Vuelta a España 2025 discussion

[Valv.Piti]

Lets start with the route. Its far from a great one, starts in Italy with some quite unimaginary stages and transitions into France. A very uninspiring MTF to Limone Piemonte, I think Ivano Basso won there in 2005, its basically Montevergine. Early and short TTT on stage 5 before the first real mountains in Andorra on stage 6 to Pal and an OG MTF to Cerler at stage 7, I seem to remember Sammi Sanchez winning here in 2007 in shite weather. More bad and shallow MTFs on stages 9 and 10 to Valdezcaray and Belagua before some medium mountain stages on stages 11 and 12, we remember the Vivero + Pike combo from the GP in 2023. Angliru on stage 13 on a long day with some medium length, quite hard climbsleading up to it. This is the queen stage without a doubt. Next stage to Somiedo over Puerto de San Lorenzo, probably the two hardest mountain days in the race although it doesnt say that much. Next up a medium mountain stage with a very hilly start into Castro de Herville, too bad MAL isn't racing anymore. Nice stage. Another OG MTF to Morredero on stage 17, Valverde won here in 2006 followed by an ITT. Race finishes off with Bola del Mundo over a double ascentof Navacerrada.

All in all, its on the easier side and frankly quite underwhelming. Has to be said though from stage 5 to 18, there's either MTFs (albeit some of them VERY shallow), quite hard medium mountain stages or time trials apart from a slat sprint in Zaragoza. So not all is bad here, but for the Vuelta its an under average route on paper I'd say. Definitely liked 2024 and 2023 much, much better. 5 sprints which is fine, two of the uphill. Lots of stages for the break as usual.

The two biggest fish (see what I did there) are already decided - Pogacar doesn't race, Fisherman does. UAE went as far as already selecting their squad today with Ayuso and Almeida. I will try to update the OP with names we can expect to take part in the race and hopefully you'll help me.

Jonas is the man to beat, and I have a hard time seeing anyone being able to, but stranger this have happened. Its the Vuelta after all. Jonas was good without being great in 2023, but could see some challenges from UAE, Landa, Mas and Carapaz. Maybe some later additions like Roglic? Wouldn't rule it out. But most of the challengers seem to be those from the Giro minus the top 2 + some TdF abandons like Mas and Almeida.

Confirmed:
Ayuso
Almeida
Vingegaard
Mads Pedersen
Mas
Jorgenson
Kuss
Bernal


Most likely:
Riccitello
Carapaz
Skjelmose
Tiberi
Gaudu (don't know if hes worth mentioning, but lets do it)
Ciccone
Tao
Landa
Poole
Pelizzari
Hindley
Vlasov
Kuss
Pidcock
Gee
Buitrago

Maybe:
Gall

 

[RedheadDane]

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Kuss Pidcock race.
Did you forget to enter a new line?

 

[Heston]

Almeida might have a chance because the route is so bad, but Vinge should still smash him on Angliru and Bola Del Mundo.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Enrico looked like he was coming into form like last year but im concerned about his knee 🙁

Landismo is racing Burgos next week so he will be there.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

You don't think Mas will be there? Even if not fully healthy, it kind of feels like an inevitability. He'll be there and as usual it'll be the best possible Mas to achieve the most Mas result possible: being there and threatening to do something good, but never quite doing so.

Also it was Abantos where Samu won in 2007, another long-forgotten MTF to the Vuelta, but that one is in Comunidad de Madrid, above San Lorenzo de El Escorial. That was a regular in the early 2000s (in fact it's where the MTT that cost Isidro Nozal the race after his long sojourn over the awful 5% grinders of 2003 ended on the penultimate day took place), but the road is no longer in good enough condition for a stage finish, and the area at the top is very cramped; with it being SLdEE that pays for the finishes there and that town offering a very modern-Vuelta feel with the steep ramps in the town itself, Abantos is rather lost to time, but Cerler has been there throughout. Anyways, the 2007 stage there, the last time the Vuelta was there, was won by Leonardo Piepoli after he did his classic deal with Denis Menchov, pulling the Russian into the GC lead in exchange for being allowed to cross the line first.

Race leader Stijn Devolder - who was still considering trying to take a tilt at GCs and indeed had finished with the elites in the opening mountain stage to Lagos de Covadonga on the 4th day (no, really, all parts of that sentence are true) - hit the wall and lost five minutes, while third on the day, in front of Carlos Sastre no less, was an unheralded 31-year-old journeyman of the Iberian domestic scene by the name of Ezequiel Mosquera, who had (ironically enough, as it would turn out in retrospect) got a chance due to a combination of Operación Puerto having seen a bunch of top two tier riders on Spanish teams having to make way or enter exile in Portugal (where Mosquera had spent most of his career to that point), and an era prior to the 2008 financial crash, in which most of the Spanish regions were funding teams, meaning the Galician government were helping to fund the Karpin ProConti team, and Eze therefore got a bit of priority for signing as a local. He'd been top 10 of most of the Spanish short stage races in 2005 with Kaiku, but had never raced the Volta for GC or done a Grand Tour before, so he was underestimated by other more established GT riders.

