As it happened: No stage winner but GC gaps emerge as Vuelta a España stage 10 disrupted by protestors

Jonas Vingegaard stays in red for another day.

2025-09-03T15:32:49.252Z

The riders don’t know what they’re doing I don’t think. No vehicles or soigneurs here to meet them yet, but I guess they’re going to be directed somewhere.

2025-09-03T15:31:59.102Z

Vingegaard and Pidcock should have gained about 10 seconds, but we’ll have to wait for the confirmed results, which could be a little slow to come through today, given everything.

2025-09-03T15:31:26.773Z

Vingegaard and Pidcock have just gone through the 3km to go point.

They’re slowing down now. They didn’t immediately know that was their finish line.

2025-09-03T15:30:28.936Z

I think we’re about 500m away from the ‘finish’ line.

2025-09-03T15:29:51.600Z

Vingegaard and Pidcock have 11 seconds on the Almeida group.

2025-09-03T15:28:45.306Z

Remember, they’re not racing for a stage win here, but they will be awarded any time they have over Almeida and co at the 3km to go point.

2025-09-03T15:28:18.831Z

Pidcock and Vingegaard are pushing on, a handful of seconds ahead of a group containing Almeida, Hindley, Jorgenson and Felix Gall.

2025-09-03T15:27:00.158Z

Vingegaard is back with Pidcock now.

4km to the de facto finish line.

Wow Pidcock has a good gap. He takes the max points over the top, and six bonus seconds.

Four for Vingegaard.

2025-09-03T15:25:37.562Z

Pidcock goes again! Vingegaard can’t match him on the steepest gradients.

2025-09-03T15:25:16.102Z

Pidcock drops Vingegaard!

But the Dane finds his way back onto his wheel. Hindley and Almeida are gone though.

2025-09-03T15:24:49.354Z

Almeida is struggling a bit. Hindley is third wheel and moving away from him.

Great riding from Pidcock.

2025-09-03T15:24:19.598Z

Pidcock accelerates!

Vingegaard right behind him.

2025-09-03T15:23:45.494Z

It’s super steep here. GC riders all together.

2025-09-03T15:23:31.477Z

Jorgenson is pacing.

They are racing, but there’s only 1km to the top, so not loads of time to make time gaps.

2025-09-03T15:23:04.164Z

Apologies, the riders are on the climb now.

And it seems the peloton won’t go to the finish line at all.

2025-09-03T15:22:05.322Z

Felix Großschartner setting the pace now for UAE.

Looks very much like this group are going to race the climb. GC fight incoming.

2025-09-03T15:20:59.374Z

Visma are setting the pace. We’re about 3km from the bottom of the Alto de Pike.

Or 7km until the point that matters. Riders probably won’t go to the finish line, I’d imagine.

2025-09-03T15:18:40.572Z

Really not sure what the riders are going to do here.

If a rider got a gap over the climb and went through the 3km to go point ahead, that time would be honoured on GC. But they might just not race.

The riders spoke about it, so seem to have come to a decision.

2025-09-03T15:16:33.806Z

That may mean the riders aren’t going to go to the finish line in Bilbao at all.

Given the barriers have been broken down and the police were using force on protesters trying to break onto the road, that seems like the correct decision.

Race radio has just confirmed that there won’t be a race winner today, due to the issues at the finish line. GC times will be taken 3km from the finish, but no one will win the stage.

“Due to some incidents at the finish line, we have decided to take the time at 3 kilometres before the line. We won’t have a stage winner. We will give the points for the mountain classification and the intermediate sprint, but not on the finish line.”

2025-09-03T15:14:19.227Z

Spanish TV are reporting that GC times are going to be taken 3km from the finish today. We’ll confirm that as and when the race do.

2025-09-03T15:13:28.713Z

Things have calmed down in the GC group, with UAE and Visma both with numbers.

They’re getting ready for the Alto del Pike, probably, but not sure if maybe something has been communicated about the race or route regarding those protests.

2025-09-03T15:12:25.835Z

João Almeida giving it a dig on the Alto del Vivero.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2025-09-03T15:09:17.896Z

These were the scenes at the finish line earlier.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2025-09-03T15:07:01.826Z

Onto the descent. The riders just have to take on the steep Alto de Pike, which 2.1km with an average gradient of 9.2%, and tops out just over 7km from the finish.

2025-09-03T15:03:28.320Z

Riders are coming back to the back of this group.

Tulett is on the front and not driving an unreasonable pace.

2025-09-03T15:02:59.073Z

10 riders in the leading red jersey group now.

Pidcock, Almeida and Ciccone are all there with Vingegaard.

2025-09-03T15:02:03.698Z

Almeida is trying again. Tulett and Vingegaard shut it down.

And the red jersey group has just caught Buitrago.

