Vingegaard Secures Vuelta a España Victory with Stage Win at Bola del Mundo
Bola del Mundo,Spain - Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) emphatically sealed his overall victory in the Vuelta a España today with a decisive stage win on the challenging Bola del Mundo climb. The Danish rider attacked with just over a kilometer remaining, opening a gap that he extended to the finish, winning by 11 seconds over teammate Sepp Kuss.
The final stage saw early attacks from João Almeida, who attempted to set a pace that would challenge Vingegaard, but the race leader remained comfortable. Hindley (Red Bull) launched a late bid to gain time on Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) over 2km from the finish, driving to secure a podium position. Vingegaard responded to Hindley’s acceleration, ultimately launching his winning move.
Tom Pidcock finished fourth, 16 seconds behind Vingegaard, securing his third place in the general classification. Almeida finished 22 seconds down, confirming his second-place finish overall - his best result in a three-week Grand Tour.
“Of course I wanted to win in Bilbau and L’Anglir,but Bay del Mundo is also something special,” Vingegaard said after the stage. “To be honest, I started to feel a little better today, better than in previous mountain stages, so I’m happy with how it evolved for me today and how the team did in the last three weeks. I wouldn’t say I would feel comfortable at the pace that João and Jai put on, but at least I felt I wasn’t on my limit yet, so I had a good chance to win the stage.”
Almeida, despite illness during the week, expressed satisfaction with his performance. ”So the feelings were not the best,but we still tried it and it matters,” he stated. “I don’t regret anything. And congratulations to Jonas,he was super strong. It’s not bad to be right behind him.”
Matthew Riccitelo (IPT) finished sixth, securing the white jersey as the best young rider, overtaking Pellizzari in the final standings. “The white jersey was the goal we went to the stage,” Riccitelo explained. “I went to the stage with it as if I had nothing to lose.”
Full results are available at LaVuelta.es.
