The 2025 Vuelta a Espana continued Thursday with the much-anticipated stage 13 – a 202.7-kilometer stage in mountainous terrain of maximum difficulty on a route from Cabezon de la Sal to the summit of the much-feared L’Angliru. While pure climbers were eagerly awaiting the opportunity to shine in their most-favored terrain in the Queen Stage of this year’s Vuelta, general classification favorites such as Jonas Vingegaard, Tom Pidcock and Joao Almeida were expected to engage in a fierce battle for time gains and a stage victory.

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) continued to lead the general classification of this year’s Vuelta a Espana before today’s stage 13. Portuguese GC favorite Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) was in second place and fifty seconds behind Vingegaard. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) was in third place in the general classification after a brave and race-animating effort in Wednesday’s stage 11.

While Ben O’Connor (Jayco-Alula) had been forced to abandon the race due to injuries sustained, the remaining riders were eagerly awaiting the start of stage 13 at the start line in Cabezon de la Sal, and it did not take long after the riders were set free, before the first breakaway attempts were launched. Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural) and Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R) were experiencing problems in the first kilometers and got dropped from the peloton.

24 cyclists succeeded at forming a strong breakaway group, which had gained an advantage of almost three minutes over the main peloton after more than forty kilometers of fast racing. The front group featured strong riders and included Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Remi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious), Edward Planckaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Bob Jungels (Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies), and Jefferson Cepeda of Team Movistar.

Having responded reluctantly to the front action, a two-man chase duo featured Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates) and Chris Hamilton (Picnic-PostNL). The duo was one minute behind the front group and two minutes ahead of the main peloton. While Hamilton appeared to be running out of energy in the saddle, Oliveira managed to bridge the gap to the front group. A main peloton spearheaded by riders from Team Visma-Lease a Bike reeled in Hamilton with 145 kilometers left of today’s stage 13.

The first ninety kilometers of today’s stage would be contested in somewhat flat terrain after which the riders would enter a false-flat section, which would take the riders to Alto La Mozqueta, which would be the first of three categorized climbs on the stage.

Things remained status-quo in the following kilometers and a 25-rider front group was still in front with 88 kilometers remaining. The group now had an advantage of 02:55 minutes. Visma-Lease a Bike was controlling the action in the main peloton, and it was obvious Visma-Lease a Bike team captain Jonas Vingegaard had a victory in today’s stage as one of his major goals in this year’s Vuelta.

The race reached Alto La Mozqueta, which was the first categorized climb of the stage. With the front group up the road, riders from Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team replaced Team Visma-Lease a Bike at the front of the main peloton.

Bob Jungels attacked for Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies when two kilometers of the Mozqueta climb remaining. Nice to see some initiative from the rider from Luxembourg, who achieved noteworthy results and performances earlier in his career.

Jungels was joined by Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious), Jefferson Cepeda (Movistar Team), Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal-QuickStep), and Nicolas Vinokurov. Mads Pedersen was fighting hard to keep up with the group, because he was chasing the points in the intermediate sprint later in the stage.

Pedersen joined the front group, and the six frontmen entered the technical descent. The roads were dry, and the Oliveira group was now chasing 28 seconds behind, while the main peloton was 03:41 minutes back. A dog crossed the road and almost hit the riders and camera motorcycle on the descent.

The front group was now approaching the intermediate sprint in La Vega. Pedersen won the most points in the intermediate sprint as he crossed the line ahead of Vinokurov and Garofoli. Mads Pedersen stopped pedaling immediately after the sprint and the four other riders in the front group fought on without him. Tiberi was chasing 22 seconds behind together with Huub Artz. The 13-man Oliveira group was 41 seconds behind and the main peloton 03:45 minutes back. Pablo Castrillo had crashed on the descent, and the Movistar rider had been forced to abandon the race after having shown great promise and ambition in yesterday’s stage.

The riders entered Alto del Cordal, which was the second Category 1 climb. The climb was 5.5-kilometers long and exposed the riders to an average gradient of no less than 8.8 percent. 25 kilometers remained of stage 13.

Nicolas Vinokurov was the first rider to reach the Alto del Cordal summit and secured the points for the KOM classification. He entered the descent with Cepeda and Jungels. Tiberi was chasing solo fifty seconds behind the front trio. Garofoli and other riders were 1-2 minute behind, while the main peloton was 02:26 minutes down the road.

Bahrain-Victorious rider Antonio Tiberi crashed on the descent after failing to navigate a corner optimally. The roads were partially wet and slippery as the mountain road was covered by trees. A bruised and battered Tiberi got back on his bike and decided to wait for Garofoli.

Protesters, protesting the Gaza genocide, stopped Cepeda, Jungels and Vinokurov at the bottom of the L’Angliru climb. Policemen removed the protesters peacefully and the cyclists carried on. Thirteen kilometers remained to the finish line at the summit of L’Angliru.

Tiberi left Garofoli behind early on the climb and was now 01:20 minutes behind the front trio. Meanwhile, Jay Vine and other riders from UAE Team Emirates had moved to the front of the main peloton. A major battle between the general classification favorites was approaching.

Cepeda was running on fumes in the front trio and got dropped by Jungels and Vinokurov with ten kilometers to the finish line.

Seven kilometers remained and Jungels and Vinokurov were now on the steepest 15 percent sections of the climb. A small seven-rider group featuring the GC favorites was now 42 seconds behind with 6 kilometers to the finish line. Joao Almeida, Jonas Vingegaard, Sepp Kuss, Jai Hindley, Felix Grossschartner, Felix Gall, Thomas Pidcock, and Matthew Riccitello were in the GC group.

Jungels dropped Vinokurov and the Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies rider was now chasing a stage victory solo. Felix Gall and Tom Pidcock appeared to be in trouble as they were finding it difficult to keep up with the other favorites in the GC group. Riccitello also got dropped.

A front quartet featuring Jonas Vingegaard, Joao Almeida, Sepp Kuss and Jai Hindley caught and dropped Jungels with more than five kilometers to the summit.

Almeida and Vingegaard dropped Kuss and Hindley with 4.5 kilometers to the finish line.

Almeida was still fighting hard while trying to drop Vingegaard when the duo was three kilometers from the stage finish. While Almeida was setting a fast pace, Vingegaard was still looking strong in his red outfit as GC leader.

2.5 kilometers remained and Almeida was leading Vingegaard on the steep 21 percent sections. Kuss and Hindley were 38 seconds behind, while Pellizzari, Gall and Riccitello were more than one minute behind. Tom Pidcock was further back.

Almeida was still ahead of Vingegaard as the duo approached the final kilometer. Kuss and Hindley were 42 seconds behind, while Gall was almost a minute down the climb. Pidcock was closing in on Riccitello and Pellizzari.

Five hundred meters now remained, and Almeida accelerated while hoping to take the stage win. Jonas Vingegaard failed to attack on the climb and Joao Almeida won stage 13 ahead of the Dane.

Jonas Vingegaard remains general classification leader ahead of Joao Almeida.

Saturday’s stage 14 of Vuelta a Espana 2025 will be a 135.9-kilometer ride in the mountains on a route from Aviles to La Farrapona Lagos de Somiedo.

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