Joao Almeida tames the formidable Angliru, but fails to distance Jonas Vingegaard in the Vuelta

With its 202.7 km and the ascent of the emblematic Angliru as a judge of peace (12.4 km at 9.7% and passages at more than 20%), the 13th stage of the Vuelta between Cabezon de la Sal and the summit of Asturias promised to be the most feared (and the longest) event of this ^80th edition of the Vuelta a España. A day of high mountains with nearly 4,000 m of positive elevation gain where only the strongest climbers could express themselves and where the slightest weakness could weigh heavily in the battle for the general classification. The Portuguese leader of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Joao Almeida, won, at the end of a stage slightly disrupted by the irruption of a dog and then protesters at the foot of Angliru.

From the start, the attacks multiplied. A group of around twenty riders quickly took the lead. Among them were several French riders such as Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ) and Pierre Thierry (Arkéa-B & B Hotels), but also Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), the green jersey in the points classification. Once the breakaway stabilized, the gap fluctuated between two and three minutes under the control of the peloton led by Jonas Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike.

The Alto de la Mozqueta (6.3 km at 8.4%), the first climb of the day after 154 km of racing, allowed for the first thinning out. Bob Jungels (Ineos Grenadiers) blasted the group by accelerating, leaving only four men behind. Behind, several riders from the initial breakaway were distanced, while Mads Pedersen managed to catch up to aim for the intermediate sprint – as expected, the Dane consolidated his green jersey. In the peloton, UAE Emirates increased the pace, causing the first failures, notably that of their teammate Juan Ayuso, winner the day before but already out of contention for the general classification.

The Alto del Cordal (5.5 km at 8.8%) served as a springboard for the last survivors of the breakaway, and on the approach to the Angliru, Bob Jungels held out alone, before being caught by a handful of favorites, 5 km from the summit. Jonas Vingegaard and his teammate Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), accompanied for a time by Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5).

The daunting slopes of La Cueña les Cabres, at over 20%, finally shattered the group, launching the final duel between Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the yellow jersey, and Joao Almeida, his runner-up in the general classification and very aggressive on the steepest slopes. In the final two kilometers, Vingegaard stayed in the wheel of the Portuguese rider, without taking over. Almeida, unfazed, continued his effort. Under the red flame, the two men were still together, but the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider had the final word on the finish line.

"I knew I had to be first at the last corner, and since he didn't pass me, it was good," explained the Portuguese rider after the stage. Joao Almeida took his first individual victory at the Vuelta 2025, and extended his team's total of stage wins this edition to six.

Jai Hindley crossed the line 28 seconds later and made the best move of the day, jumping from ^8th to ^4th place in the general classification. But the status quo remains between the Tour leader and his runner-up. "Of course I'm still thinking about winning the Vuelta," said Joao Almeida. " There's still a lot of time to catch Jonas [Vingegaard], but he looks really phenomenal, it's going to be difficult, but we're never going to give up."