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2025-09-13T14:59:57.830Z
Vingegaard, Kuss, Tullet, Almeida, Vine, Pidcock, Howson, Hindley, Riccitello, Traen, Pickering and Lecerf are the riders in the group of favourites.
2025-09-13T14:58:43.688Z
Landa and Ciccone still lead by 25 seconds, but the gradient is about to ramp up to a much steeper gradient. This is where the mountain starts to get really hard.
5KM TO GO
2025-09-13T14:56:51.070Z
Vine is Almeida’s last man. When is he going to make his move?
2025-09-13T14:55:28.782Z
Now Jorgenson has been dropped. Thankfully for Vingegaard, he still has both Kuss and Tulett to support him.
2025-09-13T14:54:31.295Z
Felix Gall, who was 7th on GC, is the latest to be dropped by this turn from Vine.
2025-09-13T14:54:05.484Z
Bernal’s been caught.
2025-09-13T14:53:47.904Z
Both Pellizzari’s fifth place on GC and white jersey are now under threat.
2025-09-13T14:53:25.797Z
Giulio Pellizzari’s been dropped! That’s a surprise given how well he looked to win a mountain stage a few days ago.
2025-09-13T14:52:30.922Z
All of the riders in the top ten of GC are present.
2025-09-13T14:52:12.825Z
Großschartner’s finished, Vine takes over, and the group’s down to about 20 riders.
2025-09-13T14:51:20.622Z
You can read more about the protests that held up the race before the final climb here.
2025-09-13T14:49:43.583Z
There’s still 8km to ride to get to the top.
2025-09-13T14:48:15.237Z
The pace still isn’t that high from UAE, and the peloton still has about 25 riders left in it.
2025-09-13T14:47:17.725Z
Van der Lee has been caught by the peloton, still being led by Großschartner.
2025-09-13T14:46:07.693Z
Landa has dragged himself back to the wheel of Ciccone.
2025-09-13T14:44:04.567Z
Ciccone’s maintaining his lead for now, holding 10 seconds over Landa, and 1:13 over the peloton.
10KM TO GO
2025-09-13T14:42:08.307Z
In the peloton, Großschartner has taken over, Ayuso’s work done. Marc Soler has also gone.
2025-09-13T14:41:35.907Z
Ciccone attack again and drops Landa. He leads the race – but only by 1:12 over the peloton.
2025-09-13T14:41:05.275Z
Landa has been caught by Ciccone, who has also dropped Bernal.
2025-09-13T14:39:06.716Z
Here we go then, they’ve began the final climb! Three weeks of racing all comes down to this.
BOLA DEL MUNDO
2025-09-13T14:37:57.133Z
Van der Lee is dropped by Ciccone and Bernal, as the road goes up just before the official start of the mountain.
2025-09-13T14:35:58.889Z
Landa is 12 seconds ahead of Bernal, Ciccone and Van der Lee, and 1:15 ahead of the peloton.
2025-09-13T14:33:30.337Z
Armirail has been caught by the peloton.
2025-09-13T14:33:16.926Z
UAE, preparing their assault on the red jersey as they approach the final climb.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
2025-09-13T14:32:32.252Z
Ciccone, Bernal and Van der Lee are together behind Landa.
2025-09-13T14:31:38.312Z
Although the riders managed to get through the road block, their teams cars have been held up.
2025-09-13T14:31:03.552Z
At some point Mikel Landa went clear from the rest of the break, and now leads the race.
2025-09-13T14:30:41.081Z
Both the break and the peloton appear to have gone through the block.
2025-09-13T14:30:12.026Z
There are some pro-Palestine protesters trying to block the road.
2025-09-13T14:27:12.944Z
Ciccone has attacked and dropped the others.
2025-09-13T14:26:59.943Z
Landa, Ciccone and Bernal are persevering. They still have 1 minute over the peloton – but all eyes are on the latter as we await the final showdown in the race for the red jersey.
20KM TO GO
2025-09-13T14:24:11.440Z
Van der Lee and Amrirail have been dropped by Bernal, Ciccone and Landa.
2025-09-13T14:23:25.266Z
The riders will start Bola del Mundo in about 10 kilometre’s time. It’s 12.2km long, but it’s the gradients that really make it difficult, averaging 8.6%, and with stretches much steeper than that. The final kilometres are especially agonising, when the road surface becomes concrete and thus even more difficult to drag yourself up.
2025-09-13T14:20:43.199Z
The riders in between who were dropped by the front five have sat up and are about to be caught.
2025-09-13T14:20:16.579Z
The peloton has the break in sight now. With 25km left to ride, they’re just 45 seconds up the road.
