Vingegaard shrugs off crash to pip Giulio Ciccone for Vuelta a España stage 2 victory, takes race leader’s red jersey.
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) wins stage two of the Vuelta a España at Limone Piemonte and takes the race lead (Photo: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Updated August 24, 2025 10:26AM
Jonas Vingegaard underlined his status as pre-race favorite, putting in a strong sprint to overhaul Giulio Ciccone in the Vuelta a España’s first summit finish on Sunday.
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider beat Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) by a couple of centimeters, triumphing despite a crash inside 30km to go.
“I just went on his wheel,” Vingegaard said of what was a determined sprint to edge the Italian out. “To be honest, before the corner I didn’t think it would be possible to pass him, but then from the corner it was a bit longer to the finish than I thought. So then I could luckily just pass him.”
Overnight leader Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was dropped on the rising roads towards the finish at Limone Piemonte, enabling Vingegaard to seize the red jersey and to show he is exactly where he needs to be to challenge for success in the race.
David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) was third, while Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) was best of the rest in fourth place, two seconds back.
American rider Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) was ninth and Tom Pidcock sprinted with intent after his Q36.5 Pro Cycling team did a lot of work during the stage, but faded to tenth.
Vingegaard had indicated before the stage that he didn’t necessarily want to take the race lead so early. However the opportunity was too good to miss.
“To be honest, you are not going to let the stage win pass. When I saw the opportunity, of course I will take it also,” he said. “I am super happy to take the victory today. It has been a while since my last victory, obviously, but super happy with how I felt and how the team did today.
“I am super happy with also having the red jersey.”
Wet conditions raise risks
Gal Glivar (Team Alpecin – Deceuninck), Jakub Otruba (Team Caja Rural – Seguros RGA )and Liam Slock (Team Lotto) were the strongest of the five riders who were up the road early on (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Stage 2 of the Vuelta a España was the first real gauge of the form of the GC contenders, with a second cat summit finish awaiting the peloton at Limone Piemonte.
The stage was 159.5km in length and featured an intermediate sprint in Busca, 67km after the start in Alba.
The day’s break went from the drop of the flag, and featured Gal Glivar (Alpecin-Deceuinck), Jakub Otrupa (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Liam Slock (Lotto) and Nico Denz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). They gained almost three minutes but Tom Pidcock’s Q36.5 Pro Cycling worked hard to limit any further gains.
Denz was dropped but his place was later taken by Sinuhé Fernández (Burgos Burpellet BH) 132k from the finish.
Slock took the intermediate sprint and the break raced onwards, holding a 2:05 advantage with 80km left. Otrupa attacked with 46km left and while Glivar and Slock were able to rejoin, Fernández was dropped and reabsorbed by the bunch.
Q36.5 Pro Cycling were again driving the pace behind for Pidcock. However the peloton’s momentum was affected by wet, slippery conditions, with a crash taking down American rider Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) and George Bennett (Israel-Premier Tech).
Another sliding spill occured just inside 30km to go, bringing down Pidcock, Vingegaard, Axel Zingle and Victor Campenaerts (both Visma-Lease a Bike) plus several others.
All were able to remount, although Zingle was delayed for several minutes.
Slock jumped clear of the break on gradually steepening roads with 8km to go but was caught 2km later.
First battle for the overall contenders
Jonas Vingegaard took over the race lead from Jasper Philipsen (Photo: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
The GC teams worked hard to try to get their leaders into position. Lidl-Trek and Visma-Lease a Bike led them into 2km to go, with things getting much steeper after that.
Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) launched an all-out move with 600 meters to go, with Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) bringing him back.
Ciccone then put in a huge sprint but Vingegaard tracked him with determination, then lunged past him at the line.
The victory was his first since the final stage TT in the Volta ao Algarve in February, and marks him out as the rider to watch in this race.
It also shows that he coped well with the fall he had heading into the finale.
“I went down pretty hard, but it seems like I didn’t hurt myself too bad,” Vingegaard said. “I had a bit of bruises. I think because it was so slippery, I was sliding more, so I didn’t really get any bad road rash or anything. “
What’s next
Stage 3 has an easier finish than stage 2, but overall a more challenging profile. It includes a second category climb 65.2km after the start in San Maurizio Canavese and then undulating roads heading towards the uphill finish in Ceres.
That final climb is ranked just category 4 but steepens near the summit and could see off any remaining sprint specialists. If Vingegaard decides it is too early to lead his team may allow a breakaway to gain significant time, but there are plenty of other squads who would chase in the hope of a stage win.