Description
September 5, 2025
80th La Vuelta Ciclista a España 2025 🇪🇸 (2.UWT) ME – Stage 13 – Cabezón de la Sal – L’Angliru : 202,7 km
The 2025 Vuelta a España is a three-week cycling race taking place in Italy,
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September 5, 2025
80th La Vuelta Ciclista a España 2025 🇪🇸 (2.UWT) ME – Stage 13 – Cabezón de la Sal – L’Angliru : 202,7 km
The 2025 Vuelta a España is a three-week cycling race taking place in Italy, France, Andorra and Spain. It started on 23 August in Turin, and will finish on 14 September in Madrid. Twenty-three teams are participating in the race.
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirate-XRG) snatched stage victory from race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) at the end of a stunning showcase of climbing ability on the brutal slopes of the Alto de l’Angliru as the two main red jersey contenders rode clear of the field on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España.
Almeida delivered considerable efforts on the long and infamously-steep ascent of the Angliru, riding Vingegaard off his back wheel on the final few hundred metres of the 12.5km ascent. It came after a relentless day which saw a surreal average speed of 41.6 kph on the 202.7km stage with over 4,000 metres of climbing.
Behind them, Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) formed the main chase behind the two race leaders, after the main contenders group caught and swallowed the last survivor of the day’s breakaway – Bob Jungels (Ineos Grenadiers) – on the slopes of the Angliru.
Hindley won the sprint for third, only marginally ousting Vingegaard’s teammate Kuss in the final few hundred metres of the stage.
The steep inclines saw a savage splintering of the main contenders group, with Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) the most conspicuous victim of the Angliru’s steep slopes, losing more than 70 seconds on the red jersey.
“Yes this is a special one, I still don’t believe it,” Almeida said following the race finish.
“Thanks to my teammates, they were key today,” he said. “We did an amazing stage. I just put my pace from the bottom, and I just did the best I could. Jonathan was always on the wheel.
“The last kilometre was on the limits. I guess we’re both on the limits. I was waiting for his attack anytime,” he added. “I thought he might pass me in the finish line, but I knew the finish line from two years ago. So I took the last corner, and then it’s hard to pass.”
Reflecting on the infamous savagery of the climb, he said, “I think this is the hardest time in the world. It’s crazy. I’m very sore.”
Almedia was cautious with his red jersey aspirations. “I have a lot of time to make up to Jonas, but he’s looking phenomenal, so I think it’s going to be a hard task,” he said. “But we never give up.”
Almeida gained only four seconds in the overall classification, now 46 seconds down on the red jersey, while despite a palpable time loss for Pidcock, he remains in third at 2:18, ahead of Hindley, who has moved into fourth place at a gap of 3:00.
How it unfolded
Stage 13 of La Vuelta a España began in the shadow of that day’s overbearing summit finale on the mythically steep slopes of the Angliru.
The 202.7km route began below cool clear skies in Cabezón de la Sal, with two first category summits sitting ahead of the brutal final ascent of Angliru.
Given the pressure, it was no surprise that attacks came thick and fast from the peloton, and within 20km a 25-man group had broken free, with Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) among their number.
A bridging group of Chris Hamilton (Team Picnic-PostNL, Thomas Gruel (Groupama – FDJ), Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) set chase, with only Oliveira managing to join the front group.
Visma–Lease a Bike kept the breakaway within reach, with the break never swelling much beyond three minutes before the approach to Alto de la Mozqueta. Pressure was never relieved as the first three hours of racing took place at an average of over 50 kph.
The Alto de la Mozqueta’s 6.6km at 8.4% was enough to splinter the breakaway group, with Ethan Vernon (Israel–Premier Tech) and Tim Van Dijke (Red Bull–Bora-Hansgrohe) amongst those who were dropped.
Over the summit of Alto de la Mozqueta, the leading fragments contained Jungels, Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), Nicolas Vinokurov (XDS-Astana Team), Jefferson Cepeda (Movistar Team), and Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal–QuickStep), while Pedersen managed a bold bridging effort to bring the breakaway to six.
Tiberi suffered an unfortunate mechanical that saw him drop from the front group inside the final 50km, on the approach to the Alto del Cordal. Meanwhile, a coordinated chase was initiated in the peloton as a gap of nearly four minutes was capped and the pressure began to trim the main group to just the general classification contenders and their lieutenants.
