The Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a peloton is melting faster than ice in a glass of sangria as a heatwave collides with the Spanish grand tour.<\/p>\n
Stage 12 brought another brutal toll Thursday as six riders left the race, including three who did not start and three who abandoned during the stage.<\/p>\n
Tudor Pro Cycling\u2019s Arthur Kluckers was transported to a hospital in an ambulance after struggling in temperatures that reached 38\u00b0C (100\u00b0F).<\/p>\n
Team officials told Velo<\/em> that Kluckers felt dizzy but did not lose consciousness.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring today\u2019s 12th stage of La Vuelta, Arthur Kluckers suffered from the heat and, unfortunately, was forced to abandon the race,\u201d a team note read. \u201cHe underwent examinations by the team\u2019s medical staff, which were reassuring. Arrangements are being made for his prompt return home.\u201d<\/p>\n The official Vuelta medical report classified the incident as a \u201csyncopal episode\u201d and said Kluckers received treatment before being transported by ambulance after responding well.<\/p>\n Tudor subsequently clarified that the Luxembourg national champion did not pass out.<\/p>\n Conditions were brutal across Thursday\u2019s climbing stage to Calar Alto, with temperatures soaring under a \u201cheat dome\u201d that\u2019s covering Spain.<\/p>\n Visma-Lease a Bike also lost Ben Tulett, who remained affected by injuries sustained in the stage 8 crash that ended Tadej Poga\u010dar\u2019s race.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, Ben Tulett will not start today\u2019s stage of La Vuelta due to lingering issues from his crash a few days ago,\u201d Visma said.<\/p>\n Tulett\u2019s departure compounded a difficult day for Visma as 2023 Vuelta champion Sepp Kuss \u2014 who also crashed with Poga\u010dar \u2014 struggled on the summit finish and slipped to eighth overall.<\/p>\n UAE Emirates-XRG lost its third rider when Jay Vine abandoned after several days of illness.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately Jay Vine has been feeling unwell the past few days and on today\u2019s stage 12 was unable to finish the race. He will now travel home for rest and recovery,\u201d the team said.<\/p>\n UAE had already lost Pablo Torres, who did not finish stage 9, and Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n Hamish McKenzie (Jayco-AlUla), David Gonzalez (Pinarello-Q36.5), and Lindsay De Vylder (Alpecin-Premier Tech) also left the race Thursday as crashes, illness, fatigue, and oppressive temperatures continued to thin the peloton.<\/p>\n NSN\u2019s Alexey Lutsenko will not start Friday\u2019s stage 13, who confirmed earlier he would retire at the end of 2026.<\/p>\n Conditions could become even more punishing Friday.<\/p>\n Temperatures during stage 13 could reach 40\u00b0C (104\u00b0F), with an official \u201cyellow heat warning\u201d in effect from the Alto del Legionario to the finish in Loja.<\/p>\n A heat dome is trapping hot air across the Iberian Peninsula, prompting race officials to again loosen feeding regulations.<\/p>\n Teams will be allowed to hand riders musettes<\/em> loaded with water bottles inside designated bottle zones during Friday\u2019s stage.<\/p>\n Twenty-five riders have left the race through the opening 12 stages, a figure roughly in line with the attrition typically seen by the halfway point of La Vuelta.<\/p>\n The names and circumstances, however, make the 2026 Vuelta different.<\/p>\n Poga\u010dar became the first red jersey to crash out of the Vuelta since Igor Ant\u00f3n in 2010 when his high-speed fall ended his race on stage 8.<\/p>\n The world No. 1 returned home Wednesday following surgery, and there\u2019s no still no official word if he might be able to race the Montr\u00e9al road worlds later this month.<\/p>\n Mads Pedersen, Kaden Groves, Cian Uijtdebroeks, Josh Tarling and George Bennett are also among the other star riders already gone.<\/p>\n Extreme heat is expected to continue across the weekend, forecasters said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/vuelta-a-espana\/vuelta-a-espana-rider-abandons-extreme-heat\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2292283140.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated September 4, 2026 04:18AM The Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a peloton is melting faster than ice in a glass of sangria as a heatwave collides with the Spanish grand tour. Stage 12 brought another brutal toll Thursday as six riders left the race, including three who did not start and three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2128810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2128810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2128810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2128810\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2128810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2128810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2128810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u2018Yellow heat warning\u2019 in effect for Friday<\/h2>\n
![\"Vuelta](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2293181108-1200x799.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")