The latest red jersey change (and surprise) occurred after Thursday’s stage 6, the first difficult (but not super hard) mountain stage, with 3,600 meters of climbing over its 170.3 km from Olot to Pal. Andorra and ending with the second of 10 summit finishes, atop the Alto de Pal (9.6 km @ 6.5%). Race favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma–Lease a Bike) wore the red jersey for the third stage in the race but wasn’t intent on keeping it, as his team let a 10-rider breakaway take a lead of 6:30.
Vine’s solo victory and a new leader
The breakaway’s lead shrank to 4 minutes on the penultimate categorised climb, the Alto de la Comella (4.2 km @ 8%). Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates–XRG) launched a solo breakaway from the breakaway on the wet descent and then rode a 20 km solo to win the third Vuelta (and Grand Tour) stage of his career. The Aussie lives in Andorra, near the foot of that climb, and was welcomed at the finish by his wife and infant son.
“I decided to go at the top [of the climb] and… I know the descent really well, and I thought, ‘OK, this is my chance to get away, and then there’s no funny business. It’s just mano y mano’,” Vine said after the stage. “The Vuelta wasn’t on my schedule originally, so to be able to win in Andorra in front of my son and wife is unbelievable and incredibly motivating. That last 5 km, all I could think of was ‘This is for you, Harrison, this is for you’.”
The surprising Norwegian Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious) finished second, 54 seconds behind Vine but 3:25 ahead of Vingegaard, and will wear the red jersey on Friday. It is the first Grand Tour stage podium finish for the 30-year-old Norwegian and the first time he has led a Grand Tour in his career. This represents more than just a sporting success, for Træen was diagnosed with cancer in May 2022. He had surgery and was declared cancer-free two months later. Two years later, in June 2024, he won his first World Tour race, a stage in the Tour de Suisse. Now he has taken an even bigger step in his career, leading the GC in the Vuelta.
He leads Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) by 31 seconds, with Lorenzo Fortunato in third, at 1:01. Vingegaard now sits fifth, 2:33 adrift and 8 seconds ahead of his main rival, Vine’s Portuguese UAE teammate, João Almeida.
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Ayuso falters, Almeida leads UAE
Another major result of this stage is that the question about who the UAE leader is has been settled. Almeida and Juan Ayuso had been named co-leaders for the race, but the Spaniard was dropped about 6 km from the finish line and finished 52nd, 11:51 behind the winner. He now sits 43rd, at 10:13. The upside for Ayuso is that with such a gap, he will be allowed by the GC contenders to ride in breakaways and go for stage wins, form permitting.
The Spaniard said after the stage that, contrary to what most people believed, he was not targeting the GC and had not regarded himself as a co-leader. “I’ve been saying it since the start, and even before, my aim was not to go for the overall,” he said. “The team asked me to test myself to see if I got better [during the race]. So out of respect, I tried it, and as I wasn’t feeling good, I dropped back.”
Friday’s stage 7 will be a more difficult trial for the GC contenders, with four hard categorised climbs and another mountaintop finish at Cerler (12.1 km @ 5.8 km). But it’s doubtful that it will be decisive in the GC race as the mighty Angliru, which has gradients up to 23.5%, waits at the end of stage 13.
Pedersen in green & Gaudu’s moments
The green jersey switched hands on Tuesday’s stage 4, with Lidl-Trek’s Mads Pedersen taking enough bonus points on the intermediate sprints to pass Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and lead the competition by a scant 2 points over Ethan Vernon (Israel–Premier Tech) with Philipsen a point farther back. Philipsen was beaten in the bunch sprint by Ben Turner (INEOS Grenadiers), who won his first Grand Tour stage after being summoned to the Vuelta while riding in the Renewi Tour. In the sprint, it appeared that Philipsen was blocked by his lead-out rider, Edward Planckaert, but he had a different explanation.
“I wanted to pass on the left, but Edward [Planckaert] couldn’t hear me because of the spectators, and it was still quite far,” Philipsen said. “I lost a bit of speed and momentum. But I also didn’t have the best legs.”
With only one bunch sprint remaining, on the final stage, it’s possible that the green jersey will be won by a GC contender. At the moment, Vingegaard is fifth, just 8 points behind the leader.
The other notable event of stage 4 was that David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) took the red jersey from Vingegaard. They ended the stage on the same time, but the Frenchman finished 25th and Vingegaard finished 42nd, which overturned a stage placements advantage the Dane had. That he took the race lead in France just sweetened the success, Gaudu said. “When I was on the podium, it was incredible, with the French fans. It’s just incredible and one of the best moments of my career.”
Gaudu had another big moment 24 hours earlier, when he engineered one of the biggest upsets of the year on Monday’s stage 3. He dived to the inside on the final sharp corner of the stage, 75 meters from the finish. The move took him past Vingegaard and stage favourite Pedersen, who he beat to the line to register his first Grand Tour stage win since 2020, when he won two Vuelta stages. That left him tied in the GC standings with Vingegaard, who was then ranked first because of his placement advantage. But only for a day.
Results of Stage 6 of the 2025 Vuelta Ciclista a España
- Jay Vine, UAE Team Emirates–XRG 4:12:36
- Torstein Træen, Bahrain-Victorious + 0:54
- Lorenzo Fortunato, XDS Astana +1:10
- Bruno Armirail, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale +1:15
- Pablo Castrillo, Movistar +1:52
- James Shaw, EF Education–EasyPost +2:05
- Louis Vervaeke, Soudal Quick-Step +2:15
- Ramses Debruyne, Alpecin-Deceuninck +2:19
- Archie Ryan, EF Education–EasyPost +2:42
- João Almeida, EF Education–EasyPost +4:19
General Classification after Stage 6 of the Vuelta Ciclista a España
- Torstein Træen, Bahrain-Victorious 20:25:46
- Bruno Armirail, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale + 0:31
- Lorenzo Fortunato, XDS Astana +1:01
- Louis Vervaeke, Soudal Quick-Step +1:58
- Jonas Vingegaard, Visma–Lease a Bike +2:33
- João Almeida, UAE Team Emirates–XRG +2:41
- Giulio Ciccone, Lidl-Trek +2:42
- Matteo Jorgenson, Visma–Lease a Bike +2:49
- Jai Hindley, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe +2:53
- Giulio Pellizzari, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe “
Vuelta a España 2025 Points Classification after Stage 6
- Mads Pedersen, Lidl-Trek 78 pts
- Ethan Vernon, Israel–Premier Tech 76 pts
- Jasper Philipsen, Alpecin-Deceuninck 75 pts
- Giulio Ciccone, Lidl-Trek 71pts
- Jonas Vingegaard, Visma–Lease a Bike 70pts
