Ganna turns supersonic as Almeida gains on Vingegaard in shortened Vuelta TT

Stage 18 of the 2025 Vuelta a España was shortened from 27.2 kilometres to 12.2 kilometres for the individual time-trial around Valladolid due to security concerns. With the pan-flat parcours, it was always going to be an affair for the strong and powerful TT specialists

Obviously, with the general classification contenders such as Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) starting last of all, the earlier part of the stage was where the most likely victor of stage 18 would come from with specialist's such as Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek) and Filippo Ganna (Ineos) down in the general classification. 

Hoole certainly lived up to some pre-stage expectations based on his immense TT pedigree as the tall Dutchman briefly got comfortable in the hotseat as he set a benchmark time of 13:19.46 with an average speed of 54,8km/h.

Hoole's time in the hot seat was somewhat short-lived, as you could probably have guessed, as Ganna turned into 'Top Ganna' as he set a scorching time of 13:00 with an average speed of 56.1 km/h, 19 seconds faster than Hoole. It was safe to say now that Ganna was an almost forgone conclusion for the stage victory, but could any of the general classification contenders stop him?

Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), after he admitted in the previous stage to being under the weather, came out of the traps flying, but the Dane's effort unravelled into nothing after a huge time loss between the final time check and the finish line.

With still 40 riders left to begin their short and sharp effort, the provisional top three was Ganna, Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ).

Aussie Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates- XRG) nearly toppled Ganna from his hotseat throne as he absolutely motored across the course, Vine finishing a cruel margin of less than a second behind Ganna's time of 13:00.

The GC showdown then got truly underway with just 50 seconds separating Almeida and Vingegaard in the general classification as the race reached the business end. Almeida got off to a flyer with the Portuguese just less than a second through the first time check, with a 2-second advantage over Vingegaard.

Tom Pidcock retained his podium position in the general classification, with a great ride and gained 3 seconds on his nearest competitor, Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

Almeida crossed the line moving into a provisonal 3rd place at the finish with a time of 13:08.46 just over 7 seconds behind Ganna with Vingegaard losing 10 seconds to Almeida across the stage.

40 seconds now separates Vingegaard and Almeida in the general classification with three stages remaining.