On the second day of the Vuelta a España, Jonas Vingegaard struck a double blow. Despite being involved in a crash before the final climb, the Danish rider from Visma | Lease a Bike had the best punch. He was simply too strong for Giulio Ciccone. Thanks to his victory, Vingegaard also took over the red jersey from Jasper Philipsen.
Stage two of the Vuelta also took place entirely on Italian soil. On Sunday, the riders raced from Alba to Limone Piemonte. The first 150 kilometers were relatively easy, but afterwards came the Monte Limone (7.6 kilometers at 5.4%). On that final climb, the GC contenders would have to show themselves for the first time.
Alba) Puerto Limone)The early break initially consisted of four riders. Belgian Liam Slock (Lotto) made a move alongside Gal Glivar (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), and Nico Denz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe). However, after a few kilometers, Denz dropped back to the peloton. From that same peloton, another rider bridged across. Sinuhé Fernández (Burgos BH) managed to join the group after a fairly long chase.
The quartet built a maximum gap of just under three minutes on the peloton, where Q36.5 was setting the pace. The stage then settled down somewhat, although Otruba added some action in the break. He accelerated and dropped both Slock and Fernández. Slock was able to return, but Fernández was definitively left behind. Thus, three riders remained up front.
Slock in the breakaway group - photo: Cor Vos
Major crash
As the rain intensified, the roads became increasingly slippery. This quickly led to a crash involving Guillaume Martin, forcing him to abandon the race. Shortly after, George Bennett also went down, but things really went wrong about 25 kilometers from the finish. At a roundabout, a large part of the peloton slipped. Among those were Tom Pidcock and Jonas Vingegaard, the top favorite for the overall win.
Both riders escaped unscathed and continued. Vingegaard’s teammate Axel Zingle was also able to continue, but the Frenchman first had to have his shoulder put back into place. Meanwhile, the pace at the front of the peloton eased briefly, allowing Vingegaard and Pidcock to return. The slowdown also allowed the three escapees to increase their lead once again. But as they approached the final climb, the peloton pushed the pace so hard that the trio at the base had just over half a minute advantage.
Slock resisted the longest, but with just under six kilometers to go, his adventure was over. It was now Visma | Lease a Bike—in the person of Wilco Kelderman—that set a relentless pace. Higher up the climb, Lidl-Trek took over to support Giulio Ciccone. It looked like the stage would end in a sprint, but in the final kilometer, Marc Soler launched an attack. However, the Spaniard could not create a decisive gap, and it came down to a sprint.
Vingegaard’s double strike
In that sprint, Ciccone initially seemed destined for victory, but Vingegaard managed to come around him at the very last moment. With a final jump, the Dane snatched the stage win right in front of the Italian. With his victory, Vingegaard also took over the red jersey from Jasper Philipsen.
🚴🇪🇸 | Jonas Vingegaard does it! From a crash 26 km from the finish to victory in an uphill 'mass sprint'. The Dane beats Ciccone and takes the red jersey! 🙌🇩🇰 #LaVuelta25
📺 Stream the race on HBO Max pic.twitter.com/jntfzgFVrP
— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) August 24, 2025
Vuelta a España| Rank | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 03:47:14 | |
| 2 | " | |
| 3 | " | |
| 4 | " | |
| 5 | + 02 | |
| 6 | " | |
| 7 | " | |
| 8 | " | |
| 9 | " | |
| 10 | " |
