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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Monday, September 15, 2025

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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. - Samuel Johnson


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Vuelta a España final reports

Here's our 2025 Vuelta a España page.

Here's the news from Vuelta a Espana winner Jonas Vingegaard's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Jonas Vingegaard has secured overall victory in the Vuelta a España for Team Visma | Lease a Bike. Due to protests, the final stage in Madrid was cancelled. After Simon Yates in the Giro d’Italia and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot in the Tour de France Femmes, it marked the team’s third Grand Tour victory of 2025.

“I’m super proud of this overall win, my first Vuelta and the third Grand Tour of my career”, said Vingegaard. “It’s been three tough weeks. I felt very strong in the first week and managed to win twice. Afterwards I had a more difficult phase, but luckily I came back during the final weekend. My stage win on Bola del Mundo gave me great satisfaction. It was a beautiful way to crown this Vuelta.”

Jonas Vingegaard in red after stage 20. Sirotti photo

Sports director Jesper Mørkøv praised the strength of the team throughout the race. “Yesterday we saw a beautiful final mountain stage. We knew UAE Team Emirates would want to make the race hard, but our guys have done an incredible job supporting Jonas these past weeks. He defended the leader’s jersey with conviction and proved once again that he was the strongest rider of this Vuelta. Three stage wins and now the overall: Jonas is a more than deserved winner.” His overall victory brings Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s tally in 2025 to 38 wins, while Vingegaard’s personal total now stands at six.

Traditionally, the finale in Madrid delivers iconic scenes of celebrating riders in the Spanish capital. The group photos and champagne toast went ahead, but due to protests, the peloton was never able to enter the city circuit. As a result, Team Visma | Lease a Bike was denied the chance to celebrate its fifth Vuelta overall title in seven years in style.

Here's the Vuelta report from GC second place Joao Almeida's UAE Team Emirates-XRG:

Bringing the curtain down on a great three weeks for the team at La Vuelta a España, João Almeida produced a great ride on stage 20 and ended the race alongside his teammates on Sunday. In doing so, the Portuguese rider claimed second overall in the general classification, marking his best Grand Tour result to date.

Joao Almeida climbing in stage 20. Sirotti photo

The Emirati squad was bested only by Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike, who confirmed his overall victory with a stage win atop Bola del Mundo on the penultimate day. Enjoying the best season of his career to date, Almeida raised his game to consistently challenge the two-time Tour de France champion across all three weeks.

For Almeida, the most memorable moment of La Vuelta was certainly his stage victory on the iconic Alto de l’Angliru, where the 27-year-old got the better of Vingegaard in a day-long battle for supremacy. With his performances in the high mountains, Almeida showed himself as the only contender to Vingegaard, and ensured he would finish as the runner-up in Madrid.

As for the Emirati squad, each and every rider delivered across the three weeks, from the Gran Salida in Turin, to the French Pyrenees, Andorra and finally, Spain. Their efforts delivered seven stage victories for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the most of any team in a single edition of La Vuelta this century.

There were wins for Jay Vine and Juan Ayuso, who claimed two apiece, the aforementioned Almeida, and their Spanish teammate Marc Soler. Perhaps the sweetest victory of the seven, however, came in the stage 5 team time trial, with Ivo Oliveira, Domen Novak, Felix Großschartner and Mikkel Bjerg proving instrumental to taking the day’s honours.

Along the way, Vine used his two stage wins and several breakaway exploits to rack up points in the King of the Mountains classification, which he wins for the second time in as many years. Both he and Almeida were joined on the Vuelta podium in Madrid by their teammates, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG winning the team classification by over 20 minutes to Visma-Lease a Bike.

Throughout the last week, the whole squad pulled together once more to try and lift Almeida onto the top step of the podium. Although it was not to be, the spirit in which all eight riders attacked stage 20 to Bola del Mundo was commendable.

Almeida finishes La Vuelta a little over a minute down on the race-winning time of Vingegaard, which is the closest that any rider has got to the Dane in his three Grand Tour wins to date. With victories in the Itzulia Basque Country, the Tour de Romandie, and the Tour de Suisse preceding his Vuelta runner-up spot, the 27-year-old looks well set to contest for the biggest honours in the years to come.

Almeida: “We can be proud of our race. We leave the Vuelta with a lot of success and we did what we could. It was a weird Vuelta, because the decisive stages that we expected to decide the race, did not end up being too decisive.

“The day with the most time gaps was in theory, on the easiest climb on stage 9. We just made it really hard and the time gaps were super big, so it shows that it is the riders who make the race hard, not the parcours.

“But I think we can be really proud of the last three weeks, it was a really hard Vuelta.

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Here's the Vuelta report from GC fifth-place Matthew Riccitello's Team Israel-Premier Tech:

Matthew Riccitello sealed his fifth place overall in the Vuelta a España as well as winning the white jersey for best young rider in the race in Madrid on Sunday.

“This is super special. It’s not just my result though, it’s the team’s result. I wouldn’t be here without the support of the guys and the support of the staff,” the 23-year-old American explains. “We have been through a lot these weeks, and it has really brought us all close together. This is definitely a team result!

“When I started the Vuelta, the white jersey was always at the back of my mind as a potential goal, and as the race progressed, it was always within reach. On Saturday’s last mountain stage, I just wanted to fight as hard as I could, and it worked out perfectly. Finishing with the white jersey is really special.”

Matthew Riccitello climbing in stage 14. Sirotti photo

In a race where the sporting aspects at times were overshadowed, the IPT riders rallied together as a strong group, focusing on the team’s goals, be it bunch sprints with Ethan Vernon, breakaways with Marco Frigo, or the GC battle with Riccitello.

