Soler flies to La Farrapona win, Vingegaard retains Vuelta lead

Marc Soler continued UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s astonishing sequence of success on the Vuelta a España by winning stage 14 atop La Farrapona. The Catalan’s triumph means that UAE have won half of the Vuelta’s stages to date, and their overall running tally for the 2025 season now stands at 80 victories.

Soler’s victory from the break came as his UAE team dictated terms behind on behalf of João Almeida, but the headwind on the final climb seemed to dissuade the Portuguese rider from following through on their forcing with an attack of his own.

It was instead Jai Hindley who ignited the action in the red jersey group after setting his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammate Giulio Pellizzari to work on the upper portion of the climb.

Hindley accelerated wickedly with a shade over a kilometre to go, bringing Almeida and the red jersey Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) with him.

In the closing metres, Almeida attempted to steal a march on Vingegaard, but the Dane responded, and he won the sprint for second place, 39 seconds down on Soler.

The time bonus sees Vingegaard extend his lead on Almeida to 48 seconds, while Hindley moves closer to Tom Pidcock’s third place. Pidcock is now 2:38 off Vingegaard, while Hindley is fourth at 3:10.

In keeping with the tenor of this Vuelta, there was an intense opening to the day’s action after the start in Avilés before a break of 24 riders eventually forged clear. Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R) was the best-placed of the escapees on GC, albeit some 12 minutes down, while there were also representatives for both Vingegaard and Almeida in front, with Victor Campenaerts, Marc Soler and Mikkel Bjerg all aboard.

A mechanical issue briefly forced Campenaerts onto a neutral service bike and out of the break, but he chased back on successfully, and the unwieldy move hit the first climb, the Alto Tenebreo, with a lead of six minutes over the peloton.

The day’s second ascent, the category 1 Puertu de San Llaurienzu, was a considerably stiffer test, and it also saw UAE Team Emirates-XRG usurp Visma | Lease a Bike at the head of the peloton. 

Ivo Oliveira’s pace-making whittling down the red jersey group considerably, with Egan Bernal (Ineos) among those distanced with a shade under 40km still to race. Juan Ayuso, missing in action on the Angliru the previous day, put in a rare shift nearer the top of the climb, and his effort thinned the group down still further.

Out in front, the break was down to 11 riders as James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost) led over the summit, with the red jersey group now just 3:20 behind. In the gently climbing valley road ahead of La Farrapona, Ayuso swung off, while Bjerg dropped back from the break to help the pace-making on behalf of Almeida.

Soler, however, was still racing for stage victory out in the front, and the Catalan clipped off alone at the foot of La Farrapona with 15km to go. He began the haul to the line with 3:20 on the UAE-led red jersey group.

Johannes Staune-Mittet (Decathlon-AG2R) and later Finlay Pickering (Bahrain Victorious) gave chase on La Farrapona, but they couldn’t close in on Soler, who battled gamely against the headwind on the exposed upper section of the climb.

Jay Vine led on the lower slopes of the climb for UAE before Felix Grossschartner took over. Their efforts whittled down the red jersey group, but when Grossschartner swung off, it was Red Bull who took up the reins.

The impressive Pellizzari teed up an increasingly confident Hindley, who is closing in on the podium. The contest for the red jersey, meanwhile, remains a duel between Vingegaard and Almeida.