{"id":131640,"date":"2025-09-12T06:36:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T06:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/131640\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T06:36:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T06:36:10","slug":"is-fatigued-jonas-vingegaard-carrying-residual-weakness-into-vuelta-a-espana-saturday-showdown-amid-joao-almeida-battle-hell-be-worried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/131640\/","title":{"rendered":"Is ‘fatigued’ Jonas Vingegaard carrying ‘residual weakness’ into Vuelta a Espana Saturday showdown amid Joao Almeida battle? – ‘He’ll be worried’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) will feel “worried” after shipping time to Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on Stage 18 of La Vuelta a Espana<\/a>, believes TNT Sports expert Matt Stephens.<\/p>\n

It means leader Vingegaard and second-placed Almeida are separated at the top of the red jersey rankings by only 40 seconds with three stages to go, with Britain’s Tom Pidcock still going strong in third at two minutes and 39 seconds back from the lead.<\/p>\n

With Friday looking set to be a quiet day in the GC battle, it’s all set up for a Saturday showdown at the Puerto de Navacerrada ski station, where the penultimate Stage 20 will finish at 2,251 metres above sea level.<\/p>\n

Vingegaard might go into the stage with the lead, but Stephens thinks the two-time Tour de France winner will “be a little bit worried” following his Stage 18 display.<\/p>\n

“I honestly think that Jonas – and I say this with the utmost of respect – I don’t think this is the greatest Jonas we’re seeing.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s a slightly fatigued one, I think he might be carrying residual weakness from the illness that he has spoken about<\/a>, which explained the rather muted way that he rode the two Queen stages.<\/p>\n

“But in saying that, it was a really resilient ride yesterday.<\/p>\n

“The net result is a very, very close battle. It’s one step forwards, two steps back. They take seconds one day and lose them the next.<\/p>\n

“Let’s come up with a situation on Saturday where UAE do put a satellite rider up the road, Almeida manages to drop him, takes the time bonus; all it needs is a 20-second gap and a 10-second time bonus for somebody in between, and this Vuelta has swung in the other direction.<\/p>\n

“I think the advantage has swung to Almeida in terms of belief.”<\/p>\n

\"picture\"<\/p>\n

Highlights: Ganna delivers ITT masterclass as Vingegaard loses time<\/p>\n

Video credit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n

Ahead of Tuesday’s Stage 16, Vingegaard had admitted to being slightly under the weather.<\/p>\n

“I had a little bit in the throat the last week, but I’m feeling better now,” the Dane said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I think there has been a lot of sickness in the bunch. Nothing that bothers me.”<\/p>\n

That sickness saw Vingegaard’s team-mate Victor Campenaerts withdraw before the final week, leaving Visma with only a team of six to defend the red jersey.<\/p>\n

Despite his time loss to Almeida on Thursday, Vingegaard admitted – three times – to feeling “happy” with his performance around the streets of Valladolid.<\/p>\n

When initially asked if he was feeling “relieved” following the stage, Vingegaard answered: “To be honest, yes.<\/p>\n

“It was a completely flat time trial, a very fast one, I don’t think that favours guys around 60 kilos, it favours way more the bigger guys.<\/p>\n

“I think I did a good time trial and I’m happy with my performance and where I am now.<\/p>\n

\"picture\"<\/p>\n

Pidcock: That was my best-ever time trial<\/p>\n

Video credit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n

“I’m still in the lead, so I’m happy with how today turned out.<\/p>\n

He added: “Today I felt better and the legs were there, so I’m happy with how it went.”<\/p>\n

Stage 19 is a flat 162km run from Rueda to Guijuelo that is likely to see a sprint finish, before Saturday’s brutal mountainous showdown.<\/p>\n

Watch and stream the remainder of the cycling season, including the climax of La Vueltaa Espana, on TNT Sports and discovery+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) will feel “worried” after shipping time to Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,56668,9046,101,56,54,55,59532],"class_list":{"0":"post-131640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-joao-almeida","10":"tag-jonas-vingegaard","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom","15":"tag-vuelta-a-espana-2025"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}