2025-09-13T14:19:48.379Z
This is what the top of the Bola del Mundo looks like. There are no spectators there, as they’ve been barred entry for environmental reasons.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
2025-09-13T14:17:52.276Z
Jonas Vingegaard, safely in the peloton. He has just one more climb to survive in the red jersey – but what a climb it is.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
2025-09-13T14:15:03.643Z
Ayuso led the peloton all the way to the top, meaning Almeida still has four riders with him, Vine, Soler and Großschartner. They have tried nay outside the box tactics today, but are well-positioned to ignite the race on the final climb.
2025-09-13T14:10:01.709Z
There are only five riders left in the front group: Ciccone, Landa, Bernal, Amirail and Van der Lee. They lead the peloton by 1:05, with chasers dropped from the break in between.
40KM TO GO
2025-09-13T14:08:19.929Z
The leaders are increasing their advantage a little on this descent, to 1:05, but that’s not going to be enough to contest the stage win.
2025-09-13T14:05:49.231Z
The peloton crest the climb about a minute later. Everyone is now plunging down this descent, after which it won’t be long till theyre climbing back up the mountain again.
2025-09-13T14:03:57.882Z
Van der Lee moves to the front of the lead group to take points at the top of the summit.
KOM – ALTO DE NAVACERRADA
2025-09-13T14:02:26.914Z
Ayuso is still leading as they near the summit, and has brought the back to under one minute.
2025-09-13T14:01:13.234Z
This work from UAE has seen the gap come down to 1:05. The break will make it to the top of the climb still at the front, but are very unlikely to survive the final climb.
50KM TO GO
2025-09-13T13:59:48.777Z
Juan Ayuso is doing the work for UAE on this climb. Behind him, Vine, Soler and Großschartner are poised to take over. For once at this Vuelta, Almeida is surrounded by teammates.
2025-09-13T13:58:34.146Z
Bernal, Landa, Tiberi, Dunbar and Fortunato are some of the riders still in the leading group. Bernard continues to set the pace, for Ciccone.
2025-09-13T13:56:48.578Z
There are only about 12 riders from the day’s break still left in it.
2025-09-13T13:52:05.246Z
UAE and Red Bull, pulling the peloton.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
2025-09-13T13:50:51.967Z
In the break, Verona has finished his turn, and now Bernard takes over to work for Ciccone.
2025-09-13T13:50:00.319Z
Zwiehoff is the Red Bull rider pacing the peloton.
2025-09-13T13:48:45.269Z
Red Bull lead the peloton on the climb.
2025-09-13T13:48:21.696Z
Riders are also being jettisoned out of the peloton as they start the climb. This has already been a very fatiguing day, and it’s just become even harder.
2025-09-13T13:46:13.755Z
In fact, about ten riders have gone already, as Lidl set the pace.
2025-09-13T13:45:48.941Z
The break as begun the climb, and already riders are being dropped out of it – Rivera and Vansevenant among them.
2025-09-13T13:40:35.774Z
Still the gap remains at 1:30. The climbing will soon commence, and we can anticipate the first real moves from UAE as they seek to put Vingegaard under pressure.
60KM TO GO
2025-09-13T13:35:34.677Z
The upcoming mountain, the Alto de Navacerrada, climbs for 6.9km at 7.6%. This is also the same climb they will return to for the finish, although that time they’ll climb even higher up to the Bola del Mundo.
2025-09-13T13:29:49.849Z
(Image credit: Getty Images)
2025-09-13T13:27:01.838Z
The road is about to start tilting gradually uphill, as they approach the foothills of the Alto de Navacerrada. The break’s lead remains at just 1:30.
70KM TO GO
2025-09-13T13:25:29.845Z
Here’s the top of the Bola del Mundo, the concrete surface the riders will have to haul themselves up at the end of the stage.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
2025-09-13T13:16:29.455Z
Bjorn Koerdt is with the medical car, getting his wounds that he sustained in the crash earlier seen to.
2025-09-13T13:15:14.755Z
The gap’s remaining steady, at 1:20. There’s a sense of discouragement in the break, where all their efforts look set to be in vain.
80KM TO GO
2025-09-13T13:12:31.761Z
Jonas Vingegaard revealed prior to the stage that he and his Visma team would take a back seat and wait for others to attack them today, and that’s been their approach so far, hiding in the peloton while UAE and Red Bull do all the work.
2025-09-13T13:04:30.884Z
The break aren’t managing to extend their lead on this undulating section. They’re being kept at 1:30 by the peloton, with Red Bull and UAE still doing the work.
90KM TO GO
2025-09-13T13:03:27.957Z
Both are back up and riding.
2025-09-13T13:02:48.119Z
A crash in the peloton, Brieuc Rolland and Bjorn Koerdt are the two riders down.
2025-09-13T13:00:18.089Z
There’s a prolonged section of undulating roads before the penultimate of the day’s five climbs, the very hard Alto de Navacerrada. Brace yourself – it’s on this category one mountains that the first big GC attacks are made.
