Image: from dgt.report X @DgtReport
By Open Chronicle Sports
September 1, 2026
ALCARAZ, Spain , Bastien Tronchon claimed the biggest victory of his career on Stage 10 of the 2026 Vuelta a España, mastering a demanding hilly run from Alcaraz to Elche de la Sierra to secure his first Grand Tour stage win.
The Groupama FDJ United rider completed the 184.7 kilometre stage in 4:07:41, emerging victorious on a day made for opportunists, puncheurs and riders willing to gamble after the race’s first rest day.
For Tronchon, it was more than another entry on a palmarès. It was the breakthrough every professional cyclist spends years chasing, a victory on one of cycling’s three greatest stages.
Tronchon seizes his moment
Stage 10 brought the Vuelta back to life following Monday’s rest day, with the peloton facing rolling roads and an unpredictable profile through Castilla La Mancha.
There was little appetite for a quiet return to racing.
Attacks shaped the early kilometres as riders searched for the right move, with teams outside the general classification battle recognising one of the increasingly rare opportunities to fight for a stage before the race returned to more decisive terrain.
The fluctuating roads encouraged aggression. Groups formed, fractured and reorganised as the kilometres disappeared, turning the stage into the sort of tactical contest that often defines the second week of a Grand Tour.
Tronchon remained in the fight.
Rather than spending his strength too early, the Frenchman preserved enough for the decisive kilometres approaching Elche de la Sierra. When the race entered its final phase, positioning became as important as raw power.
Then came the opportunity.
Tronchon launched himself into the battle for the line and finished the job, delivering Groupama FDJ United one of its most significant victories of the season.
🏆 La récompense, elle est là !
Bastien Tronchon, vainqueur d'étape sur la Vuelta !𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘉𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯, 𝘰𝘩 𝘮𝘺 🫨 pic.twitter.com/aXEwGtpAVw
— Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ United (@GroupamaFDJ) September 1, 2026
A first Grand Tour victory
The emotion at the finish reflected the scale of the achievement.
Winning a Grand Tour stage represents a dividing line in a rider’s career. Tronchon arrived at the Vuelta as a talented professional capable of winning difficult races. He left Elche de la Sierra as a Grand Tour stage winner.
His victory also underlined the particular character of the Vuelta.
The race’s steep roads and unpredictable transitional stages regularly provide opportunities for riders prepared to attack rather than wait. Stage 10 became another example, rewarding tactical awareness, endurance and the ability to produce power after more than four hours of racing.
For Groupama FDJ United, the result justified an aggressive approach to the second week. With the general classification increasingly controlled by the strongest climbers, stages such as this become races within the race, valuable targets around which entire team strategies can be constructed.
Tronchon converted that strategy into victory.
Mas returns to racing in red
Behind the fight for the stage, Enric Mas began the second week wearing the Red Jersey.
The Movistar leader had entered the rest day with the race transformed around him. Tadej Pogačar’s crash and abandonment on Stage 8 had removed the dominant figure of the opening week, before Mas reinforced his new position by winning on Alto de Aitana the following afternoon.
Stage 10 therefore presented a different challenge.
There was no need for Mas to chase every attack. His priority was controlling the riders who mattered to the general classification, avoiding unnecessary risks and ensuring that Primož Roglič and the other contenders could not turn the difficult terrain into an unexpected ambush.
It was the classic responsibility of the race leader in the middle of a Grand Tour, allow the stage battle to develop while keeping the fight for red under control.
The larger war would continue later.
A Vuelta entering a different phase
The race arriving in Elche de la Sierra bore little resemblance to the Vuelta that had departed Monaco ten days earlier.
Pogačar had dominated the opening phase, winning the Monaco time trial before adding spectacular victories in Andorra and Castelló. Matthew Brennan had announced himself with two stage wins. Andreas Leknessund had conquered Valdelinares. Bryan Coquard had finally secured a Grand Tour victory in Xeraco.
Then everything changed.
Pogačar’s Stage 8 crash removed the race leader, Mas took red and his Alto de Aitana victory established a new hierarchy.
Tronchon’s success now added another name to an increasingly varied list of winners.
That variety is part of what makes the second week of the Vuelta so difficult to control. The general classification teams have their own priorities, sprinters search for increasingly scarce opportunities and breakaway specialists begin identifying every stage that might allow them to escape the gravitational pull of the peloton.
Stage 10 belonged to one of them.
Stage 10 result
Alcaraz → Elche de la Sierra
184.7 km · Hilly
Winner: Bastien Tronchon
Team: Groupama FDJ United
Winning time: 4:07:41
Achievement: First Grand Tour stage victory
The Vuelta continues on Wednesday, September 2, with Stage 11 from Cartagena to Lorca, a 153.8 kilometre stage offering a very different challenge and another opportunity for the faster riders.
For Tronchon, however, whatever happens next will not change what happened on the road to Elche de la Sierra.
On September 1, 2026, he became a Grand Tour winner.