The Vuelta a España has been dominating out attention over the past week and a bit since the race’s start in Italy last weekend, with the riders enjoying the first rest day after nine stages of action. Even though we haven’t seen much a huge amount of GC action in the first week, there’s still plenty to look back on as we dissect the winners and losers from the first nine days of racing.
Current standings:
General classification: 1st Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious); 2nd Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +37sec; 3rd João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates XRG) +1min 15sec
Mountains classification: Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates XRG) 34 points
Points classification: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 120 points
Youth classification: Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
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Winners
Resplendent in red
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The maillot rojo has passed through a few hands throughout the first week of the Vuelta. First it was Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), then Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) before a brief lease-a-jersey to David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) before it came back to Vingegaard.
Since Stage 6 it has been sitting on the shoulders of Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious), who is currently leading a Grand Tour for the first time. The 30-year-old recovered from testicular cancer in 2022 before signing for Bahrain-Victorious from Uno-X Mobility and is now racing his second Vuelta.
Double wins
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Two riders have already won two stages: Philipsen and Vingegaard. Philipsen was able to recover from his broken collarbone and early abandonment at the Tour de France to make it to the start line, where he expectantly claimed first day’s honours and the first red jersey.
He was the first to do the double in another of the few sprint opportunities at the race on Stage 8. Vingegaard followed suit soon after with victory on Stage 9 to head into the first rest day on solid ground.
Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers)
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Ben Turner wasn’t even meant to be at the Vuelta, yet he surged to victory on Stage 4 and beat none other than sprint dominator Philipsen in the process. The Brit was called in from racing the Renewi Tour to replace Lucas Hamilton who couldn’t start due to illness. That’s some immediate impression.
Finlay Pickering, meanwhile, was called in as an equally late replacement for Bahrain Victorious after Damiano Caruso fractured his hand. Will he be next?
Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers)
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Tom Pidcock is racing his second Grand Tour this season with wildcard invites for his Q36.5 Pro Cycling team at the Giro d’Italia and now the Vuelta. He came close to a stage win at the former with a third, fourth and fifth place and his best result so far at the Vuelta has been second behind Vingegaard on Stage 9.
With this performance he moved up to 4th overall, an ideal position so far given his mindset heading into the race of wanting simply to test himself on GC. So far his best finish in a Grand Tour is a 13th place at the Tour de France in 2023.
Losers
Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates XRG)
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It’s been somewhat of a topsy-turvy Vuelta already for 22-year-old Juan Ayuso. He was second overall after the Stage 5 ITT yet fell out of GC contention the next day despite being co-leader with Almeida at UAE Team Emirates XRG, losing almost 12 minutes in the Pyrenees. But things seemed to improve as he immediately attacked on the following stage, then launched a fuga de la fuga for victory and his first individual Vuelta stage win.
He celebrated by putting his fingers in his ears and posting on social media that ‘everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.’ Unfortunately Ayuso then paid for his efforts on Stage 9. On the last challenge before the rest day in the summit finish at Valdezcaray, he was dropped early and then lost 21 minutes at the line. He admitted that he was tired and couldn’t help the team much. You have to ask, with teammate Almeida in third overall and searching for his first Grand Tour win against the might of Vingegaard, was his breakaway exploit worth it?
But anyway, perhaps that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things as UAE Team Emirates XRG just confirmed he’s leaving the squad anyway at the end of 2025 despite his contract running through 2028. The mutual termination is very abrupt…
Elia Viviani (Lotto)
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Elia Viviani signed for Lotto at the beginning of the season, quelling rumours that he would be stepping off the road bike. While not in his sprinting heyday, the Italian arrived at his first Grand Tour in four years(!) and was able to sprint to second place on Stage 8 behind Philipsen. Or so he thought.
Viviani was relegated for deviating from his sprinting line and ended up being placed 105th.
Bike thieves
Unipublic/Cxcling/Toni Baixauli
Another Grand Tour, another bike theft. After Cofidis were hit at the Tour de France, this time it was Visma-Lease a Bike who saw 18 bikes stolen overnight before Stage 3. Some were recovered quickly after being found in bushes as the police launched an ongoing investigation.