2025-09-13T12:52:45.588Z
1:20 is the break’s lead, as they descend the climb. That’s a very slender margin.
100KM TO GO
2025-09-13T12:49:59.533Z
Nicolau might have been a contender for the King of the Mountains earlier in the Vuelta, but has run out of climbs to challenge Vine’s lead in the classification, with none on the menu tomorrow. The only man who can prevent Vine from winning that classification is Vingegaard, who is 20 points behind him.
2025-09-13T12:46:09.735Z
Nicolau leads the peloton over the top of the climb to pick up a few points in the KOM classification.
2025-09-13T12:42:57.667Z
Eddie Dunbar is one of the riders in the break, despite saying prior to the stage that he didn’t fancy their chances of holding off the peloton for the win today. So far, his prognosis appears likely to be correct.
2025-09-13T12:39:58.970Z
The break is all strung out in one line as the pace is increased in response to the peloton’s chase. Some are struggling to hold on, with Rivera dropped.
2025-09-13T12:36:31.726Z
The pace is high, but Jonas Vingegaard certainly looks untroubled. He waves and blows a kiss to the camera as the TV moto rides past him on this climb.
2025-09-13T12:32:56.150Z
UAE and Red Bull’s work has seen the break’s lead come down to 1:20. It might be a strong group out front, but they’re not looking good to survive.
110KM TO GO
2025-09-13T12:29:36.667Z
Red Bull and especially UAE are keeping this break very tightly controlled. For the first time all race, it seems the latter are all in for Almeida, and want to deliver him the stage win (and the bonus seconds available) as well as the red jersey.
2025-09-13T12:26:24.753Z
The riders are on the third climb of the day, and it’s hardest so far – the category two Alto del León.
2025-09-13T12:24:25.224Z
Bahrain and Ineos are the two teams leading the break, for their respective men Buitrago and Bernal.
2025-09-13T12:20:31.426Z
There are once again huge numbers of pro-Palestine protesters on the roadside.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
2025-09-13T12:19:31.449Z
Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe are also assisting UAE with the pace-setting. At some point their leader Jai Hindley is sure to go on the attack as he eyes up Pidcock’s place on the podium.
2025-09-13T12:14:03.755Z
The gap has gone up to 1:30, and some riders in the peloton are taking long-awaited comfort breaks. UAE haven’t sat up, but the pace is slower than it was.
120KM TO GO
2025-09-13T12:11:13.488Z
Pedersen has dropped out of the break and back into the peloton.
2025-09-13T12:07:19.609Z
Carlos Verona leads the break. He’s one of four Lidl riders in this group, along with Ciccone, Pedersen and Bernard.
2025-09-13T12:04:26.097Z
Here’s Mads Pedersen pulling along the brekaway a little earlier.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
2025-09-13T12:02:35.045Z
Some of the standout names in this lead group include: Bernal, Landa, Ciccone and Buitrago.
2025-09-13T12:01:24.052Z
There are arund 35 riders in this lead group, and their lead is being held steady at just under a minute. UAE don’t look happy with it, and continue to set a fierce pace.
130KM TO GO
2025-09-13T11:58:31.226Z
The gap grows as the riders fly down this descent, to just under a minute.
2025-09-13T11:55:17.677Z
The leaders go over the Puerto de la Paradilla summit, with nobody contesting the KOM points. The leader in that classification, Jay Vine, has not gotten into the break, instead sticking to his UAE leader Almeida.
PUERTO DE LA PARADILLA
2025-09-13T11:50:55.539Z
UAE continue to set tempo in the peloton, at a slightly slower pace than the break, that has gradually increased its lead to 40 seconds.
140KM TO GO
2025-09-13T11:49:17.379Z
No GC threats appear to be in this group, but there are plenty of quality climbers and therefore potential stage winners, including Bernal, Ciccone and Dunbar.
2025-09-13T11:47:00.485Z
Kelland O’Brien has taken over from Pedersen, leading the group which now must have around 30 riders in it.
2025-09-13T11:45:18.618Z
The leaders have 30 seconds on the peloton, but some in the latter aren’t content to let them go yet. A couple of Astana riders are the latest to attack from it.
2025-09-13T11:44:29.831Z
In that lead group, it’s that man again, Mads Pedersen, who is setting the pace at the front.
2025-09-13T11:44:01.252Z
Bernal has attacked out of the peloton, and is trying to bridge up to the lead group.
2025-09-13T11:43:33.594Z
UAE are controlling the peloton, setting tempo. They don’t appear to have anyone in the front group.
2025-09-13T11:43:02.727Z
The peloton earlier, when Ineos were instigating the initial moves.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
2025-09-13T11:41:55.103Z
The riders are climbing again, up the second hill of the day – the category three Puerto de la Paradilla.