Having netted the green jersey points from the intermediate sprints, Pedersen seemed to have achieved his objective and dropped from the lead group with 27km remaining. Ahead of the penultimate climb of Alto del Cordal.
The breakaway split into a leading trio of Vinokurov, Cepeda, and Jungels. Meanwhile, Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal–QuickStep) joined Tiberi in a chase group – though Tiberi’s prospects were further damaged by a nasty crash on the descent from Alto del Cordal.
As the lead trio descended toward the foothills of the Angliru with an advantage of nearly three minutes, a set of protestors stopped racing on the descent of the Alto del Cordal, draining their advantage by around a minute.
Thankfully, racing quickly resumed, and the breakaway looked ahead of the savage slopes of the Angliru.
Angliru in anger
The day’s breakaway, once 25 in number, was down to two by the time the Angliru began in true, as Cepeda was ejected from the group. Vinokourov and Jungels were left to fend off the charging group of general classification contenders.
With barely a minute of advantage at the base of the climb, the breakaway was trimmed down to just Jungels. His advantage was soon torn up by the elite selection of four red jersey hopefuls. The group of Hindley, Almeida, Kuss and Vingegaard caught and dropped Jungles outside 5km to go.
The one absent contender seemed to be Pidcock, who lost touch with the leading four briefly before the breakaway catch, forming a chase with Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) and Matthew Riccitello (Israel–Premier Tech) around 30 seconds back.
As the race approached the final 4km, a considerable turn of pace for Almeida saw Kuss and Hindley slip off the front of the race, as a metronomic pace seemed to visibly push red jersey Vingegaard to his limits.
The safe margin of 50 seconds from Vingegaard over Almeida suddenly seemed vulnerable on the nearly vertical hairpins of the Angliru and the relentless 20% inclines.
The gap from the leading duo to the Kuss and Hindley chase soon yawned to over thirty seconds, as Pidcock’s gap swelled to over a minute, and his red jersey prospects seemed to slowly evaporate.
With 2km remaining, it was clear that the battle for the stage win was between Vingegaard and Almeida, and the only question was which would win, and what margins they would inflict on the riders trailing behind, now battling solely for the general classification podium.
Results :
 ME - Stage 13 </strong> - Cabezón de la Sal - L'Angliru : 202,7 km
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The 2025 Vuelta a España is a three-week cycling race taking place in Italy, France, Andorra and Spain. It started on 23 August in Turin, and will finish on 14 September in Madrid. Twenty-three teams are participating in the race.
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirate-XRG) snatched stage victory from race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) at the end of a stunning showcase of climbing ability on the brutal slopes of the Alto de l'Angliru as the two main red jersey contenders rode clear of the field on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España.
Almeida delivered considerable efforts on the long and infamously-steep ascent of the Angliru, riding Vingegaard off his back wheel on the final few hundred metres of the 12.5km ascent. It came after a relentless day which saw a surreal average speed of 41.6 kph on the 202.7km stage with over 4,000 metres of climbing.
Behind them, Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) formed the main chase behind the two race leaders, after the main contenders group caught and swallowed the last survivor of the day's breakaway – Bob Jungels (Ineos Grenadiers) – on the slopes of the Angliru.
Hindley won the sprint for third, only marginally ousting Vingegaard's teammate Kuss in the final few hundred metres of the stage.
The steep inclines saw a savage splintering of the main contenders group, with Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) the most conspicuous victim of the Angliru's steep slopes, losing more than 70 seconds on the red jersey.
"Yes this is a special one, I still don't believe it," Almeida said following the race finish.
"Thanks to my teammates, they were key today," he said. "We did an amazing stage. I just put my pace from the bottom, and I just did the best I could. Jonathan was always on the wheel.
"The last kilometre was on the limits. I guess we're both on the limits. I was waiting for his attack anytime," he added. "I thought he might pass me in the finish line, but I knew the finish line from two years ago. So I took the last corner, and then it's hard to pass."
Reflecting on the infamous savagery of the climb, he said, "I think this is the hardest time in the world. It's crazy. I'm very sore."
