Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2025, Stage 14: Avilés – La Farrapona (135.9k)

[MagliaNera]

I think Red Bull can be the key to opening up the race, if they start riding a little differently.

If they let Pellizzari off the leash it forces Gall and Pidcock into action, which again forces Almeida and Vingegaard to react.

Both Kuss and Pellizzari are now in top 10, I don't think many teams would be happy to see them in the break. But maybe Visma can try with Tulett, or Jorgenson (currently in 10th place) could drop some time. Might be good to have him as a potential satellite rider later on anyway.

Edit: sorry, wrong quote, this was supposed to be an answer to @Cycling111's post

 

[Boehmand]

Senior in English is a level of student and a person who wants discounts at restaurants and movie theaters! Lol!
Muy muchos.. Gracias.

It is also an elderly person, as it is in Spanish, which is why your post was funny

 

[solo80k]

Well, which is better for a rider's career: Being on the podium at the Tour de France, or being a superdomestique on the winning team at the Tour de France?

Depends on paycheck and the other perspectives (like Vuelta/Giro leadership).

He can be second in the TdF riding with UAE. There's only one requirement - he needs to be the last man standing with Pogacar without Jonas on their wheel. We've seen that before with Sky (Wiggins+Froome).

So far Almeida wasn't able to drop Jonas during Vuelta so it's kind of wishful thinking about even following his wheel during the TdF.

 

[Red Rick]

Hindley looking better as the race goes on. He just doesn't have the sprint kick of Vingegaard and Almeida. Think Hindley might ride the final week better than Pidcock.Nice win by Soler.

Hindley has really good kick, but he spent way more energy in the final 2km starting from when Pellizzari started setting the pace.

 

[Invicituz]

What an incredible performance by Spaniard Marc Soler, winning solo stage 14 of the La Vuelta Ciclista a España atop the mountaintop finish of Alto de la Farrapona; the man is made of steel.

 

[GroupDK]

I really don't understand Vingegaard's defensive riding here. Of course he's in the lead but not by that much, if he attacks and gains some more time that would ease off a lot of pressure if he has a bad day later on. It feels a bit like watching a football team defending their 1-0 lead halfway into the game, which rarely ends well.

Of course if he doesn't feel well then it's good to just defend, but I don't know if that's actually the case.

It's really not the ideal place this last final..
Ludicris headwind, stagewin already seemed gone, not alone with Almeida, so others could carry Almeida back, not least with that intense headwind, but he landed another P2 and some symbolic seconds..
its like number 4x P2 in Vuelta2025 ( S5, S11,, S13, S14 alongside a win S9 and the DNF stage with shared P2)

But at least we got the GC quite open for the final week...
Yesterday, I reckon he should have attacked, but he didn't, so I doubt he had it, or at least seemed quite unsure where he is..

 

[RobertCrawley]

Looks like a breakaway day tomorrow with that beginning Cat 1.

 

[Boehmand]

Both Kuss and Pellizzari are now in top 10, I don't think many teams would be happy to see them in the break. But maybe Visma can try with Tulett, or Jorgenson (currently in 10th place) could drop some time. Might be good to have him as a potential satellite rider later on anyway.

Oh I'm not talking about them hitting the early break, that would surely not be allowed by Visma and UAE.

I'm talking about them using Pellizzari to attack early on the final climb, to force all the Visma/UAE/Q36/Decathlon/Israel doms out of position and make it a showdown of the captains much earlier.

The fact that RB has 2 in the top 6, should amount to more than 4th and 6th on the final GC, if they play it right.

 

[Red Rick]

One more thing, Vingegaard not looking so hot at the finish, despite beating Almeida to the line, should make UAE really regret their tactics today because they had riders in the breakaway and thus basically a free shot to take to win the overall today

 

[RobertCrawley]

It's really not the ideal place this last final..
Ludicris headwind, stagewin already seemed gone,not alone with Almeida, so others could carry Almeida, but he landed another P2 some rsymbolic seconds..
its like number 4x P2 in Vuelta2025 ( S5, S11,, S13, S14 alongside a win S9 and the DNF stage with shared P2)

But at least we got the GC quite open for the final week...
Yesterday, I reckon he should have attacked, but he didn't, so I doubt he had it, or at least seemed quite unsure where he is..

 

[Boehmand]

It's really not the ideal place this last final..
Ludicris headwind, stagewin already seemed gone,not alone with Almeida, so others could carry Almeida back not leats with that intense headwind, but he landed another P2 andsome symbolic seconds..
its like number 4x P2 in Vuelta2025 ( S5, S11,, S13, S14 alongside a win S9 and the DNF stage with shared P2)

But at least we got the GC quite open for the final week...
Yesterday, I reckon he should have attacked, but he didn't, so I doubt he had it, or at least seemed quite unsure where he is..

