All Things 2025 Vuelta a Espana

Ogie Ogilthorpe

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Just one more Grand Tour on the schedule for 2025 and already some news popping up. I think Pogacar was originally planning on racing the Vuelta this year but he has issued a statement that his body needs to rest and he'll be sitting out the final Grand Tour of 2025.

"Pogacar has not yet won the Vuelta but claimed three stage victories in 2019, finishing third overall and winning the young rider title.

“After such a demanding Tour, we decided it was best to take a break,” said Pogacar, via a release from UAE. “The Vuelta is of course a race I would dearly love to return to. I have fantastic memories there from 2019, but now the body is telling me to rest.”

We'll know more about team rosters in the next few weeks. I thought at one point I heard Vingegaard was going to race The Vuelta this year but not sure. UAE will still be very, very strong with both Juan Ayuso and Joao Almeida leading their team.
 

Dates are from August 23 to September 14. I will miss much of the La Vuelta this year as I have a medical missions trip scheduled in Bolivia. If Peacock is covering it, I may be able to record it.
Looks like they're only riding Northern Spain from east to west. I enjoyed last year's Mediterranean coast rides with the mountains going up from sea level.

 

Still a few weeks before the full team lists come out but it sounds like not only will Pogacar not be racing for UAE, but they are holding back Isaac Del Torro as well, who was in prime position to win the Giro earlier this year before the highly entertaining Stage 20. UAE is going to roll with Joao Almeida and Juan Ayuso so they'll be well represented

Some other races playing out getting in the final 3rd of the season with the Tour of Poland starting today and the Vuelta a Burgos starting tomorrow
 

Not really Vuelta news but just cycling news overall;

As expected, Remco Evenepoel just signed with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for the 2026 season. Evenepoel is leaving Soudal-Quickstep. This really beefs up a strong, young RBH team that has TDF podium finisher Florian Lipowitz. Roglic's contract with RBH expires at the end of this season.

Big pickup for RBH, as they try to compete with UAE and Visma Lease-a-Bike on the Grand Tour calendar.

Remco Evenepoel Signs With Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for 2026
 

Who's been watching on Peacock?
Today was a rest day, but Sunday saw Vingegaard blowing everyone away on the final mountain climb. It was a bold move to leave his team in the dust and get back within 37 seconds of tour leader Torstein Traeen who is a rider I hadn't heard of (but I don't follow the teams very closely).
 


Who's been watching on Peacock?
Today was a rest day, but Sunday saw Vingegaard blowing everyone away on the final mountain climb. It was a bold move to leave his team in the dust and get back within 37 seconds of tour leader Torstein Traeen who is a rider I hadn't heard of (but I don't follow the teams very closely).

I've been watching every day, decent action so far and I think it should heat up in the last week and a half coming up. No doubt, watching Vinegegaard take off so far down the mountain was a surprise, but that was the steepest part of the climb; probably figured he'd catch everyone by surprise and put some space between him and the pack.

The race for the podium should be interesting, but I think Vingegaard will be really hard to beat for the red jersey.

***Interesting to note, especially the timing; Juan Ayuso and UAE have agreed to part ways earlier today, despite Ayuso's contract going through like 2028. Almeida I guess was a little upset when Ayuso bailed on him in a previous stage rather than help Almeida up the mountain and this isn't the first time the team has been frustrated with his antics.

Ayuso is really talented but he just seems like a complete tool and dickhead. He could have REALLY helped Isaac del Torro close out a big win in the Giro earlier this year but Ayuso abandoned (in the final week I think?) with what amounted to an allergic reaction to a bee sting. I heard one or two people critical of him for doing that, saying he should have sucked it up and helped be a super domestique for del Torro to win the Giro. Sounds like an extremely selfish bastard.

Lidl-Trek sounds like the front runner to land Ayuso but nothing official yet. I'd be torn there, as I'm a big Trek guy (moreso the bike brand than the cycling team). Giulio Ciccone is Lidl-Trek's main GC guy and climber but he's just not at the level with the top several guys. He could still contend for the podium in this Vuelta but he'll have some competition.
 

Stage 11 was cut 3 KM short today with pro-Palestine protestors that jumped over the rails at the finishing stretch.

Good call by the race organizers, they basically just said the finish line is HERE today instead of 3K up the road. A "nice try" to the protestors.

No stage winner, but Vingegaard and Pidcock were leading the stage at the time they called it, about 10 seconds ahead of a 4-man chase group. Vingegaard is looking harder and harder to beat at this point, slowly building his time lead
 

Stage 11 was cut 3 KM short today with pro-Palestine protestors that jumped over the rails at the finishing stretch.

Good call by the race organizers, they basically just said the finish line is HERE today instead of 3K up the road. A "nice try" to the protestors.

No stage winner, but Vingegaard and Pidcock were leading the stage at the time they called it, about 10 seconds ahead of a 4-man chase group. Vingegaard is looking harder and harder to beat at this point, slowly building his time lead
Sigh, protesters have been a pest in the past as well. These protesters should know that people lose compassion for them when they interrupt an event like this.
 

Go figure. Ayuso making noise at the Vuelta for mostly all the wrong reasons for two weeks, and he goes out and wins his second Stage of the Vuelta today, finishing off the breakaway effort to bring home another Stage win for UAE.

Tomorrow's a big day, the highly anticipated Angliru climb that should massively shake up the GC top 10; 12.8km at an average of 9.8%. Good frickin' grief.

Before they even GET to the Angliru, they have a nice "warmup" Cat 1 climb with the Alto la Mozqueta, a 6.4 km long climb with an average gradient of 8.2 percent. That will blow a lot of the peloton off the back end, if the main GC contenders elect to push very hard up this climb.
 



This continues to be a really odd Vuelta so far, at least in my uneducated opinion.

You kinda expect to see some fireworks on some of these mountain-finish stages, attacks on the final climb, GC shakeup, etc. It just doesn't seem like some of the contenders really want to race. Vingegaard just seems content to basically stay in the pack, not let Almeida (his only real competition) get in front of him or gain any time, and basically just hang on and bring home the victory merely by just maintaining his time advantage.

Barring a bad day on one of the remaining mountain stages, it's hard to see anything changing in the top 2 on the podium. There's a good race shaping up for 3rd place on the podium at least, and it's nice to see the young American, Matthew Riccitello at 23 yrs old, firmly in the Top 10.

As it stands now, three Americans in the GC Top 10, which if it holds would be cool to see.
 




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