Vinegaard and Almeida show fatigue on stage 17 of Vuelta a España, Pidcock defends third in grueling summit finale hammered by strong winds.
Pellizzari celebrates victory Wednesday at the Vuelta (Photo: Getty Images) (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Updated September 10, 2025 10:44AM
Budding Italian star Giulio Pellizzari roared to a breakout victory at the Vuelta a España in the brutally steep finale at El Morredero on Wednesday.
The Vuelta’s 17th stage was contested without problems with protesters, and the GC fight was back in the headlines.
The Vuelta’s “Big 6” on GC of Jonas Vingegaard, João Almeida, Tom Pidcock, Jai Hindley and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammate Pellizzari, and American Matthew Riccitello hit 5km to go all together.
Pellizzari surged clear with 3.5km to go, putting pressure on Riccitello in the fight for the white jersey to give chase. Strong winds at the top and the presence of teammate Hindley gave the Italian an edge.
With the GC favorites watching each other, Pellizzari was opening up real estate despite a few surges from Riccitello.
At 1.5km to go, Pellizzari widened his gap to 35 seconds when Riccitello gave one last gasp.
Vingegaard and Almeida both seemed under-gassed, and there were no real attacks. The Dane crossed the line fourth, and squeezed two seconds out of Almeida.
“It was difficult to know if we were going to attack. It was a steady pace but Red Bull set a high pace and we were happy to ride the wheels,” said Visma’s Sepp Kuss. “Maybe Jonas didn’t have his best day but we’re still in red.”
Riccitello ceded time in the race for the white jersey, but finished sixth to prove he’s capable of climbing with the best deep into this Vuelta in what is a major confirmation for the 23-year-old from Arizona.
Pidcock also held tough to snatch the second-place time bonus and tighten his grip to 36 seconds to Hindley to defend third place.
Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson finished ninth and 10th, respectively, and Riccitello moved into seventh at 4:59 back.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), leading the green jersey, struggled early in the stage.
Races within the race
Recent fires devastated the region in western Spain. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
The stage was Vingegaard vs. Almeida for the red jersey. Pidcock vs. Hindley for third, and Pellizzari vs. Riccitello for the best white jersey.
Visma-Lease was intent on setting up Vingegaard for the win. Matteo Jorgenson took big-watt pulls to pace the group with 7km to go after the pace whittled down the GC group to 15 riders.
An early break was reeled in by the time the reduced GC bunch hit the start of the steepest part of the final climb. Despite threats of ongoing protests, the stage finale was contested without incident.
Felix Gall (Decathlon) was the first GC “big” to lose contact. The Austrian already struggled in Tuesday’s reduced stage and risked slipping back further on the overall standings.
Remnants of recent forest fires marked the hillsides as the peloton ticked up the narrow, steep climb.
Hindley launched with about 6km to go, but Pidcock was pinned on his wheel. Almeida missed the split and was under pressure to close the gap. Riccitello was impressive to join the leading quartet with Vingegaard.
The Vuelta’s “Big 6” of Vingegaard, Almeida, Pidcock, Hindley, Pellizzari, and Riccitello hit 5km to go all together. The race was on.
A gloves-down battle of the overall contenders
Antonio Tiberi (Team Bahrain – Victorious) and Sergio Samitier (Team Cofidis) lead the day’s breakaway (Photo: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Stage 17 of the Vuelta a España was a classic due between the breakaway and the GC riders, with over 120km of rolling roads prior to the summit finish to the Alto de El Morredero.
Eight riders went clear approximately 25km into the stage and were joined very soon afterwards by four more.
Visma duo Wilco Kelderman and Dylan van Baarle did a huge amount of chasing behind to limit the gains to around a minute and a half, although it did grow to almost two minutes at the bottom of the category 3 ascent of the Paso de las Travesias.
Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) led over the top while further back points leader Pedersen was dropped by the peloton. He was reported as being ill, although he had tried to get away at the start of the stage.
The break’s lead rose to two minutes but the Visma-led peloton had hewed that back to one minute with 25km to go. That prompted Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) to dart clear, followed by Harold Tejada (XDS Astana). Sergio Samitier (Cofidis) and Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL) joined them and the latter attacked with 13km left.
However he was reeled in just over a kilometer later by the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team, which had hit the front and were trying to soften things up.
Ayuso dropped, Almeida falters
Almeida wasn’t on his best day and neither were his team, who were missing in the finale (Photo: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Almeida’s UAE Team Emirates team was conspicuous by its absence, with Juan Ayuso dropped early on. Gall also went south, putting his sixth place under threat.
Visma-Lease a Bike took over with 10km to go, with Matteo Jorgenson and Ben Tulett putting Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) out the back and thinning down the group.
Hindley accelerated with 6.2km left and drew clear with Pidcock, Tulett, Vingegaard and Riccitello. Almeida was distanced but chasing hard, passing a dropped Tulett. He rejoined with 5.5km to go, bringing Hindley’s teammate Pellizzari with him.
The latter tried an unsuccessful move with 4km left and then surged again 3.4km left. This worked and he rocketed clear, while repeated accelerations by Riccitello stretched the group but didn’t provide any lasting gaps.
Pellizzari raced in to win, with Pidcock leaping clear for second and Hindley taking third. Vingegaard, Almeida and Riccitello were next, losing out on time bonuses but marking themselves out as amongst the strongest on the penultimate big summit finish of the race.
What’s next:
The Vuelta a España continues with a mostly flat time trial starting and finishing at Valladolid. The 27.2km test could favor the big powerhouses such as Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek) but the GC battle will rage. Vingegaard and Almeida will battle for red, while Pidcock, Hindley and Pellizzari will tussle for the third spot overall.