The 2025 Vuelta a Espana continued Wednesday with stage 17 – a 143.2-kilometer ride in additional mountainous terrain on a route from O Barco de Valdeorras, in the northwestern part of Spain, to Alto de El Morredero, situated further East and in forest terrain populated by wildlife. Race organizers A.S.O. and Unipublic had designed the stage to conclude on a Category 1 climb, which would invite the general classification favorites in the race to a fierce battle for GC time gains in one of the final opportunities of this year’s final Grand Tour.

Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) remained general classification leader of the 2025 Vuelta a Espana after yesterday’s stage 16 of the 2025 Vuelta a Espana, which had been shorted due to massive protests because the PremierTech team had still failed to withdraw from the race. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) was still 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.

The riders gathered behind the start line in somewhat chilly weather conditions and with light rain, which had left the riders hoping for as much shelter as possible before the stage start. The temperatures were predicted to remain in the interval of 16-19 degrees Celsius during the stage. Wind gusts of up to forty km/h were expected.

Stage 17 got off to a fast start and the two Danes Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Jonas Gregaard (Lotto-Caps) attacked together with Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA), Pierre Thierry (Arkea B & B Hotels), and Team Picnic-PostNL’s Bjorn Koerdt. The attack, however, was short-lived.

Perhaps inspired by teammate Egan Bernal’s victory in yesterday’s stage, Michal Kwiatkowski and Magnus Sheffield counterattacked for Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies. The duo was also reeled in by the chasing peloton and no viable breakaway had been established after 25 kilometers.

A 12-man group later succeeded at establishing a more viable breakaway. The front group had a lead of 01:40 minutes with 88 kilometers remaining and featured Jonas Gregaard, Timo Roosen (Picnic-PostNL), Gijs Leemreize (Picnic-PostNL), Luca van Boven (Intermarche-Wanty), Sergio Samitier (Cofidis Team), Leandre Lozouet (Arkea B & B Hotels), Patrick Gamper (Jayco-Alula), Joel Nicolau, Harold Tejada, Madis Mihkels (EF Education-EasyPost), Brandon Ribera (Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies), and not least Antonio Tiberi of Team Bahrain-Victorious.

The breakaway group entered Paso de las Traviesas with lead of 01:51 minutes over the main peloton. The Category 3 climb was 7.8-kilometers long and had an average gradient of 4.1 percent. Dylan van Baarle and Wilco Kelderman were setting a fast pace for general classification leader Jonas Vingegaard in the main peloton, and it appeared a priority for the Visma-Lease a Bike team to maintain control of the action.

While Visma-Lease a Bike riders continued to lead the stretched-out main peloton all the way to the top of the climb, Nicolau was the first of the breakaway optimists to reach the summit. He gained the most points for the KOM classification and was followed by Samitier and Tejada. Though not in the breakaway, Jay Vine was still leading the KOM classification for UAE Team Emirates.

Luca van Boven (Intermarche-Wanty) won the intermediate sprint from the breakaway group with forty-five kilometers to the finish line. 

Tiberi and Tejada accelerated from the front group on an uncategorized climb with 34 kilometers to the stage finish. The other breakaway optimists closed the gap, and all riders were on high alert.

The riders passed by the Los Templarios Castle in Ponferrada, which was commissioned by King Ferdinand II in 1178 AD to host the Templar knights. The castle had previously been a hill fortress and had later become a citadel during Roman ages. Los Templarios Castle is situated on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. Hopefully inspired by ancient history, the Vuelta cycling warriors continued their quest for success in today’s stage 17.

Twenty-two kilometers remained and riders from Visma-Lease a Bike had significantly increased the pace in the main peloton and reduced the advantage of the front group to just 01:10 minutes. Realizing the breakaway group was drawing its last breaths, Italy’s Tiberi courageously attacked from the group to extend his breakaway excursion. Tejada later joined forces with him. Samitier and Gregaard formed a chase group with Leemreize.

Riders from Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe had moved to the front of the main peloton to protect the interests of fourth-ranked Jai Hindley in the general classification. The team was also working for fifth-ranked Giulio Pellizzari, and it was the team’s clear ambition to finish on the podium of this year’s Vuelta a Espana after a very disappointing 2025 season.

Samitier attacked from the front group with thirteen kilometers left as the riders approached the Alto de El Morredero climb, which would take the riders to the finish line of the stage. Tiberi and the other chasers got reeled in by the main peloton, which was now just ten seconds behind.

Samitier was the last of the breakaway optimists to get caught by the peloton and a reduced 14-rider GC favorites group was now chasing a stage win and time gains in the uphill finish before tomorrow’s time trial. The roads were very narrow and the GC group included Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates), USA’s Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma), fellow American Sepp Kuss (Team Visma), Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-Alula), Torstein Traeen (Bahrain-Victorious) and few other riders.

Eight kilometers remained and the riders were passing through forest terrain.

Jai Hindley attacked with six kilometers to the finish line. Tom Pidcock, Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Riccitello responded. Joao Almeida was unable to keep up with the front riders and he was now chasing with Giulio Pellizzari.

Riccitello attacked from the front group when Almeida and Pellizzari had almost closed the gap to the front four. He did not open a gap and Almeida and Pellizzari joined the front group. Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock moved to the front of the group and tried his luck.

Pellizzari moved to the front of the group to set a perfect pace for teammate Hindley. Hindley, himself, took over.

Four kilometers remained and Joao Almeida moved to the front of the group. Strong wind gusts were now affecting the riders as the forests had sadly burned.

Pellizzari moved to the front of the group and accelerated the pace in his white jersey as leader of the youth classification. He then opened a gap with 3.5-kilometers to the summit and finish line. The other favorites were now nine seconds behind the young Italian rider. Tom Pidcock was at the front of the chase group while watching Vingegaard, Hindley, Almeida and Riccitello.

Pellizzari was still ahead of the chasers when two kilometers remained to the finish line, and he was increasing his advantage. What an impressive effort from the Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe rider.

American Matthew Riccitello attacked from the chase group with 1.3 kilometers to the finish line. The PremierTech rider delivered a serious acceleration on the steep climb, but the other riders closed his attack.

21-year-old Italian rider Giulio Pellizzari continued his impressive performance all the way to the finish line and won stage 17 in 03:37:00 for Team Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe. Thomas Pidcock accelerated from the chase group in the stage finale and was the second rider to cross the finish line - sixteen seconds after the winner. Jai Hindley completed the stage podium, while Jonas Vingegaard finished fourth and Joao Almeida fifth.

Jonas Vingegaard remains general classification leader ahead of Joao Almeida after stage 17 of the 2025 Vuelta a Espana. Vingegaard is now fifty seconds ahead of Almeida. Tom Pidcock is 02:28 minutes behind the leader, while Jai Hindley is fourth and Giulio Pellizzari fifth.

The next challenge on the menu of the 2025 Vuelta a Espana will be the stage 18 individual time trial in Valladolid, where the general classification favorites will battle for time gains and advancement in the general classification on a flat 27.2-kilometer route. The specialized time trial experts will also have marked the stage in their calendars while hoping to shine before the Vuelta concludes on Sunday in Madrid.

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