Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Hugo Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech) were two of four riders who did not complete stage 14 of the Vuelta a España on Saturday, with one other rider not taking the start. There were no crashes, with fatigue, heat and illness reducing the Vuelta a España to 149 riders headed into Sunday.
Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon CMA CGM) abandoned after riding 83km during the hot day in the saddle, the squad now down two riders in two days, leaving five riders to support Felix Gall, who moved to second overall.
The absence of Houle reduced Alpecin-Premier Tech to just three riders for the final seven days at the Grand Tour. The team posted to social media that “accumulated fatigue combined with another very hot day” was attributed to the Canadian’s decision to get off the bike just 20km into the stage.
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Team Picnic-PostNL were now down to five riders, Oliver Peace climbing off the bike after 86km. Laporte was the second rider from Visma-Lease a Bike to depart the Vuelta, the Dutch rider getting off the bike just before the final two climbs with less than 38km to go.
Mortiz Kretschy (NSN Cycling) did not line up in Jaén for stage 14, the team confirming he was ill and could not recover from feeling unwell overnight.
As three weeks of racing take their toll, Grand Tours often see tens of riders abandon across the 21 days and two rest days. Riders may abandon for a variety of reasons, including crashes, injuries, illness, or simply fatigue. Riders can quit mid-stage, climbing into a team car or, in the worst case, leaving in an ambulance, or they may finish the stage but decide not to start the next one.
If a rider quits mid-stage, they are recorded as ‘did not finish’ (DNF), and if they fail to start a stage, it’s a ‘did not start’ (DNS).
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Commissaires or the race jury can also make riders leave the race by enforcing the rules, either with a disqualification (DSQ) for serious rule infringements or for finishing outside the time limit on a given stage (OTL). You can find out more about the time limit with our explainer.
The first abandon of the Vuelta came on the first road stage from Monaco to Manosque. Guatemalan national champion Sergio Chumil (Burgos Burpellet BH) crashed with 50km to go on stage 2.
He was joined on the DNF list by Alex Kirsch (Cofidis) on stage 3, while Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar) was a DNS ahead of stage 5 following a stage 2 crash. Roel van Sintmaartensdijk (Lotto-Intermarché) was a DNF on stage 5 after an early crash.
Stage 6 saw Josh Tarling (Netcompany Ineos) leave after the grief of losing his younger brother Finlay, while EF Education-EasyPost’s Markel Beloki also abandoned.
Stage 8 brought carnage as Luca Van Boven’s (Lotto-Intermarché) DNS was followed up by a series of crashes which took out Diego Uriarte (Kern Pharma), Floris Van Tricht (NSN), Mattia Gaffuri (Picnic-PostNL), and race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
Stage 9 saw three more riders abandon the race. Victor Langellotti (XDS-Astana) crashed and sustained “a head injury and abrasions to one side of his body”, according to the medical bulletin. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) also did not finish the stage.
On stage 10, three riders departed the race, including Ben Turner (Netcompany Ineos). Mads Pedersen was the only rider to drop out before stage 11. The Dane had been uncharacteristically struggling, and his team said he had been ill for the past few days.
Six riders left the race on stage 12, including Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates XRG) during the stage and Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) before the start.
Five riders were out of the race on stage 13, including Gregor Mühlberger (Decathlon CMA CGM) who crashed out early on Friday’s stage.
Here, we will track all the 2026 Vuelta a España withdrawals as riders drop out of the race.
Vuelta a España 2026 abandons
Stage 2
- Sergio Chumil (Burgos Burpellet BH) – DNF, crash
Stage 3
- Alex Kirsch (Cofidis) – DNF
Stage 5
Stage 6
- Markel Beloki (EF Education-EasyPost) – DNF, illness
- Josh Tarling (Netcompany Ineos) – DNF
Stage 8
Stage 9
- Victor Langellotti (XDS-Astana), DNF, crash on stage 9
- Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech), DNF
- Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), DNF
Stage 10
- Ben Turner (Netcompany Ineos) – DNF
- George Bennett (NSN) – DNS
- Henri Francois Renard Haquin – DNS
Stage 11
- Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) – DNS, illness
Stage 12
- Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates XRG) – DNF
- Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) – DNS, crash injuries
- Hamish McKenzie (Jayco-AlUla) – DNF
- Arthur Kluckers (Tudor) – DNF
- David Gonzalez (Pinarello-Q36.5) – DNS
- Lindsay De Vylder (Alpecin-Premier Tech) – DNS
Stage 13
- Alexey Lutsenko (NSN) – DNS, illness
- Gregor Mühlberger (Decathlon CMA CGM) – DNF, crash on stage 13
- Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) -DNF
- Francesco Busatto (Alpecin-Premier Tech) – DNF
- Sente Sentjens (Alpecin-Premier Tech) – DNF
Stage 14
- Mortiz Kretschy (NSN) – DNS, illness
- Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon CMA CGM) – DNF
- Oliver Peace (Picnic PostNL) – DNF
- Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) – DNF
- Hugo Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech) – DNF, fatigue
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