It was a rare climbing finish in the 2025 La Vuelta España first week that surprised with quite large gaps in the GC group.
La Vuelta Ciclista a España stage 9 2025 profile
Valdezcaray (9.42 km, 6.39%) is an unusual climb for this race, with the first part being a 7–8% gradient steep, while the second is almost flat with gradients going below 4% in the final three kilometres. In the calculation of the riders’ efforts, the segment until 3.9 km to go was taken into consideration. The stage was relatively easy, with Harold Martin Lopez spending 3058 kilojoules for 4:06 h at a rate of 12.32 kj/kg/h.
With 11.3 km to go Visma Lease a Bike did a huge leadout with Matteo Jorgenson for Jonas Vingegaard, doing a very sharp acceleration. Giulio Ciccone from Lidl Trek was the only one in a good position to follow the Dane, but he cracked at high speed. UAE Emirates were chasing behind with Jay Vine in the KOM jersey and then Joao Almeida taking a turn as he was left without teammates. Only Tom Pidcock and Felix Gall were strong enough to hold Almeida’s wheel, with the Austrian later dropping.
Jonas Vingegaard did a massive effort in the first 9.42 kilometres of the climb, producing 6.96 ᵉW/kg for 20:22 min, a very impressive performance and a good sign before the real climbs start later in the race. Almeida lost 28 seconds on the segment with 6.72 ᵉW/kg, with Tour of Norway w/kg test winner Tom Pidcock in the draft. Giulio Ciccone paid the biggest price for trying to follow Vingegaard, losing more than a minute.
Vingegaard won his second La Vuelta 2025 stage and had a shockingly big gap over his competitors. Raul Garcia Pierna was the fastest one from a larger GC group, losing 1:46 min to the Dane. Torstein Traen remained the GC leader, with Vingegaard being 37 seconds behind. The second week of La Vuelta will include Alto de l’Angliru, where the gaps might be even bigger if the riders go full gas.
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