Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Sunday, September 14, 2025
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
The only change is that baseball has turned Paige from a second class citizen to a second class immortal. - Satchel Paige
Bill & Carol McGann’s book The Story of the 2024 Tour de France: The Happy Warrior Triumphs is available print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the link on the right.
Current racing:
- August 23 - September 14: Vuelta a España
- September 14: Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
- September 14: GP de Fourmies
- September 14: Trofeo Matteotti
Upcoming racing:
- September 17 - 21: Tour de Luxembourg
- September 17: GP de Wallonie
Latest completed racing:
- September 13: Memorial Marco Pantani
- September 12: Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
- September 2 - 7: Tour of Britain
- August 31: Bretagne Classic-Ouest France
- August 26 - 29: Tour Poitou Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine
- August 20 - 24: Renewi Tour
- August 19 - 22: Tour du Limousin
- August 17: Hamburg Cyclassics
- August 17: La Polynormande
- August 12 - 16: Tour of Denmark
- August 15: Circuit Franco-Belge
We posted the race organizer's report with the results.
Here's the report from stage winner Jonas Vingegaard's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Jonas Vingegaard strengthened his impending overall victory in the Vuelta a España by winning the twentieth stage. The 28-year-old Dane of Team Visma | Lease a Bike dropped his rivals on the steep final kilometers of the Bola del Mundo. Sepp Kuss finished impressively in second place. Barring misfortune, Vingegaard will be crowned in Madrid tomorrow as the overall winner of the Tour of Spain for the first time.
Jonas Vingegaard wins stage 20. Sirotti photo
“I’m very happy I could put the finishing touches on things today,” Vingegaard said afterwards. “I felt better than I did in the mountain stages over the past week. It’s nice to be able to reward the hard work of my team-mates. Not just today, but over the last three weeks they’ve been fantastic. I knew I had a great chance of winning today. I attacked at the right moment, although the final of the stage was incredibly tough. I hope to get through tomorrow’s stage without problems and then cross the line in Madrid wearing red.”
On the eve of the final stage in the Spanish capital, the riders faced another brutal mountain stage. After 165 kilometres, the finish lay atop the Bola del Mundo, an hors catégorie climb. A large breakaway went clear early on, but the peloton allowed them little room. Approaching the foot of the final climb, the leaders’ advantage quickly decreased. In the favorites’ group, Team Visma | Lease a Bike held a numerical advantage. Among others, Ben Tulett and Kuss, who turned 31 today, looked strong.
On the slopes of the Bola del Mundo, João Almeida launched the first acceleration. The Portuguese rider began the day 44 seconds behind Vingegaard. The Dane reacted sharply and soon after countered with his own attack. In the steep final kilometer, he rode solo to his third stage win in this Vuelta, putting him on the verge of securing his maiden overall victory in the Spanish Grand Tour.
“It was a hard but beautiful day,” said Kuss, who finished second. “UAE Team Emirates really went for it, but we were ready. We started the final climb with five riders in the favorites’ group, so the situation was ideal. Everyone worked incredibly hard to make this possible. It’s brilliant that Jonas could finish it off in this way. He attacked at the perfect moment. It was impressive to see.”
Content continues below the ads
Here's the Vuelta report from GC third-place Tom Pidcock's Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team:
Tom Pidcock held on to his third place in the general classification after an impressive showdown on the iconic Bola del Mundo climb in the Sierra de Guadarrama, just north of Madrid. After more than 4,000 meters of elevation gain in Saturday’s stage, it all came down to the final three kilometers—the steepest, roughest gradients of the entire day.
Tom Pidcock finishing fourth in stage 20. Sirotti photo
The 20th stage between Robledo de Chavela and Bola del Mundo/Puerto del Navacerrada was 165.6 kilometers long and would decide the final podium of this year’s Vuelta a España. The last climb, 12.3 kilometers in length, led to the highest point of the entire race: 2,251 meters above sea level. Coming into the stage, Tom Pidcock held a 39-second lead over Jai Hindley. Achieving a Grand Tour podium with a ProTeam—a second-division team—is something that happens very rarely, but this morning it was closer than ever for Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team.
After a fierce fight, the breakaway was established, with David de la Cruz and Nick Zukowsky representing the team. The group of 37 riders never gained more than two minutes on the peloton, where Fabio Christen, Marcel Camprubí, David González, and Damien Howson stayed close to Tom. David and Nick were caught on the lower slopes, but Damo held on to support Tom until seven kilometers to go.
The group of favorites soon whittled down to just the top four in the overall classification, along with former Vuelta winner Sepp Kuss. From there, it was up to Pidcock himself. He fought hard to stay on the wheel of his closest rival, Jai Hindley, diving to the inside of the steepest corners to rejoin the lead group time and again. He finished fourth on the stage, just five seconds behind Hindley. With one more sprinters’ stage to come, Pidcock still holds 30 seconds over the Australian and is on the brink of securing a historic third place overall.