2025-09-03T15:01:00.555Z

Pellizzari is on the offensive now for Red Bull.

Not getting a gap but setting a tough pace.

João Almeida attacks!

Vingegaard is straight on his wheel.

2025-09-03T14:57:52.760Z

Buitrago’s gap is down to 20 seconds.

Interesting to see Red Bull working behind, they haven’t done much but both Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari are in a good position overall.

2025-09-03T14:56:53.389Z

More protesters just pulled a banner across the road in front of the peloton, but they got past without issue.

2025-09-03T14:55:14.602Z

No gaps in the peloton but Fisher-Black is setting the pace.

Vingegaard is third wheel, with Almeida behind him.

2025-09-03T14:54:25.949Z

Jay Vine and Finn Fisher-Black are pushing on in the peloton.

And Vingegaard accelerates up to them.

Back onto this climb.

Buitrago still has 40 seconds on the bunch.

Two climbs still to come.

2025-09-03T14:50:07.115Z

Tough for Landa. The peloton has come straight past him, he can’t put power through the pedals.

2025-09-03T14:48:04.950Z

Ah that’s the end of it for Landa, which is a shame.

He’s stretching his back, which he injured in a horrible crash at the Giro.

2025-09-03T14:47:40.695Z

Landa is having some kind of problem, possibly cramp in his back.

He’s dropped away from Buitrago and just freewheeling.

2025-09-03T14:45:27.949Z

With Pedersen’s points secured, that chase group is just being caught by the peloton.

Buitrago and Landa are 40 seconds ahead with 35km to go.

2025-09-03T14:44:45.117Z

Pedersen was awarded the third-best points at the sprint, as he had to slow because of the protests.

2025-09-03T14:41:41.046Z

That was quite a worrying scene at the finish. Unsure what that will mean for the actual finish of the race.

2025-09-03T14:40:47.096Z

They’re going through the finish in Bilbao and the protest scenes are fairly wild.

People were throwing paper onto the road, and seem to have broken down the barriers.

2025-09-03T14:34:39.051Z

Landismo.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Buitrago and Landa have 40 seconds over the chasers, and about 55 on the peloton.

2025-09-03T14:33:23.450Z

Pedersen is with the main chasing group now.

He wants to grab some points at the sprint, which is in 6km in Bilbao.

2025-09-03T14:26:55.600Z

Buitrago has joined up with Landa.

They have 23 seconds on the chasing group with Dunbar and Campenaerts.

Maximum points for Landa.

Looking like, further down the way, Mads Pedersen is on the attack. There’s a sprint at the bottom of the descent.

2025-09-03T14:25:26.606Z

A whole group of riders are attacking, with Bonneu – Campenaerts, Dunbar, Labrosse, Louis Rouland.

2025-09-03T14:24:05.140Z

It’s Kamiel Bonneu from Intermarché.

Great scenes on this climb with all the passionate Basque fans.

2025-09-03T14:21:28.505Z

Visma are policing things at the front of the peloton, but not shutting everything down.

An Intermarché is attacking now, following Buitrago and Landa – not quite sure who yet.

2025-09-03T14:19:41.543Z

Landa has about 25 seconds of a lead. Popular home attacker.

Santiago Buitrago has just countered behind.

Onto the Alto de Vivero, which the peloton will tackle twice.

Mikel Landa is attacking!

There we go, the leaders are caught.

Peloton all together.

2025-09-03T14:11:19.839Z

Vervaeke just joined Soler, but they’re only a few seconds ahead of the bunch.

2025-09-03T14:10:09.480Z

The peloton are just 16 seconds behind Soler now.

They’ll soon sweep up him and Vervaeke.

2025-09-03T14:07:30.093Z

Buitrago, Campenaerts and Nicolau are back in the peloton.

Vervaeke is still trying to reach Soler.

2025-09-03T14:06:43.625Z

Vervaeke is on the attack now from the chasers.

The gap is 26 seconds. Campenaerts and Buitrago weren’t working – just representing the GC teams – so makes sense for Vervaeke to leave them behind.

2025-09-03T14:04:30.147Z

Bike change for Sepp Kuss.

The four-man chase group is making some good progress towards Soler.

2025-09-03T14:00:55.474Z

That injection of pace has cut Soler’s lead, the group of four are only 40 seconds behind him.

2025-09-03T13:59:24.172Z

A small counter move went over the top of the climb.

Louis Vervaeke and Joel Nicolau wanted to grab some KOM points, so they’re now in a small group with Victor Campenaerts and Santiago Buitrago.

Soler takes max points.

2025-09-03T13:55:58.222Z

The car is talking to Soler right now.

Think they’re saying he can keep trying if he wants.

2025-09-03T13:50:34.008Z

Solo Soler

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Halfway done.

Expecting a lot of action in this second half.