The route could be set up for some of that early to mid 2000s mediocrity, though - a lot of grinding gradients, mid climbs and an uncertain field. Cerler, despite its reputation as a meme climb coming from its use being almost entirely concentrated in the heights of the EPO era, is actually a pretty decent, inconsistent cat.1 climb, it's just you can't - at least unless they finally finish paving the Collado de Sahún - chain it to anything that will encourage racing beforehand. However, other than that, it's pretty miserable pickings. Limone Piemonte, Pal (the Andorra one, not the one from Bagà that has both me AND Sepp Kuss shaking hands in agreement), Valdezcaray, La Farrapona (with only one climb before it), there's a whole lot of nothing going on.

Oh, and in case there was any doubt that ASO were in charge, stages 8 AND 15 are worthless flat stages. Awesome show, great job.

 

[Red Rick]

Vingegaards' level may show us how hard this TdF truly was. If he has the same level of performance drop as 2023, he should still easily win it, but I expect him to be better with his lighter sprint and the fact that he got sick in the Vuelta in 2023.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Vingegaard's participation is one thing but the leadership struggle in UAE between Almeida & Ayuso can become an interesting part of the race. Gianetti may have to call the ultimate team boss (Teddy) to decide on this matter (and I think I know his answer).

 

[Valv.Piti]

I actually had added Mas while you were writing that post. My apologies, hard to forgive given it Enric Mas, but then again, its a rider who just seems to go under the rader until late August. His DNF was quite late in the Tour as opposed to crashing on the aforementioned Vivero-Pike stage in 2023, so that should probably have warmed his engine up just enough to look like a threat but finish between 2nd and 4th.

And yes, that was Abantos. Damn. But Cerler is the harder climb, so all good. Its actually quite an interesting MTF with its steep pitches followed by short descents.

 

[Gigs_98]

I think people will talk up Almeida before they realize just how big the performance difference from Pogacar and Vingegaard to the rest of the world really is. Vingegaard and it won't be close

 

[Lequack]

Yeah this Vuelta is already over now that Pog is a no show. Time to look towards the Giro.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Vingegaards' level may show us how hard this TdF truly was. If he has the same level of performance drop as 2023, he should still easily win it, but I expect him to be better with his lighter sprint and the fact that he got sick in the Vuelta in 2023.

There is a new aspect as well. He had off days he didn't experience like this before in the Tour (by his own words). So we'll have to see how that goes in the second GT.

 

[AmRacer]

Lets start with the route. Its far from a great one, starts in Italy with some quite unimaginary stages and transitions into France. A very uninspiring MTF to Limone Piemonte, I think Ivano Basso won there in 2005, its basically Montevergine. Early and short TTT on stage 5 before the first real mountains in Andorra on stage 6 to Pal and an OG MTF to Cerler at stage 7, I seem to remember Sammi Sanchez winning here in 2007 in shite weather. More bad and shallow MTFs on stages 9 and 10 to Valdezcaray and Belagua before some medium mountain stages on stages 11 and 12, we remember the Vivero + Pike combo from the GP in 2023. Angliru on stage 13 on a long day with some medium length, quite hard climbsleading up to it. This is the queen stage without a doubt. Next stage to Somiedo over Puerto de San Lorenzo, probably the two hardest mountain days in the race although it doesnt say that much. Next up a medium mountain stage with a very hilly start into Castro de Herville, too bad MAL isn't racing anymore. Nice stage. Another OG MTF to Morredero on stage 17, Valverde won here in 2006 followed by an ITT. Race finishes off with Bola del Mundo over a double ascentof Navacerrada.

All in all, its on the easier side and frankly quite underwhelming. Has to be said though from stage 5 to 18, there's either MTFs (albeit some of them VERY shallow), quite hard medium mountain stages or time trials apart from a slat sprint in Zaragoza. So not all is bad here, but for the Vuelta its an under average route on paper I'd say. Definitely liked 2024 and 2023 much, much better. 5 sprints which is fine, two of the uphill. Lots of stages for the break as usual.

The two biggest fish (see what I did there) are already decided - Pogacar doesn't race, Fisherman does. UAE went as far as already selecting their squad today with Ayuso and Almeida. I will try to update the OP with names we can expect to take part in the race and hopefully you'll help me.

