The Tour de France may have just finished, but the next Grand Tour is already around the corner. In less than two weeks, the Vuelta a España 2025 will kick off in Italy. What do you need to know about the final Grand Tour of the season? WielerFlits breaks it down for you with five key points.
Jonas Vingegaard will participate in the Vuelta a España for the third time in his career. The Dane was still on the podium at the Tour de France at the end of July, after which he took a short break. Now the Danish climber is already building up towards his second big goal of the season, the Vuelta. Vingegaard has ridden the Vuelta twice before; in 2020 the Spanish stage race was his Grand Tour debut, and two years ago he finished second behind teammate Sepp Kuss.
Kuss will also be participating again this year, as well as Matteo Jorgenson. The American never reached the expected level at the Tour de France. Jorgenson was supposed to be the designated co-leader of the Dutch team, but quickly dropped down in the general classification. Towards the end of the Tour, he tried a different approach, but it still didn’t go smoothly. In the Vuelta, he gets a second chance.
UAE Emirates XRG can also field a very strong squad at the start of the Vuelta a España. However, Tadej Pogačar will not be there. That was initially the plan, but the Slovenian chose to take a longer break after the Tour de France. After a long spring and a grueling Tour, Pogačar felt this was the best decision. He will, however, be present at the World Championships in Rwanda, as well as the European Championships in France.
Luckily, UAE Emirates has plenty of strong riders in their ranks. João Almeida will be seen at the Vuelta within a week. The Portuguese rider will have to share leadership duties with Juan Ayuso, which could go either way. Ayuso abandoned the Giro in May and seemed off form in recent races, so perhaps that "problem" will resolve itself. However, Almeida’s form is also somewhat uncertain. He had to withdraw from the Tour after a crash and has not raced since.
All eyes in the flat stages will be on one man: Mads Pedersen. The strong rider from Lidl-Trek was not allowed to race the Tour de France but did start in the Giro this season and will soon race the Vuelta. In the Giro, that already paid off, with Pedersen winning no less than four stages and the points classification. In the Vuelta, the competition does not appear to be very strong either, so things look very promising for the Danish speedster.
In pure flat sprints, it remains to be seen how Pedersen will perform. At the moment, riders like Arne Marit, Elia Viviani, and Ethan Vernon are his biggest sprint rivals. Another top contender could still join the fray: Jasper Philipsen, who after abandoning the Tour is not yet confirmed for the Vuelta. Philipsen will test his legs in Denmark in the coming days—coincidentally Pedersen’s home country.
Pedersen could once again have a very fruitful three weeks – photo: Cor Vos
The scarcity of sprinters at the start of the Vuelta comes as no surprise. The organizers have chosen a brutally tough edition. The Grand Tour begins in Italy, but there will also be stretches through France and Andorra. Aside from that, the peloton will mostly stay in northern Spain. In total, riders will face ten uphill finishes and have to conquer historic climbs such as the Angliru and the Bola del Mundo.
The organizers expect sprinters to have four to six opportunities in the Vuelta. Time trialists get two days to showcase themselves: a 20-kilometer team time trial and a 26-kilometer individual time trial. Those counting will notice that several stages remain for the attackers. In conclusion: this Vuelta is one for the climbers.
The Vuelta a España is the third Grand Tour of the season, and that shows. One and a half weeks before the start of the stage race, only one squad is fully confirmed: UAE Emirates XRG. Visma | Lease a Bike’s selection is also nearly complete and known, but for the rest, very little is known about the participants.
Vingegaard, Ayuso, and Almeida can potentially face competition from Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), and Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers). These are several GC contenders whose Vuelta participation is virtually certain.
