Vingegaard Secures Vuelta a Espaรฑa Leadโข with Bola โdel Mundo Stageโฃ Victory
BOLA DEL MUNDO, SPAIN – September 13, 2025 – Jonas Vingegaardโค (Visma-Lease a bike) dramatically extendedโค his lead in the vuelta a Espaรฑa with a commanding solo โvictory on the punishing Bola del mundo summit finish, 1.2km from the top of the brutally steep โconcrete road leading to the telecoms station at โค2,251 meters.
Vingegaard attacked, passing Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe)โฃ beforeโฃ a right-hand turn and distancing the group includingโ overall contender Joรฃo Almeida (UAE Teamโข Emirates-XRG). He finished 11 seconds ahead of teammate Sepp Kuss,with Hindley third,Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) fourth, and Almeida fifth.
The winโฃ marked Vingegaard’s third โขstage victory of the race โฃand secured a 10-second bonus,pushing his overall advantage to 1 minute and โ16 seconds over Almeida with only one sprint stage remaining on Sunday in โขMadrid. pidcock solidified his first Grand Tour podium โขfinish, holding offโ Hindley for third place overall.
“I wanted to win in bilbao and I wanted to win on Angliru, but Bola del โMundo is also very special one,” Vingegaard said post-race. He describedโค his winning move, stating, “I was feelingโฆatโข leastโ I felt like that I wasn’tโฃ on my limit.I feltโ thatโค Iโ had a good chance of winning the stage. At one point I just decided,’Now I’m going to โtry.’ And then immediatelyโ I got a โgap. The last fewโข hundred meters were โincredibly โขhard. Iโ almost went into the barrier, a โsmall mistake onโค my part.”
Vingegaard also revealed he had been battling illness recently, but felt improved for today’s โstage.”I felt better โthan the previous mountain top finishes. So I’m superโฃ happy with how things โwent for me today andโ how the team has done in the last three weeks. The team has been so โฃamazing. I couldn’t have done it withoutโค them.”
Almeida acknowledged feeling unwell but emphasized his team’s effort. “We had to try, we had nothing to lose,” he โขsaid. “The idea was to do it asโ fast as we could, make the stage โฃas hardโ asโฃ we could. unfortunately, I’ve been sick this โweek, so the feeling wasn’t the โbest. But we still tried and I think that’s what matters.โ I’ve got no regrets.โข We did what we could. Congrats to Jonas. He was super strong, and I think it’sโ not too bad being behind โhim.”
Inโ a separate advancement,โข Matthew โRiccitello (Israel-PremierTech) overtook Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) to claim the white jersey as โฃbest young rider.