Jonas is the man to beat, and I have a hard time seeing anyone being able to, but stranger this have happened. Its the Vuelta after all. Jonas was good without being great in 2023, but could see some challenges from UAE, Landa, Mas and Carapaz. Maybe some later additions like Roglic? Wouldn't rule it out. But most of the challengers seem to be those from the Giro minus the top 2 + some TdF abandons like Mas and Almeida.

Confirmed:
Ayuso
Almeida
Vingegaard
Mads Pedersen
Mas

Most likely:
Carapaz
Tiberi
Gaudu (don't know if hes worth mentioning, but lets do it)
Ciccone
Tao
Landa
Poole
Pelizzari
Hindley
Vlasov
Kuss
Pidcock
Gee

Maybe:
Gall

Bernal

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

I think people will talk up Almeida before they realize just how big the performance difference from Pogacar and Vingegaard to the rest of the world really is. Vingegaard and it won't be close

Agreed. Almeida’s best GT result is 3rd in the Giro in 2023 against an injured Roglic and ancient G, I’m in not mistaken. Last year he helped Pogi some but was miles back. One week shows some Improvement for sure but that’s not the same thing. The only ones who compete with Vingegaard IMO are Rog in his 2025 Vuelta form or Remco when everything goes right. I don’t see the others posing any issues.

 

[Rob5091]

If Vingegaard is as worn out as Pogi, then the Vuelta could be interesting.

 

[Hugh Januss]

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Kuss Pidcock race.
Did you forget to enter a new line?

I often kuss Pidcock he's such an obnoxious little ***

 

[P4rthen0n]

The two biggest fish (see what I did there) are already decided - Pogacar doesn't race, Fisherman does. UAE went as far as already selecting their squad today with Ayuso and Almeida. I will try to update the OP with names we can expect to take part in the race and hopefully you'll help me.

Jonas is the man to beat, and I have a hard time seeing anyone being able to, but stranger this have happened. Its the Vuelta after all. Jonas was good without being great in 2023, but could see some challenges from UAE, Landa, Mas and Carapaz. Maybe some later additions like Roglic? Wouldn't rule it out. But most of the challengers seem to be those from the Giro minus the top 2 + some TdF abandons like Mas and Almeida.

Confirmed:
Ayuso
Almeida
Vingegaard
Mads Pedersen
Mas

Most likely:
Carapaz
Tiberi
Gaudu (don't know if hes worth mentioning, but lets do it)
Ciccone
Tao
Landa
Poole
Pelizzari
Hindley
Vlasov
Kuss
Pidcock
Gee

Maybe:
Gall

Jorgenson and Kuss are both confirmed.
Bernal is supposedly going as well.

Maybe Skjelmose, Pablo Castrillo, Buitrago?

 

[Bolder]

You guys have it all wrong. Vingegaard will be supporting Kuss again.

 

[Gratemans]

If Vingegaard is as worn out as Pogi, then the Vuelta could be interesting.

He's not, and the Vuelta still is one and a half month away.

 

[Peter von]

He's not, and the Vuelta still is one and a half month away.

tend to agree, significantly fewer race days before the tour and the ones he had were less stressful.
The joker being how he coped with the concussion mentally, after all it wasn't planned to have fewer race days. But so far it looks like they did fine.
He also looked like he was getting stronger and stronger as the tour went on.

 

[Rob5091]

He also looked like he was getting stronger and stronger as the tour went on.

Looked to me like Pogi was getting weaker, but that's just my point of view.

 

[P4rthen0n]

He's not, and the Vuelta still is one and a half month away.

Today is the 30th of July.
The Vuelta starts in 23th August.

It's only 3 and a half weeks away from now (4 weeks after the Tour).

 

[Rou]

There is a rumour (most likely true) that the Figueres TTT is increased from 20 kms to 24.1 kms which is a good thing.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Updated.

Visma really sending their ace climbers. They will probably also select that little guy from Dauphine although I completely forgot his name now. There was some talk bringing him to TdF. Tulett was his name.

I think everything points to Skjelmose does the race. I think he rides Danmark Rundt and the Vuelta along with Pedersen.

The next interesting thing will be to watch the startlists of San Sebastian and Burgos to get an idea of the level, mainly from the guys that did the Giro.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Michael Rasmussen really doesn't like Vingegaard. Says he a slight favorite now, and constantly calls him Hr. Hansen lmao

 

[Heston]

Michael Rasmussen really doesn't like Vingegaard. Says he a slight favorite now, and constantly calls him Hr. Hansen lmao

I have no idea why anyone still listens to that bitter old man.