Cycling
Vuelta a España 2026 Stage 18 Time Trial Odds: Van Aert to Win
Stage 18 of the 2026 Vuelta a España brings a 32.5km time trial from El Puerto de Santa María to Jerez de la Frontera, and William Hill news are on hand with everything you need to know.
Thursday’s Stage is the last time trial on this year’s Vuelta before the race heads back into the mountains, providing a platform for the specialist sprinters to close the gaps between them and the climbers, and this is where the general classification could be turned on its head one final time.
Enric Mas rolls into Andalusia in red with a healthy cushion, but this stage might just be a banana skin for the climbers and a golden chance for the specialists on a flat route built for pure power and speed.
Stage 18 at a Glance
- Route: El Puerto de Santa María to Jerez de la Frontera (32.5km)
- Stage type: Individual Time Trial
- Profile: Flat with 169m vertical gain
- Final climb: 1km at 0.7% elevation
Stage 18 takes place on Thursday 10 September, and is the longest of the race’s two Individual Time Trials. It is a route that rewards riders who can hold aerodynamic positions and a big gear for the best part of 40 minutes. With no summit finish or technical corners to disrupt the rhythm, it is the last realistic opportunity for the time trial specialists to claw back from time on the climbers before they head back into the mountains at the weekend.
Who can win it?
Wout van Aert has looked one of the strongest all-rounders in this year’s Vuelta, already off the mark twice from the break, and a flat, technical-free 32.5km is should comfortably suit his style of riding.
General Classification Impact
Enric Mas arrives with just over 2 minutes in hand over Felix Gall and similar buffer over Primož Roglič, with Richard Carapaz and Oscar Onley further back in 4th and 5th positions. Gall is the rider under the most pressure here as rider who is no time trial specialist. Roglič, by contrast, is exactly the sort of engine who can eat into a deficit here.
Prediction: Mas to extend his overall lead in the General Classification, Roglič to move up to 2nd overall, and Gall to drop into 3rd.
What to expect
With two more brutal mountain stages to come after Stage 18’s time trial and a flat finish in Granada, the Vuelta won’t be decided here, but it could well shape who we might be seeing on the podium on Sunday.
Mas has ridden the perfect Vuelta so far and we aren’t expecting him to let go of his lead here, but a flat 32.5km time trial is exactly where advantages are eaten into fastest, so we are anticipating Stage 18 to some spanners into the works further down the peloton as the final podium come into picture.
