French rider Tronchon wins Vuelta a España Stage 10 in photo-finish sprint in Elche de la Sierra

Bastien Tronchon of Groupama-FDJ United won Stage 10 of the Vuelta a España on Tuesday in a bunch sprint finish in Elche de la Sierra, covering the 184.7-kilometer route from Alcaraz in 4 hours, 7 minutes and 41 seconds. The 24-year-old Frenchman edged out Magnus Cort Nielsen of Uno-X Mobility and Thibau Nys of Lidl-Trek in a photo finish, while pre-stage favorite Wout van Aert of Team Visma-Lease a Bike finished fourth, all credited with the same time .

A seven-rider breakaway, including Austria’s Michael Gogl and Germany’s Jasha Sütterlin, formed early in the rolling terrain through the Sierra de Alcaraz foothills, building a lead of several minutes. The group splintered over three third-category climbs, with Yevgeni Fedorov of Astana and Xabier Azparren of Q36.5 briefly clear with one kilometer remaining, but the peloton reeled them in before the line .

Tronchon described his victory as surreal, noting he launched his sprint unsure if others were ahead. “I launched my sprint and I just finished it on the line, but I wasn’t sure if there was some guys in front or not, so I did not put my hands in the air,” he said. “That’s crazy, I can’t believe it. The last two days were really hard for me and today I was good, and I said to [teammate] Guillaume [Martin] go full gas until you die and I take the win” .

Enric Mas of Movistar retained the red jersey as overall leader, holding a 1 minute, 18 second advantage over four-time Vuelta champion Primoz Roglic of Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe. Austria’s Felix Gall of Decathlon CMA CGM sits third, 1 minute, 39 seconds back, with Britain’s Oscar Onley of Netcompany Ineos fourth at 2 minutes, 20 seconds .

The stage featured nearly 3,000 meters of elevation gain, with a late uncategorized rise to the finish. Despite the demanding profile, the peloton arrived largely intact, nullifying earlier escape efforts .

Stage 11 on Wednesday covers 153.8 kilometers from Cartagena to Lorca, a predominantly flat route with a single third-category climb, the Morron de Totana, roughly 30 kilometers from the finish .