Following the second rest day, the 2025 Vuelta a Espana continued Tuesday with stage 16 – a 167.9-kilometer ride from Poio, situated on the Spanish Westcoast, to Mos Castro de Herville in northwestern Spain. The stage would expose the remaining riders in the Vuelta peloton to four categorized climbs, and the stage finale would be contested on a Category 2 mountain.

Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) remained general classification leader of the 2025 Vuelta a Espana before the start of the third week of the 2025 Vuelta a Espana. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) was in second place - 48 seconds behind the strong Dane. Great Britain’s Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) was third in the GC, 02:38 minutes behind GC leader Vingegaard.

While most riders had recovered during the second rest day of this year’s Vuelta, Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jonas Vingegaard lieutenant Victor Campenaerts (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) had been forced to withdraw from the race due to illness. Covid-19 had also taken its toll on many riders during this year’s Tour de France. The loss of Campenaerts was a significant blow for the Visma team as the Belgian rider was always contributing eagerly in almost any type of terrain.

Stage 16 of Vuelta a Espana started in Poio in cloudy and windy weather conditions near the coastline. The riders were expected to be exposed to temperatures between 12 and 19 degrees Celsius during the stage. The chilly weather conditions could pose a challenge to some riders, whose body rhythm had been interrupted by the sudden rest day.

It did not take long after the stage start before the first breakaway attempts were launched from the peloton. Many riders obviously had well-rested legs and had used the rest day to recharge their energy stores. Patrick Eddy (Team Picnic-PostNL) and Pierre Thierry (Arkea B & B Hotels) were two of the first riders to try their luck, but their action in front of the peloton was not of a long-lasting nature. Nine riders then tried their luck, but the front action got reshuffled multiple times in the following kilometers.

A 17-man group eventually succeeded at forming a viable gap and built a lasting breakaway. The front group featured strong riders including Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep), Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies), Bob Jungels (Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies), Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek), Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), and Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic-PostNL), Nico Denz (Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe), and Finlay Pickering (Bahrain-Victorious).

The front group entered Alto de San Antonino, which was a Category 3 climb and the first categorized climb of the stage. The breakaway hopefuls had a lead of more than four minutes and 95 kilometers of the stage remaining. Wilco Kelderman and Dylan van Baarle were leading the chase effort in the main peloton for Team Visma-Lease a Bike captain Jonas Vingegaard while protecting his interests in the race.

Nico Denz was the first rider to reach the summit of Alto de San Antonino. He was followed by Marc Soler and Rudy Mollard.

The riders entered a short and fast descent while it started raining. The roads were, therefore, getting slippery, which could cause dangerous situations for the riders and possible crashes.

The breakaway optimists reached Alto da Groba, but the Category 1 climb had not caused any significant changes with six kilometers of the climb remaining. It had stopped raining and the front riders had an advantage of 04:50 minutes over the main peloton and were now 64 kilometers from the finish line in Castro de Herville. The GC favorites in the main peloton were not showing any signs of initiative or accelerations.

Mikel Landa courageously attacked solo in the final kilometers of Alto da Groba. Hopefully the rest day had had a healing and relieving effect on the Spanish rider’s back pain issues. Egan Bernal later bridged to Landa as did Clement Braz Afonso of Groupama-FDJ. Landa 

Landa was the first rider to reach the summit of the climb and earned the most points for the KOM classification. He was followed by Egan Bernal and Braz Afonso. The riders then entered the descent, and it started raining again. Nico Denz and Brieuc Rolland also bridged to the front group and the five riders fought on while navigating the slippery corners of the descent.

Marc Soler attacked from the chase group with 45 kilometers to the finish line. He was ten seconds behind the front quintet. The main peloton was now almost seven minutes behind the frontmen.

The front quintet increased its advantage over the chasse group in the following kilometers. It was twenty-two seconds ahead of the seven chasers with forty kilometers to the finish line. Riders from Visma-Lease a Bike were still controlling the pace in the main peloton while allowing the front men to be seven minutes ahead of them. It was still raining.

The riders were now climbing Alto de Prado. The front quintet was fighting hard to prevent the Soler group from joining. The riders reached the steepest sections and even Soler was finding it difficult to stay on his bike on the Category 2 climb. Nico Denz got dropped from the front quintet and the remaining four riders were now 26 seconds ahead of a chase group, which featured Soler, Pickering, and now Denz. Bagioli, Jungels and Vermaerke were further behind.

Landa was the first rider to reach the summit of Alto de Prado. The Spanish rider was followed by Bernal and Braz Afonso. The front trio had dropped Brieuc Rolland on the climb and now entered a wet descent while getting closer to the finish line. Thirty kilometers remained.

In the main peloton Jonas Vingegaard suffered a flat tire and received a new bike from Tulett. He would now have to tackle the descent on a teammate’s bike. Braz Afonso suffered a mechanical issue in the front trio and had to stop to fix his bike. What a blow for the French rider and his Groupama-FDJ team.

As the Premiertech team had disappointingly still not withdrawn from the race, the resulting protests in the finish area were once again forcing race organizers Unipublic and A.S.O. to shorten today’s route. Riders in the Vuelta were still being subjected to danger because of PremierTech’s presence in the peloton and long-planned race strategies of various teams were still being ruined. The stage winner and finish times would now be found eight kilometers from the intended finish line.

Two kilometers remained to the new finish line and Landa and Bernal were still in front while being chased by Braz Afonso, who was now more than a minute behind them. It appeared the stage winner would be found in the front duo. This was now a major opportunity for Landa and Bernal, who had both experienced much difficulty in recent months.

Egan Bernal launched his sprint and was followed by Landa, who was unable to sprint because of his back pain issues. Egan Bernal has won stage 16 for Team Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies ahead of Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep). Brieuc Rolland completed the stage podium for Groupama-FDJ. What a fabulous stage victory for the Colombian rider who won the 2019 Tour de France and 2021 Giro d’Italia. Germany’s Nico Denz caught Clement Braz Afonso shortly before the finish line and finished fourth ahead of the Frenchman.

The general classification favorites finished the stage together and Jonas Vingegaard remains general classification leader ahead of Joao Almeida after stage 16 of the 2025 Vuelta a Espana.

The next stage on the menu of Vuelta a Espana 2025 will be stage 17 – the stage will be contested on Wednesday on a mountainous 143.2-kilometer route from O Barco de Valdeorras to Alto de El Morredero. The stage will conclude on a Category 1 climb, which will invite the general classification favorites in the race to a fierce battle for GC time gains.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from the 2025 Vuelta a Espana.