2025-09-03T13:46:40.440Z

Soler has over a minute now.

Visma really have to control this though – remember, Soler is just 3:30 down on GC.

2025-09-03T13:45:01.440Z

Soler is doing better on his own, actually – his gap is back up to 50 seconds now he’s dispatched his passengers.

Pedersen and Aular caught by the peloton.

Onto the next dragging climb.

Soler is solo now.

2025-09-03T13:41:48.025Z

The gap is down to 30 seconds now.

Soler is pushing on ahead of Aular and Pedersen.

2025-09-03T13:40:53.012Z

It’s so beautiful and green in the Basque Country.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2025-09-03T13:39:14.157Z

Big old shift for Dylan van Baarle today. He’s been setting tempo for ages, it feels like.

2025-09-03T13:37:23.744Z

Not long until the next climb, which is 8.5km long, but only 3.5% average.

2025-09-03T13:34:27.987Z

Wheel change for Juan Ayuso.

2025-09-03T13:34:19.115Z

The gap is notably fallingg now, down to 47 seconds.

It will be interesting to see how this stage goes if they’re brought back early.

2025-09-03T13:30:04.626Z

Snaking down the descent now.

Three climbs done, four to go….

2025-09-03T13:27:56.237Z

It’s Jonas Vingegaard’s son’s birthday today, apparently, so he wants to win the stage for him.

Very sweet. Poor Marc Soler and Mads Pedersen, hopes dashed by a baby.

2025-09-03T13:27:21.396Z

Visma are still keeping this very close. 1:10 again now.

They roll over the KOM in order, with Soler taking max points.

His teammate Jay Vine is in the lead of the classification.

2025-09-03T13:18:41.588Z

The gap is actually going up, thanks to Soler’s efforts.

It’s 1:20 now. 2.4km to climb.

2025-09-03T13:16:46.583Z

Pedersen is finding this climb a bit hard, but still with the leaders.

Soler is setting the pace.

2025-09-03T13:15:43.336Z

Visma are keeping it steady on the climb for now.

The leaders are onto the next climb.

Another cat. 3, steepest of the day so far but still not a killer.

Just about to start the next climb.

It will be very interesting what this does for the break.

2025-09-03T13:02:53.638Z

The gap is back up to a minute now.

10km until the start of the next climb.

2025-09-03T13:00:07.946Z

Pedersen and Aular were just talking, with Pedersen pointing at Soler.

Basically saying “this guy is the reason we’re not getting a gap”.

2025-09-03T12:59:08.344Z

The gap is coming down a bit, it’s at 45 seconds now.

Visma would happily catch this trio, with Soler such a clear GC threat (even if that’s not what he’s there to do).

2025-09-03T12:54:53.395Z

Here’s an inside look at this morning’s safety meeting:

The leaders have 55 seconds. It’s been steady for a while here.

2025-09-03T12:40:11.270Z

The leaders have 50 seconds now.

Visma are pacing the peloton. Not clear if they want to close that gap or just control it.

2025-09-03T12:39:41.516Z

Those counter-attackers have been brought back by Visma.

2025-09-03T12:37:48.511Z

A couple more riders are attacking, and Ben Tulett from Visma is following them.

2025-09-03T12:36:47.255Z

30 seconds for the leaders now.

Soler being in this group might be a problem – he’s only 3:30 down on GC.

2025-09-03T12:32:22.038Z

The three leaders only have a gap of 15 seconds, so I won’t consider this deal done just yet.

The trio roll across and Pedersen takes the maximum points.

Mountain points won’t help his campaign for green, of course.

2025-09-03T12:30:47.749Z

Aular can’t or won’t take a turn.

Not great for a three man group to have a passenger.

2025-09-03T12:30:29.493Z

Kudos to this man, he hasn’t stopped attacking today.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2025-09-03T12:29:46.550Z

Can see just behind that Visma are trying to close the door on the peloton.

They’d be more or less happy with this trio.

2025-09-03T12:29:14.746Z

Two riders are with Pedersen – Marc Soler and Orluis Aular.

They’re speeding along to try and make this stick.

2025-09-03T12:28:11.140Z

Peloton all back together, and Pedersen attacks again.

The Dane is so strong.

2025-09-03T12:27:28.344Z

A group of 25 or so riders have a little gap on the rest of. the peloton, but it’s not really going anywhere.

Visma are keeping it close, and in fact the gap has just closed.

2025-09-03T12:26:38.700Z

The bunch is extremely strung out already.

Pedersen and Ayuso are still hovering around the front.

2025-09-03T12:25:29.598Z

Pedersen is caught.

Visma are also trying to shut down the riders who are trying to escape.

20km completed. Not a very long stage today.

The aggressors are about to catch up to Pedersen as the fight for the break continues.