Unfortunately, these aspects continued in Madrid this afternoon, as protestors took to the finishing circuit around the Spanish capital. After the stage was neutralized multiple times, the number of protestors blocking the route and damage caused to the race’s infrastructure resulted in the cancellation of the race’s finale and traditional podium ceremony.

Sports director Daryl Impey praises the riders for the way they handled everything on and off the bike, with four podium results, a fifth place overall, and winning the youth classification.

He says: “There is no doubt that this was a difficult race for us, with everything we have been dealing with out on the road. But it also pulled the guys really close, being in it together. I’m really proud of all of them—and the whole staff around them.

“To come away with a fifth place overall, the white jersey, and a handful of podium places, I believe we’ve had a much better race than most of the teams here, and it’s probably also one of the best Grand Tours for the team. Everything considered, I think this has been a very successful Vuelta for us.”


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The Story of the Giro d’Italia, vol.1 Shade Vise sunglass holder Paris-Roubaix: The Inside Store

GP de Fourmies reports

We posted the report from winner Paul Magnier's Team Soudal Quick-Step with the results.

Second-place Pavel Bittner's Team Picnic-PostNL posted this report:

One-day racing in Europe returned for Team Picnic PostNL’s Men’s program on Sunday afternoon, with a rolling and hilly route that started and finished in Fourmies. Nonetheless, it is a race that traditionally ends in a sprint finish so the team set out with the goal of looking after and setting up fast finisher Pavel Bittner for the finale.

Some strong teamwork throughout the day saw the team take control at the front of the peloton, slowly reeling in the strong five rider breakaway that was clear. The catch was ultimately made within the final five kilometres and things became hectic in the bunch. Nonetheless, the team remained composed and could keep the speed on at the head of the peloton, ensuring that Bittner didn’t get swamped. It was still chaotic though but Bittner squeezed up the inside alongside the barriers and launched a strong kick, taking a good second place come the line.

The 2025 GP de Fourmies gets started.

Bittner expressed: “Today we went into the race with the idea of me as a sprinter and the guys supporting that. From the start a break went pretty quickly and we were one of the teams that made sure it came to a bunch sprint. I think Mees did ad really good job, he kept on coming back, but all of the guys were on a high level today. On one of the laps we were involved in a small crash but we could all come back okay. We came into the final from the front so that we were there in position. It was really messy but I somehow found my way through. I didn’t have a clear line to get some speed and really make a fast sprint but in the end second place is a nice result, and I’m happy to finish on the podium after the work the guys did.”

Team Picnic PostNL coach Roy Curvers added: “We had a really dedicated team today that was determined to give Pavel a shot to go for the victory. We invested a lot to bring the breakaway back. In the final we didn’t hesitate in taking the front early which kept us safe and in the end put us in position to sprint for the win. Unfortunately one man was faster, but if you look at everything we did right then I think we can go one step higher the next time.”


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Here's the report from third-place Yegeniy Fedorov's Team XDS Astana:

The Kazakh rider of XDS Astana Team, Yevgeniy Fedorov, took third place at the GP de Fourmies.

The French one-day race was held in Fourmies over a 193-kilometer course. Mike Teunissen was in the breakaway from the start of the race, which was only neutralized in the final kilometers when it all came down to a bunch sprint. Yevgeniy Fedorov gave his all in the sprint and finished third.

Paul Magnier wins the GP Fourmies

“That was a good day of racing. We had Mike Teunissen in the breakaway, who was fighting hard until the last meters and finished with the main group. When the break was neutralized, I was getting ready for the final bunch sprint. Well, it went not bad — I made it to the podium in the end. I would like to thank my teammates for their effort and the whole team for their support”, — said Yevgeniy Fedorov after the race.

GP Montréal reports

We posted the report from Team Soudal Quick-Step with the results.

Here's the report from winner Brandon McNulty's UAE Team Emirates-XRG:

In a commanding performance at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, Brandon McNulty cruised to victory alongside teammate Tadej Pogačar, securing a memorable 1-2 finish for UAE Team Emirates–XRG.

 

Brandon McNulty & Tadej Pogacar finish together.

The duo broke away from the field with two laps to go in the 209.1 km race featuring 17 laps of the challenging Parc du Mont-Royal circuit. The route tested riders across multiple climbs per lap, including the steep Côte Camillien-Houde, Polytechnique, and a final ascent before the finishing drag on Avenue du Parc.

From early on, UAE Team Emirates–XRG imposed a high tempo in the peloton with Nils Politt, steadily eroding the breakaway and keeping the pressure on for the first three hours of racing. As the race approached its climax, McNulty made a well-timed move on one of the final laps. Shortly after, Pogačar bridged across to join him. Together the pair pushed clear, working in concert to build a decisive gap. In the final kilometre, Pogačar graciously allowed McNulty the honour of taking the win, completing one of the most impressive displays of teamwork this season.

Brandon McNulty: “When you go one-two with a teammate, but when he’s World Champion and obviously the best guy in the world, it’s super special. That’s one of the most memorable days of my career so far.

"We made this move on the climb, and then it ended up a group of four, and then Tadej went [on the attack]. Then I was able to come across, and he waited for me, and he was kind enough to give me the win. So in the final, he decided to give it [the win] to me. So I’m really thankful for that. It was a super fun day.”

With today’s result, UAE Team Emirates-XRG has now joined the all-time win record of 85 wins in a season.

Tadej Pogačar: “It’s been a really successful season for the team. A lot of riders have opportunities and when they get them they take them. Almost all our riders have won something this year and its a testament to how hard they work. Everybody puts in so much effort and we are just thrilled to have so many wins this year.”

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