2025-09-13T11:41:01.369Z
There looks to be more than 20 riders in this lead group.
2025-09-13T11:40:11.142Z
Marit has had a crash.
2025-09-13T11:39:59.344Z
The first chase group has caught the leaders, forming a big new lead group.
2025-09-13T11:37:38.747Z
Actually, it’s not the ‘peloton’ that’s behind them, but rather a series of smaller groups that the peloton has fractured into.
2025-09-13T11:37:02.734Z
There are eight riders in this lead group, including some big names, but their lead on the peloton is only a few seconds.
150KM TO GO
2025-09-13T11:35:54.669Z
Buitrago leads this group over the top of the climb, with Landa and Ciccone also having joined it.
KOM – ALTO DE LA ESCONDIDA
2025-09-13T11:34:56.461Z
Five riders join Buitrago, including Aular, Vansevenant and Dunbar.
2025-09-13T11:33:45.383Z
Buitrago pushes on off the front to go solo, 1km from the summit.
2025-09-13T11:33:10.568Z
The riders at the start.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
2025-09-13T11:32:07.257Z
This lead group keeps getting bigger and bigger as more riders join it from the peloton.
2025-09-13T11:30:40.627Z
A group of about 10 has joined Ciconne and Rivera.
2025-09-13T11:28:52.299Z
Ciccone has attacked, and got a gap with Ineos’ Rivera.
2025-09-13T11:28:12.481Z
That group’s been brought back by the peloton.
2025-09-13T11:27:47.805Z
Yet another Ineos rider, Langellotti, is at the front of the lead group, trying to push on.
2025-09-13T11:26:21.161Z
About 12 more riders are about to join them, while the peloton is only seconds behind.
2025-09-13T11:25:26.741Z
About 7 riders have done so, including a third Ineos rider, Kwiatkowski.
2025-09-13T11:24:56.952Z
There are more attackers jumping out of the peloton trying to join the Ineos duo.
2025-09-13T11:23:50.042Z
Egan Bernal has gone clear of the peloton, and joined his teammate Ganna.
2025-09-13T11:21:30.439Z
There’s a flurry of attacks right from the flag, and Ganna has managed to get a small gap.
2025-09-13T11:21:07.964Z
The race at last gets going, right at the foot of the first climb of the day, the category three Alto de la Escondida.
2025-09-13T11:20:10.310Z
And we’re off!
OFFICIAL START
2025-09-13T11:19:22.279Z
Elia Viviani is the latest to get a bike change. He was one of the riders to go down in the crash.
2025-09-13T11:15:47.190Z
Now an Arkea rider is getting a bike change. Still we wait to start.
2025-09-13T11:13:55.012Z
The start’s been delayed some more as Bahrain-Victorious’s Mathijs Paasschens has a mechanical.
2025-09-13T11:11:11.563Z
The official start has been delayed as they wait for those held up by that crash to return to the peloton.
2025-09-13T11:10:39.991Z
The other major narrative playing out today is the race for the podium. Tom Pidcock still holds on to the place, but only by 39 seconds ahead of Jai Hindley, who is a third week specialist and tends to end Grand Tours strongly. Hindley’s bound to have his eye on that spot, and Pidcock may have to produce one of the climbing performances of his career to hold on to it.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
2025-09-13T11:10:01.997Z
UAE’s Mikkel Bjerg is one of those riders.
2025-09-13T11:09:17.106Z
There’s been a minor incident in the peloton in the neutralised one. A few riders appear to have crashed at slow speed, but all seem OK.
2025-09-13T11:04:37.046Z
João Almeida believes he can take the red jersey today. “It’s not much, to be honest,” he said in a pre-race interview of his deficit of 44 seconds. “I think everything is open.”
2025-09-13T11:01:44.394Z
The riders have left the unofficial start and will be racing soon.
2025-09-13T11:01:11.250Z
This is set to be a significant day in the career of Jonas Vingegaard. The supremacy of Tadej Pogačar means he hasn’t actually won a Grand Tour since the 2023 Tour de France, since when he has made the podium three times. He will not want to extend that run to four podium finishes without a win by losing the red jersey today.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
2025-09-13T10:56:36.791Z
There is more than enough climbing today for Almeida to gain those 44 seconds. The five mountains today amount to a total of 4,226m elevation gain, including the feared Bola del Mundo, a horrible summit finish which could cause absolute carnage.
2025-09-13T10:52:38.789Z
This is the penultimate stage of the race, and the last in the mountains – and the GC race remains on a knife edge. Just 44 seconds separate Jonas Vingegaard and João Almeida at the top of classification, and the latter will need to throw everything at gaining that time today.
2025-08-11T19:08:59.022Z
Hello and welcome to stage 20 of the Vuelta a España!