After the finish, Tom Pidcock gave his first reaction, searching for words to describe the significance of this historic podium ride:
“This morning I was super up for it, ready for the stage. We’d had two relatively easy days, so today it felt like a one-day race—and that’s what I’m good at. It’s so hard to find a rhythm on such steep climbs and this surface. I was still in control on the steepest climbs, didn’t want to go over the limit, stay within that and not blow. I really don’t know what to say now. I’m pretty proud of myself. It’s the biggest performance of my career. I’m very exhausted. I can’t even find the words right now. I can now relax, I guess. Up until today I was super focused on everything and switched on for the race. I can now just enjoy it.”
Content continues below the ads
Here's the Vuelta report from GC fifth place Matthew Riccitello's Team Israel-Premier Tech:
Matthew Riccitello put on a stellar performance on the steep gradients of Bola del Mundo, climbing to fifth place in the GC while taking the white jersey as the best young rider in this year’s Vuelta a España.
“Today, everything went kind of perfectly,” Riccitello explained. “I went into this stage with nothing to lose. Of course, the white jersey was a goal, but I also knew that it had already been a good race, no matter what happened today. I’m just really happy with my legs today!”
Matthew Riccitello on stage 20's final climb. Sirotti photo
Riccitello started today’s stage 20 in sixth place on the General Classification and second in the young rider classification, 58 seconds behind Giulio Pellizzari [Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe].
Despite knowing it wouldn’t be easy to overtake Pellizzari, our 23-year-old American climber was determined to leave it all out on the climb, going as deep as he could. Ultimately, it paid off as Riccitello crossed the line 2:26 minutes ahead of his Italian rival.
“It was a really hard day all day, which I think suited me well. Pellizzari has been super strong all race long, but everything went perfectly for me today. All I had to do was follow the wheels and hang on as long as I could.
“It was really tough, though. When it’s that steep, it’s hard to enjoy, because you just have to go as hard as you can to get up it. I definitely suffered a lot in the last couple of kilometers, but once you cross the finish line you forget all about the suffering from the last few weeks. To finish in the white jersey, I think overall it couldn’t have gone any better today, so I’m really happy.”
On Sunday, the Vuelta a España finishes with a sprint stage in Madrid, which will give Ethan Vernon and the team one more chance to go for a stage victory in the race.
Content continues below the ads
And here's the Vuelta report from Junior Lecerf's Team Soudal Quick-Step:
Bola del Mundo returned at the Vuelta for the first time in more than a decade, the cherry on the cake at the end of a tough day of racing with five classified climbs that amounted to a total of 4200 meters of elevation gain.
Right from the start, there was a flurry of attacks, and T-Rex Quick-Step immediately joined the party with Mikel Landa and Mauri Vansevenant. The group kept getting bigger and bigger to the point it numbered 37 riders, but their gap remained at all times around the two-minute mark, as some of the GC teams made sure of tightly controlling this margin. Landa – runner-up a couple of days ago – was one of the strongest riders in the group, and in the final 30 kilometers he attacked numerous times; the Basque made a selection and kept persevering also on the descent, before the start of the 12.2km Bola del Mundo.
Junior Lecerf on the Bola del Mundo climb. Sirotti photo
Briefly dropped there, Mikel dragged himself back at the front of the race, where he remained until three kilometers to go, when the race surface became concrete, making it more difficult for the riders, who also had to overcome the slopes which reached 20%. Caught by the reduced peloton which also featured teammate Junior Lecerf, Landa was then distanced, but this didn’t stop him from concluding an impressive top 15 after more than 125 kilometers in the breakaway – a great ride that brought him his second most combative rider of the stage trophy.
Lecerf was the other T-Rex Quick-Step rider to impress on one of cycling’s hardest climbs, despite both the pace in the group and the gradients ramping up. The Belgian kept hanging on seventh or eighth wheel until the final two kilometers, when he lost contact with the group from where Jonas Vingegaard (Visma – Lease a Bike) emerged victorious. Junior did his own race as the top of Bola del Mundo got closer and closer, and eventually finished a remarkable ninth.
“We did well from the start, placing a couple of guys in the break, but the GC teams didn’t give too much space to the group and they reeled them in with just a few kilometers left. It’s a pity, because Mikel had good legs and could have fought for the win. Louis and Max did a great job for me in the peloton, protecting and keeping me out of the wind, something for which I am grateful. At the same time, I am satisfied with getting a top ten on this climb after a hard day of racing”, Junior explained after cementing his 11th place in the ranking.
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary