{"id":145257,"date":"2025-09-15T08:59:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T08:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/145257\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T08:59:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T08:59:08","slug":"vingegaard-secures-vuelta-title-as-race-stopped-by-madrid-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/145257\/","title":{"rendered":"Vingegaard secures Vuelta title as race stopped by Madrid protests"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Overall leader team Visma-Lease a Bike’s Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard celebrates winning the 20th stage of the Vuelta a Espana 2025, on Saturday. Vingegaard’s win on Sunday was his third Grand Tour victory, after the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023.OSCAR DEL POZO\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Denmark\u2019s Jonas Vingegaard won the Vuelta a Espana on Sunday but was denied crossing the line in triumph as the 21st and final stage of the trouble-hit three-week race was abandoned when pro-Palestinian protesters blocked the finish in Madrid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pity that such a moment of eternity was taken from us. I\u2019m really disappointed about that,\u201d said Vingegaard, who celebrated in his team car rather than the podium.<\/p>\n

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider effectively wrapped up victory in the year\u2019s last Grand Tour victory after winning Saturday\u2019s mountain stage to stretch his lead over Portugal\u2019s Joao Almeida to one minute and 16 seconds.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s ride from Alalpardo into the capital was always going to be little more than a procession for the peloton but with riders already in Madrid and approaching the city circuit they were halted at around 6.20 p.m with 60 km remaining.<\/p>\n

Vingegaard was seen shaking hands with teammates as confusion reigned, before it was confirmed that the race would not reach its scheduled finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor security reasons, stage 21 of La Vuelta has been ended early. There will be no podium ceremony,\u201d organizers said, as thousands of protesters filled downtown Madrid. \u201cThe race has been officially ended and Jonas Vingegaard is the winner.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is the first time one of cycling\u2019s Grand Tours has been prevented from completing its final stage by political demonstrators since the Vuelta in 1978 was halted by Basque separatists in San Sebastian.<\/p>\n

While the race will be remembered for the chaotic protests since stage five, it was a landmark one for Vingegaard.<\/p>\n

It was his third Grand Tour victory, after the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n

He is also the first Danish winner of the Spanish race.<\/p>\n

Almeida (UAE Team Emirates XRG) was second with Britain\u2019s Tom Pidcock third \u2013 his first top three in a Grand Tour.<\/p>\n

That Vingegaard, the pre-face favourite, would win the general classification has rarely looked in doubt since he reclaimed the leader\u2019s red jersey on stage 10.<\/p>\n

There was still hope for Almeida before Saturday\u2019s brutal 165.6 km ride from Robledo de Chavela but Vingegaard poured on the power in the last kilometre of the climb to the finish at Bola del Mundo to underline his class.<\/p>\n

What had looked in more doubt though was whether the 90th edition of the Vuelta \u2013 a race that is no stranger to protests \u2013 would even reach its climax in Madrid.<\/p>\n

Trouble started on stage five in Figueres when half a dozen demonstrators attempted to stop the Israel-Premier Tech team from racing their time trial.<\/p>\n

Stage 11 to Bilbao was suspended three km from the finale because of protests, stage 16 was cut short by eight km and stage 18\u2019s time trial in Valladolid was more than halved in length because of security fears.<\/p>\n

Stage 20 finished as planned despite a sitdown protest around 18 km from the finish that forced riders to re-route. Sunday\u2019s stage had already been diverted to avoid demonstrations in outlying towns. But once a large group of banner-waving protesters swarmed Madrid\u2019s Paseo de la Castellana, the planned finish, organizers had to admit defeat.<\/p>\n

Far from rising across the line with arms aloft, Vingegaard was left to celebrate in the back of his yellow team car.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must realize that sport is essentially about connection. It can build bridges and foster mutual understanding,\u201d Visma-Lease a Bike CEO Richard Plugge said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the participants must be protected: they cannot become victims of this societal debate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Overall leader team Visma-Lease a Bike’s Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard celebrates winning the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,635,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-145257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-cycling","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}