Vuelta a España Rate the 2025 Vuelta a España

[Brullnux]

Ayuso/Vine/Soler shenanigans were fun, so a 2. Everything else was abysmal.

 

[houtdffan]

ZERO

The race could not even finish. Only a zero is appropriate

 

[veganrob]

Everything about this race was terrible.

 

[Sciatic]

I would grade it "incomplete"

 

[movingtarget]

Not a vintage year for grand tours and this was the worst one. Decapitated stage finishes and a mickey mouse time trial didn't help but there was also a lack of drama throughout with the racing. Worst Vuelta for many years, made worse by the outside factors. Gave it a 2.

 

[solo80k]

I can give it 3/10. I enjoyed some staged but other stages in the second half were unwatchable.

+ TTT, Jonas winning multiple stages, Philipsen with excellent results, UAE drama despite many individual wins, Pellizari vs Riccitello.

- Annoying protests (I understand the cause but it's stupid to punish sport rivalry for politics), cancelling stages finals, ITT shortening, lack of real GC action, no mutant performances.

The most important question in the second half of the race was - Are they able to finish the stage?

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Where's the 0 option?

Always the same with you. Come on, Ayuso - UAE dynamics alone made it at least 3. Pogi not winning it made it at least 5, no?

 

[Red Rick]

Always the same with you. Come on, Ayuso - UAE dynamics alone made it at least 3. Pogi not winning it made it at least 5, no?

Well all 3 GTs this year were "don't smile because it's over, cry because it happened" Grand Tours

 

[Fantastico]

Between 1 and 2 for me. Maybe the worst GT I can remember since I started watching in the late 90s. I did not even watch more than a handful of stages and still never felt to have missed anything.

• 2 stages cancelled early and without a winner
• Relatively weak field and lack of GT action. I mean Almeida was close to Vingegaard but still something was missing for me
• The ITT that could've animated the GT race shortened to 12 km
• Bad stage design with too many unipuertos
• Angliru and Bola del Mundo in one GT (one extremely steep climb of that type is enough)
• UAE dominating with 3 wins in a row and 7 in total
• In general, 4 teams winning 16 of 19 stages
• Castrillo and Romo that were fun following in their break attempts both crashing out

 

[CyclistAbi]

I gave it a 10, mostly for reasons surpassing cycling.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Either * or 9/11...

 

[Red Rick]

Either * or

May I instead suggest 5/7 perfect score?

 

[SHAD0W93]

+1 Almeida win
+2 Almeida being as strong as he was
+1 Philipsen’s wins
+1 Bernal win
+1 UAE shenanigans for the lols
+1 Vingegaard win, while I wish someone else won it’s good that he’s back on top and maybe this helps for a better fight next year
+1 Pedersen’s points classification
-5 all of the issues that occurred

3 overall but probably should be lower. I think since 2010 it’s the worst GT I’ve followed by reading the forum.

 

[Breh]

I'm usually a bit more positive than this forum but this was abysmal. I liked Gaudu's win.

Worst GT I've ever watched.

 

[red_flanders]

Well, it's always the least interesting GT to me. Less prestige, less fitness, the countryside is usually...less interesting than the other GT's, and fewer top riders attend in top form. So I'd rarely give it more than an 8, even in the best of circumstances. Plus, football season has started. But there have been exciting Vuelta's. However...

This was the worst GT I've ever seen, and it's not close.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Worst GT I have watched. There would however have been worse races without all the cancellations, but not that many - Tour 2009 was dirt, Giro 2012, Tour 2012, Giro 2023. But they were all better than this combination of bad stage design, conservative racing and cancellations.

Easily a 1 unfortunately. Glad its over. Asterisked GT if you ask me.

 

[dobrien]

I will go for a 1

The positives:
-the protests, which minimised the amount of this Vuelta that I had to endure
-marc soler going into psycosis
-masnada in 3-4 breakways

The negatives:
-Worst gran salida/grande partenza/grand depart in cycling history, along with 2018 giro. Utterly pointless
-awful GC battle between the same 2 teams as always. Neither GC leader at their best.
-no dramatic GC days or big attacks
-no good mountains stages, in fact they were all awful
-no sprint battles. No points battles. No kom battles.
-Uae riders winning breakway stages amongst themselves for fun.
-Shortened, pointless and meaningless stages
-Literally nothing happened
-generally just the vibe around the sport is not very good.

The above is nearly precisely what I think, but to which I will add one more element which really put the cherry-topping on the Sundae Of Awfulness that was this Vuelta:

The fact that the riders (and fans) did not get a real podium ceremony. I don't want to start a debate on whether a podium ceremony is more important than what the protestors were protesting, that's not my point here. Simply that I believe a podium in a GT is one of the hardest achievements in sports, and to be on the podium of a GT is for me, along with a podium at Worlds, the pinnacle of our sport. The podium ceremony is where the story is wrapped up, the closure happens, the reward (or heartache) for 3 weeks of suffering for those with a chance for it. Just a big UGGGH from start to finish. The only GT I rate worse is the 2012 Tour due to my distaste for the protagonists and the obviously strongest climber obviously being held back; otherwise, this one is one for the ages.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

We had a bit of Ayuso-UAE drama, like 2 or 3 interesting GC stages, some nice scenery, GC suspence and protests. It would've been abysmal if Bola del Mundo had been cancelled but fortunately it wasn't. I'll give it 4. One of the weakest GTs in recent times but could've been worse.

 

[SafeBet]

I've tried hard to come up with something to challenge the PWU's negativity but this time it's beyond my capabilities.

2

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Gave it a 3 because 1 point for each:

- Riders I like did well (Pidcock, Bernal, Philipsen)
- Scenery was nice and green at times
- Loved the improvised podium ceremony afterward

 

[dobrien]

Gave it a 3 because 1 point for each:

- Riders I like did well (Pidcock, Bernal, Philipsen)
- Scenery was nice and green at times
- Loved the improvised podium ceremony afterward

It doesn't sound like Jonas liked it though, which to me is the important thing.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

Voted a 3. The only thing that made the race interesting were the variable race finish points. Would like to see some of the currently worthless WWT stage races experiment with this. Romandie, Poland, I'm talking to you!

 

[Tricycle Rider]

It doesn't sound like Jonas liked it though, which to me is the important thing.

Did Vingo say he didn't enjoy it? I'm out of the loop again...

 

[HashRouge]

Everything about this race was terrible.

The improvised podium ceremony was outstanding, to be fair.

 

[Red Rick]

I've tried hard to come up with something to challenge the PWU's negativity but this time it's beyond my capabilities.

2

Dread it. Run from it. Petulant Whiners United arrives all the same.