'A very special one' - Vingegaard delivers on Vuelta's key day

Jonas Vingegaard had looked vulnerable at times in the second half of this Vuelta a España, but he finished on a defiant note, soloing to the stage win atop Bola del Mundo to seal overall victory.

The Dane had confessed to illness during the second week and when he conceded 10 seconds to João Almeida in the stage 18 time trial, one wondered if he would endure a late upset in the Sierra de Guadarrama.

Almeida’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG guard duly tried to trouble Vingegaard, laying down a searing pace throughout stage 20, but Vingegaard held firm when the Portuguese launched his effort with 3km to go.

Indeed, as the steep final portion drew on, it became increasingly clear that Vingegaard was the strongest of the five-man group fighting out the stage win. After tracking Jai Hindley’s move with 2km to go, Vingegaard climbed from the saddle and pressed clear alone with 1.2km to go. Nobody could follow – the stage win and the Vuelta were his.

“I wanted to win in Bilbao, and I wanted to win on the Angliru, but Bola del Mundo is also a very special one,” Vingegaard said after notching up his third stage win of this Vuelta.

After winning at Valdezcaray on stage 9, Vingegaard looked set to dominate the Vuelta, but although he has held the red jersey for thirteen days, he was largely on the defensive over the past two weeks, most notably amid Almeida’s onslaught on the Angliru on stage 13. 

During the third week, Vingegaard had confessed to being short of his best, and he had just 44 seconds in hand on Almeida ahead of the decisive haul up Bola del Mundo. On the Vuelta’s critical day, however, he summoned up a performance to secure his red jersey.

“To be honest, I’m starting to feel a bit better,” Vingegaard said. “Today I felt better than the previous mountaintop finishes, so I’m super happy with how things went for me today and how the team has done in the last three weeks. The team has been so amazing. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

The cohesion of Vingegaard’s Visma | Lease a Bike squad has contrasted with the more disjointed efforts of UAE Team Emirates-XRG on behalf of Almeida. After winning seven stages across the Vuelta, however, the team put their shoulders to the wheel on behalf of their leader on Saturday, but Almeida couldn’t shake off Vingegaard in the finale.

“I was feeling, I wouldn’t say comfortable in the pace João and Jai were doing, but at least I felt like I was not on my limit yet, so I felt I had a good chance of winning the stage,” Vingegaard said.  “At one point I just decided, ‘now I’m going to try.’ Immediately I got a gap. But the last few hundred metres were incredibly hard. I almost went into the barrier, so that was a small mistake from my side.”

It scarcely mattered. Vingegaard spilled across the line as the stage winner, with his teammate Sepp Kuss coming in second at 11 seconds. A flagging Almeida came home fifth at 22 seconds, which means Vingegaard carries a lead of 1:16 into Sunday’s largely processional finale in Madrid. 

Vingegaard will thus add a third Grand Tour to his palmarès after winning the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023. The win also makes amends for missing out to his teammate Kuss two years ago, and it will also provide succour for Vingegaard in 2026 after another sound defeats at the hands of Tadej Pogacar in July.

“Of course, there’s also tomorrow but normally there’s no changes,” Vingegaard said. “Hopefully we keep it like that, and I will arrive over the finish line still wearing red.”