Almedia was cautious with his red jersey aspirations. "I have a lot of time to make up to Jonas, but he's looking phenomenal, so I think it's going to be a hard task," he said. "But we never give up."
Almeida gained only four seconds in the overall classification, now 46 seconds down on the red jersey, while despite a palpable time loss for Pidcock, he remains in third at 2:18, ahead of Hindley, who has moved into fourth place at a gap of 3:00.
<strong>How it unfolded</strong>
Stage 13 of La Vuelta a España began in the shadow of that day's overbearing summit finale on the mythically steep slopes of the Angliru.
The 202.7km route began below cool clear skies in Cabezón de la Sal, with two first category summits sitting ahead of the brutal final ascent of Angliru.
Given the pressure, it was no surprise that attacks came thick and fast from the peloton, and within 20km a 25-man group had broken free, with Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) among their number.
A bridging group of Chris Hamilton (Team Picnic-PostNL, Thomas Gruel (Groupama - FDJ), Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) set chase, with only Oliveira managing to join the front group.
Visma–Lease a Bike kept the breakaway within reach, with the break never swelling much beyond three minutes before the approach to Alto de la Mozqueta. Pressure was never relieved as the first three hours of racing took place at an average of over 50 kph.
The Alto de la Mozqueta's 6.6km at 8.4% was enough to splinter the breakaway group, with Ethan Vernon (Israel–Premier Tech) and Tim Van Dijke (Red Bull–Bora-Hansgrohe) amongst those who were dropped.
Over the summit of Alto de la Mozqueta, the leading fragments contained Jungels, Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), Nicolas Vinokurov (XDS-Astana Team), Jefferson Cepeda (Movistar Team), and Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal–QuickStep), while Pedersen managed a bold bridging effort to bring the breakaway to six.
Tiberi suffered an unfortunate mechanical that saw him drop from the front group inside the final 50km, on the approach to the Alto del Cordal. Meanwhile, a coordinated chase was initiated in the peloton as a gap of nearly four minutes was capped and the pressure began to trim the main group to just the general classification contenders and their lieutenants.
Having netted the green jersey points from the intermediate sprints, Pedersen seemed to have achieved his objective and dropped from the lead group with 27km remaining. Ahead of the penultimate climb of Alto del Cordal.
The breakaway split into a leading trio of Vinokurov, Cepeda, and Jungels. Meanwhile, Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal–QuickStep) joined Tiberi in a chase group - though Tiberi's prospects were further damaged by a nasty crash on the descent from Alto del Cordal.
As the lead trio descended toward the foothills of the Angliru with an advantage of nearly three minutes, a set of protestors stopped racing on the descent of the Alto del Cordal, draining their advantage by around a minute.
Thankfully, racing quickly resumed, and the breakaway looked ahead of the savage slopes of the Angliru.
<strong>Angliru in anger</strong>
The day's breakaway, once 25 in number, was down to two by the time the Angliru began in true, as Cepeda was ejected from the group. Vinokourov and Jungels were left to fend off the charging group of general classification contenders.
With barely a minute of advantage at the base of the climb, the breakaway was trimmed down to just Jungels. His advantage was soon torn up by the elite selection of four red jersey hopefuls. The group of Hindley, Almeida, Kuss and Vingegaard caught and dropped Jungles outside 5km to go.
The one absent contender seemed to be Pidcock, who lost touch with the leading four briefly before the breakaway catch, forming a chase with Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) and Matthew Riccitello (Israel–Premier Tech) around 30 seconds back.
As the race approached the final 4km, a considerable turn of pace for Almeida saw Kuss and Hindley slip off the front of the race, as a metronomic pace seemed to visibly push red jersey Vingegaard to his limits.
The safe margin of 50 seconds from Vingegaard over Almeida suddenly seemed vulnerable on the nearly vertical hairpins of the Angliru and the relentless 20% inclines.
The gap from the leading duo to the Kuss and Hindley chase soon yawned to over thirty seconds, as Pidcock's gap swelled to over a minute, and his red jersey prospects seemed to slowly evaporate.
With 2km remaining, it was clear that the battle for the stage win was between Vingegaard and Almeida, and the only question was which would win, and what margins they would inflict on the riders trailing behind, now battling solely for the general classification podium.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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