pharma | + 01:27 |
| 86 | Garofoli Gianmarco | Astana Qazaqstan Team | + 01:27 |
| 87 | Rodriguez Cristian | ARKEA-B&B HOTELS | + 01:27 |
| 88 | Vansevenant Mauri | Soudal Quick-Step | + 01:27 |
| 89 | Martín Gotzon | Euskaltel-Euskadi | + 01:31 |
| 90 | Woods Michael | Israel-Premier Tech | + 01:32 |
| 91 | Fernandez Ruben | Cofidis | + 01:32 |
| 92 | Lecerf William Junior | Soudal Quick-Step | + 01:32 |
| 93 | Rota Lorenzo | Intermarché-Wanty | + 01:33 |
| 94 | Sanchez Pelayo | Movistar Team | + 01:33 |
| 95 | Quintana Nairo | Movistar Team | + 01:34 |
| 96 | Rubio Einer | Movistar Team | + 01:34 |
| 97 | Fortunato Lorenzo | Astana Qazaqstan Team | + 01:35 |
| 98 | Bou Joan | Euskaltel-Euskadi | + 01:36 |
| 99 | Miquel Delgado Pau | Equipo Kern Pharma | + 01:36 |
| 100 | Martin Guillaume | Cofidis | + 01:37 |
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
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- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
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