Results Vuelta a España 2026 stage 19 - Eddie Dunbar rolls back the years with solo victory at Alto de Estepona

Stage 19 of the Vuelta a España has been won by Eddie Dunbar. Like in 2024, the Irishman has remerged at the Spanish Grand Tour during the final days of the race, taking a strong victory from the breakaway ahead of Santiago Buitrago.

The stage, with 210 kilometers in length and a race situation that seemed to hint at breakaway success, saw an hours-long battle to form a breakaway group. The first 70 kilometers of the day were flat and saw a group of seven including Tobias Johannessen, Steven Kruijswijk and Kevin Vermaerke go up the road.

But the gap would not grow significantly, and behind many teams still looked to have riders in the front group. As soon as the day's climbs would begin, dozens of riders would attack, and in the shallow climbs, so would some GC riders. A new group of 15 riders went up the road, and behind Richard Carapaz and Oscar Onley would go on the attack in the second categorized climb.

The lack of control from Movistar and the dynamic race situation would see Enric Mas forced to respond to moves by Carapaz and Primoz Roglic inbetween groups as the race broke apart. Carapaz then attacked the peloton and got a gap, helped by Darren Rafferty who had fallen back from the break. However, the Irishman would suffer an untimely mechanical shortly after, condemning Carapaz in a part of the stage that featured flat terrain and a hard chase from Decathlon behind.

Ultimately, the breakaway that would go on to fight for the stage win would feature 16 riders. Netcompany INEOS tried controlling the gap at first, but proved unsuccessful. Eddie Dunbar, Urko Berrade, Santiago Buitrago, Bastien Tronchon and Movistar's Pablo Castrillo were amongst them.

As soon as the 18-kilometer long Alto de Estepona began, Rudy Molard attacked in the head of the race, whilst Pau Miquel did the work for Santiago Buitrago in the group to control the race. The KOM classification leader attacked with 13 kilometers to go, followed by Tom Gloag. Shortly after, Urko Berrade and Gloag's teammate Eddie Dunbar would join up front, forming a four-rider group.

In the peloton, Movistar initially set the pace; before EF Education-EasyPost took up the pace once again for the ever-aggressive Carapaz. The race would light up in the final 2 kilometers with Buitrago attacking the Pinarello duo up front.

Victory looked likely, but from behind, Dunbar still had the legs to move away from his rivals. The final kilometers of the stage were the hardest, and Dunbar managed to bridge across to Buitrago inside the final 500 meters. Immediately he attacked, leading to his third stage win in the race's history.

Primoz Roglic attacked behind with 2 kilometers to go, followed by Enric Mas. Felix Gall also attempted, but the favourites appeared to be perfectly matched on the final ascent. Jakob Omrzel also attacked, putting pressure on Oscar Onley, but ultimately he was brought back in the final meters.