A surprise attack
When everyone expected a rider not in the GC race to win this stage, Visma’s Matteo Jorgenson led out Vingegaard on a furious attack with 11 km to go on the 13.3 km climb (@ 5.2%) to the ski station at Valdezcaray. The most surprised by the move was probably main rival João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates–XRG), who belatedly took up the chase, accompanied by Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) and Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale).
The gap to the chasers hovered around 10 seconds for some time, but grew to 19 seconds with 7 km left to ride and 31 seconds at 3 km. At the end, Vingegaard’s winning margin was 24 seconds, after he eased off the pedals to raise his arms in triumph 20 meters from the finish. Pidcock finished second, with a visibly disappointed Almeida coming in third.
“I felt super great today, and then on the last climb, I also felt really good, and I said to my team if they could speed up. And they did, so I tried,” Vingegaard said after the stage. “They did super well. That was amazing teamwork, and I was really happy that I could finish it off. I couldn’t do it without them.”
He admitted that he hadn’t foreseen how much he had to do to bring the victory home. “To be honest, maybe I didn’t do my homework good enough because I thought it was closer to the finish when I attacked, and I was a bit surprised when I saw the 10-kilometre banner,” he said. “But at that moment I had the gap, and I had to keep going.”
Vingegaard reduced his deficit to race leader Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious) to 37 seconds but increased his lead over Almeida to 38 seconds, which puts the pressure on UAE to react. Vingegaard might have taken over the race leader’s red jersey if Træen hadn’t received a helping hand from Vingegaard’s teammates Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss. Apparently, Jonas doesn’t want to wear the race leader’s red jersey until it means something. The stage was also very good for Pidcock, who now sits in fourth in the GC, at 1:35, and Gall, who is now fifth, 2:14 behind Træen.
As for Almeida, he was left to rue the lack of help from his UAE teammates. “I missed a little my teammates,” he said afterwards. “In the end, I had no one with me.” That “no one” may have referred to Juan Ayuso, who, after winning stage 7 with a superb ride, dropped behind the peloton at the bottom of the final climb on Sunday and finished 157th, nearly 22 minutes behind the winner. His presence on the climb would certainly have given Almeida a big boost. So what happened?
Zobrazit příspěvek na Instagramu
The Juan Ayuso mystery
What is Juan Ayuso up to? He lost a lot of time on Thursday’s stage 6 and told the world, “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.” The following day, he rode a remarkable race, breaking away from the peloton on the first of four difficult climbs, the category 1 Port del Canto (24.9 km @ 4.4%), with some 160 km left to race, waited for a breakaway group to catch up, then broke away from that group on the final climb to the finish (12 km @ 5.1%) to win his seventh race of the year and his second Grand Tour stage.
Asked to explain the discrepancy in the two performances, the 22-year-old Spaniard said that it was due to his late call-up to the race, following team leader Tadej Pogačar’s late decision to skip the Vuelta. “Today I did feel good, but it’s what I’ve been saying from day one here in the Vuelta,” he said. “I haven’t been able to prepare the Vuelta in the way I’d like to, and I wasn’t ready to fight for the overall in a three-week stage race.”
Okay, that explains the stage 6 meltdown. But how did he recover so completely and so quickly and then disappear from view on Sunday? “From here on, I want to try and recover each day as best I can, because that’s the best strategy I can have for the Worlds,” Ayuso said. “But that’s the important thing – not to go deep on the days I wasn’t in the break or when the team doesn’t need me, so I can recover for the Worlds.” But the team needed him on Sunday, and he was nowhere to be found.
Personally, I don’t believe the bit about “not feeling good” on Thursday. From my perspective, he is riding his own race, rather than for the team. He dropped back again on stage 8, as the peloton headed for a bunch sprint finish, rather than help protect Almeida. The reason for his behaviour could be that his days as a UAE Team Emirates–XRG rider will soon be over. The Vuelta rumour mill has been rife with reports that Ayuso will try to get out of his contract, which runs until 2028, with Spanish media running several stories on Saturday saying that his move to Lidl-Trek was imminent.
The other question is why there were no UAE domestiques, such as Marc Soler, with Almeida when he needed them. Perhaps because no one expected Visma to attack. In any case, there are no happy campers today in Pogi-land.
Philipsen strikes back
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) redeemed himself after the disappointment of a narrow stage 4 defeat and won the bunch sprint of Saturday’s stage 8, nipping veteran Elia Viviani (Lotto) with a resourceful and powerful sprint after losing his lead-out train in the run-up. Viviani was later relegated to 105th place for deviating from his line and impeding the winner, who shrugged off the disruption and powered to the line. Ethan Vernan (Israel-Premier Tech) was moved up to second place, and Arne Marit (Intermarché-Wanty) came third.
“We won, so we cannot complain,” Philipsen said after the win, though he had to find his own way through the chaotic finale. “We lost my teammate,” he said. “I think he did an incredible lead-out again, but he was not there. I tried to communicate, but it’s difficult in the last kilometre, and I had to find my way, take a bit of extra wind, and really come late because my legs were [like] concrete. But I just managed to win, so I’m really happy.”
The victory was his second of this Vuelta and the 15th Grand Tour stage win of his career. It also put him back in the fight for the green jersey. With 105 points, he now trails Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) – who has yet to win a stage but has picked up lots of points at intermediate sprints – by 15 points, with Ethan Vernon (Israel–Premier Tech) in second place at 111 points. But there are only two, perhaps three, bunch sprint possibilities left in the race, so that a climber could win the points classification. Vingegaard now sits in a close fourth, with 100 points.
Results of Stage 9 of the 2025 Vuelta Ciclista a España
- Jonas Vingegaard, Visma–Lease a Bike 04:32:10
- Tom Pidcock, Q36.5 + 0:24
- João Almeida, UAE Team Emirates–XRG “
- Felix Gall, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale + 1:02
- Raul García, Arkéa–B&B Hotels + 1:46
- Marc Soler, UAE Team Emirates–XRG “
- Giulio Ciccone, Lidl-Trek “
- Markel Beloki, EF Education–EasyPost “
- Jai Hindley, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe “
- Lorenzo Fortunato, XDS Astana “
General Classification after Stage 9 of the Vuelta Ciclista a España
- Torstein Træen, Bahrain Victorious 33:35:46
- Jonas Vingegaard, Visma–Lease a Bike + 0:37
- João Almeida, UAE Team Emirates–XRG + 1:15
- Tom Pidcock, Q36.5 +1:35
- Felix Gall, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale +2:14
- Giulio Ciccone, Lidl-Trek +2:42
- Lorenzo Fortunato, XDS Astana +2:47
- 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 9
- Mads Pedersen, Lidl-Trek 120 pts
- Ethan Vernon, Israel–Premier Tech 111 pts
- Jasper Philipsen, Alpecin-Deceuninck 105 pts
- Jonas Vingegaard, Visma–Lease a Bike 100pts
- Giulio Ciccone, Lidl-Trek 88 pts