2025-09-03T12:23:32.653Z

Ben O’Connor is struggling early. Ouch.

He’s not having a great race.

2025-09-03T12:22:56.041Z

Pedersen is still pushing on alone in the lead.

2025-09-03T12:22:15.513Z

Lots of movement and attacking at the front of the peloton.

This climb is the best time to try and make a gap.

2025-09-03T12:21:45.976Z

Riders are already dropping, including Jasper Philipsen, as the gruppetto forms early.

Pedersen has dropped Nicolau on the base of the climb. Impressive!

The climb is reigniting the attacks in the peloton as a fresh batch of riders come past the chasers.

2025-09-03T12:18:38.961Z

Jardi van der Lee and Jesus Herrada have joined Heßmann in the chase. Gijs Leemreize is trying to bridge from the peloton too.

2025-09-03T12:17:09.258Z

Chris Harper is caught, Michel Heßmann is pushing on to catch Labrosse and Glivar.

2025-09-03T12:16:18.030Z

Some images of the stoppage/protest earlier.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2025-09-03T12:13:17.259Z

More riders are attacking out of the peloton to try and join the leaders.

Visma are letting two more go, but maybe not much more than that.

2025-09-03T12:11:14.901Z

Pedersen is looking back behind him, hoping some more riders are coming up to join them.

Gal Glivar and Jordan Labrosse are chasing, with Harper and the Movistar rider just behind them.

2025-09-03T12:09:38.241Z

Through every town there are big crowds of people with Palestine flags.

This must be causing a bit of anxiety for the riders. You can see why they had a meeting about it this morning, and why it’s becoming a big issue.

2025-09-03T12:08:04.831Z

Looks like Chris Harper is attacking out of the peloton for Jayco, with a Movistar rider on his wheel.

2025-09-03T12:06:18.242Z

Okay, a new batch of riders are attacking to try and bridge.

It’s Visma who are making it hard for anyone to get away.

2025-09-03T12:05:52.336Z

Chasers are caught, and Pedersen and Nicolau have about 15 seconds of a gap.

They’re working well together but ideally need some stronger riders to join them.

2025-09-03T12:04:44.772Z

The next climb is coming in 10km, the Alto de Sollube.

This a more substantial climb than the first one, at 7.3km long.

2025-09-03T12:03:28.889Z

Bruno Armirail is trying to bridge up to the two leaders.

The five-rider group was caught.

2025-09-03T12:01:44.267Z

Pedersen and Nicolau are pushing on up front, with a five-rider group chasing them.

Visma are speeding along behind though.

Back to the race: Mads Pedersen is on the attack, with Joel Nicolau on his wheel.

Nicolau wins the max KOM points.

2025-09-03T11:58:44.221Z

Here is some more context from Daniel Friebe on this morning’s meeting.

The stoppage earlier avoided any incident, and the protest did not appear to be violent, so it depends how riders are defining ‘peaceful’.

We’re onto the first climb – my apologies for saying the first climb was after 20km, that’s actually the second.

The Alto de Laukiz starts straight away.

Flag drops and away we go!

Visma are immediately on the front, they’ll be policing who goes in the break today it seems like.

2025-09-03T11:50:22.376Z

In more lighthearted news, Jonas VIngegaard received a special gift this morning from Athletic Bilbao.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2025-09-03T11:47:40.423Z

2.5km left of the roll out.

That early protest could be a sign of more things to come. The Basque Country has been particularly fervent in its support for Palestine, dating back decades.

The peloton is rolling again.

2025-09-03T11:45:44.082Z

The riders are stopped behind the red lead car.

Protesters are at the side of the road holding flags and a banner.

The race has already been stopped, in the neutral, by protesters in the road.

2025-09-03T11:44:36.778Z

Team representatives, the race organisers, the CPA and the UCI met at the start this morning.

We’re not privy to the full outcome, but clearly it wasn’t to expel Israel-Premier Tech – not today, at least.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2025-09-03T11:41:20.893Z

Tom Pidcock spoke to Eurosport before the start. He’s a favourite today as the course should suit him.

He’s hoping Visma keep things together so the GC group can go for the stage win. That’s what he’s hoping to achieve in this race, and sees today as a possible opportunity.

2025-09-03T11:39:10.970Z

The riders are ready for a pretty full on start today.

The first climb starts after just under 20km.

2025-09-03T11:38:26.141Z

Israel-Premier Tech have started today, by the way.

We’re rolling.

There’s a 6.6km neutral zone today.

Two non-starters this morning:

Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Deceuninck)Paul Ourselin (Cofidis)

2025-09-03T11:31:22.066Z

The riders should be about to roll-out for the neutral start…

2025-09-03T11:29:38.938Z

It’s a very red outfit for Jonas Vingegaard, plus bar tape, though not a red bike.