Agreed.

As opposed to yesterday, the conditions were not there for an attack because of the headwind.

 

[RobertCrawley]

One more thing, Vingegaard not looking so hot at the finish, despite beating Almeida to the line, should make UAE really regret their tactics today because they had riders in the breakaway and thus basically a free shot to take to win the overall today

Absolutely. A total team effort could well have won the day for Almeida.

 

[Cycling111]

One more thing, Vingegaard not looking so hot at the finish, despite beating Almeida to the line, should make UAE really regret their tactics today because they had riders in the breakaway and thus basically a free shot to take to win the overall today

I totally agree this time.
They don´t prioritize GT. But thinking that cycling is a team sport in GT is like crying

 

[MagliaNera]

Oh I'm not talking about them hitting the early break, that would surely not be allowed by Visma and UAE.

I'm talking about them using Pellizzari to attack early on the final climb, to force all the Visma/UAE/Q36/Decathlon/Israel doms out of position and make it a showdown of the captains much earlier.

The fact that RB has 2 in the top 6, should amount to more than 4th and 6th on the final GC, if they play it right.

Yes sorry, I had originally inteded to reply to another post who asked to send Kuss and Pellizzari in breakaways...

But while we're at it, I agree that they should get something better out than 4th and 6th, but 3rd and 6th might be good enough? Pellizzari is in the white jersey, which Bora at least valued a lot at the Tour (more than the podium according to one interview with Denk (?)). Maybe it's less important for them at the Vuelta but I imagine they will want to keep Pellizzari in white, so we might just see more of those quite late attacks like today?

 

[Cycling111]

What I don't understand is that Vingegaard sprinted today and yesterday he didn't for win the stage.

 

[Unchained]

Hindley looking better as the race goes on. He just doesn't have the sprint kick of Vingegaard and Almeida. Think Hindley might ride the final week better than Pidcock.Nice win by Soler.

Hindley actually came off as fresh, he looked like he could have went a little earlier. Impressive. That stage had excellent design for me, wide angle helicopter shots of winding uphill with minimal vegetation so you can see the riders on the majority of the climb is cool. And 10-13% grade is a real separator ! Fun to watch.
Stage 20 is similar.. And the ITT late in the race could mix up top 10 even further.
Tomorrow is a possible deal breaker for lots of riders..the start is not for the faint of heart.. If you are a slow starter stay home.

 

[RobertCrawley]

What I don't understand is that Vingegaard sprinted today and yesterday he didn't for win the stage.

Almeida's pace was too high for Jonas to launch before the top of the climb, and Almeida negotiated the twisty final 500 meters downhill and gave Jonas no chance to try to get around.

 

[YavorD]

Without Valdezcaray even Hindley would've been on striking distance..

 

[Lequack]

UAE finding every day a new way to sabotage Almeida's GC chances. They might be winning stages, but they're not winning GC that's certain.

 

[AmRacer]

UAE finding every day a new way to sabotage Almeida's GC chances. They might be winning stages, but they're not winning GC that's certain.

Almeida just couldn't power away from Jonas.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

If Soler can prevent himself from going into kom psychosis and rides with some degree of tactical nous, I think he has a chance

Ilmaestro annual correct prediction!!!

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It's a shame Remco isn't in the race. He could really have given UAE some proper competition in the breakaways.

 

[pastronef]

UAE finding every day a new way to sabotage Almeida's GC chances. They might be winning stages, but they're not winning GC that's certain.

even with Soler, Almeida would not have distanced Vingo and Hindley. so every shout at Soler is useless

 

[fenns]

Jonas is undroppable by anyone but Pogacar - noone else has done it for what must be 5 years.

JV seems to be doing the minimum necessary to win the GC - I believe there is more there if he needed it. You need to surge to drop Jonas - Almeida is not Pogi but he should at least give it a try on the remaining MTFs

 

[Unchained]

What I don't understand is that Vingegaard sprinted today and yesterday he didn't for win the stage.

Slightly more narrow finish and turn radius was different so as long as Almeida had front wheel in front of Vingegaard he could squeeze him near barrier, he would have had a take some risks and flat to slightly downhill so finish speed was a little faster yesterday. Today also majority of bonus seconds already awarded to Soler.
Vingegaard riding very good race individually and as a team.

Tomorrow is a real opportunity to pressure people at the start.. Curious to see what Pidcock, Hindley and Riccitello decide.