The 2025 Vuelta a Espana continued Sunday with stage 9 – a 195.5-kilometer battle in hilly and mountainous terrain. The riders would start the 195.5-kilometer stage in Alfaro, race through hilly terrain, before reaching the Category 1 climb, which would take the riders to the finish line at Estacion de Esqui de Valdezcaray. The general classification favorites were expected to battle for a stage victory while trying to gain time on their competitors in the GC. Professional cycling analysts had chosen riders such as Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), and Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) as favorites to take the stage win.

The start list of Vuelta a Espana 2025 featured popular riders such as Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Ben O’Connor (Jayco-Alula), Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R), Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates), Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Filippo Ganna (Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers).

Norwegian Torstein Traen was leading the general classification for Bahrain-Victorious before today’s stage 9, and he was followed by Jonas Vingegaard (02:33 minutes back), Joao Almeida (02:41 minutes back), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Lorenzo Fortunato, Matteo Jorgenson, and Jai Hindley in the general classification.

Stage 9 started under cloudy skies in Alfaro and though several cyclists showed great attacking initiative in the early kilometers, no viable breakaway group had been formed after 35 kilometers of fast racing in hilly terrain.

Attacks and counterattacks were launched in the following kilometers, and five riders had joined forces and formed a front group when 130 kilometers remained. The five riders in the breakaway were Michel Hessmann (Movistar Team), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies), Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost), Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic-PostNL), and Liam Slock of Team Lotto-Caps. The group had formed a lead of forty seconds after seventy kilometers in the saddles.

The front quintet continued to expand its advantage in the following kilometers and had a lead of approximately 02:45 minutes when one hundred kilometers of the stage remained.

It had started raining and the riders were passing vineyards while slowly approaching the stage finale.

Riders from Lidl-Trek were setting a fast pace in the front part of the main peloton in support of its general classification outsider Giulio Ciccone, while riders from Bahrain-Victorious were monitoring the situation behind them. Thirtyfive kilometers remained to the finish line at Estacion de Esqui de Valdezcaray after having conquered the Category 1 climb.

Twenty-seven kilometers remained and the hard work from the Lidl-Trek riders in the main peloton had caused the advantage of the front quintet to be reduced to 01:15 minutes. It appeared the front group was running out of luck and a stage winner would not be found from within the front group.

Twenty kilometers of stage 9 remained, and the riders were now approaching the Valdezcaray climb, which would take the riders to the finish line where a stage winner would be found.

A rider from Arkea B & B Hotels crashed in the front part of the main peloton after touching the wheel of a rider from EF Education-EasyPost with eighteen kilometers to the finish. Magically, the rider did not bring down any other riders and he got back on his bike and carried on. The roads had dried up and the weather conditions were partially sunny and partially overcast.

While Mikkel Bjerg and other riders from UAE Team Emirates moved to the front part of the main peloton, Julien Bernard and other Lidl-Trek riders continued their hard work in front, while being monitored by Jonas Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates. The breakaway riders got reeled in as the race entered the Valdezcaray climb with thirteen kilometers to the summit finish.

Matteo Jorgenson moved to the front and delivered a hard pull for Jonas Vingegaard. Jonas Vingegaard then launched an attack, and the Dane was joined by Italian Giulio Ciccone.

Joao Almeida and Jay Vine did their best to minimize the advantage of the front duo, which had built a lead of twelve seconds.

Vingegaard accelerated and left Ciccone behind with ten kilometers left. Almeida was leading the chase group, which featured eight riders including Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) and Ciccone. GC leader Torstein Traeen was not in the chase group.

It started raining when the riders had nine kilometers to the finish line and dry clothing. Vingegaard was solo in front, while Almeida, Pidcock and Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R) formed a chase trio.

Vingegaard was still in front in his red helmet with eight kilometers left. The chasers were now fourteen seconds behind him. Gall got dropped by Almeida and Pidcock.

Vingegaard continued to expand his advantage on the climb and had a lead of 23 seconds with five kilometers left. Would today become a moment of redemption for the talented and strong Dane who had failed to win this year’s Tour de France earlier this summer?

With three kilometers to the finish line, Vingegaard had increased his lead to more than half a minute over Almeida and Pidcock. The climb would be less steep in the final kilometers to the finish line. Gall was now forty seconds behind, while a group featuring Ciccone, Egan Bernal, Ben O’Connor, Jai Hindley and other strong riders was 01:45 minutes back.

Jonas Vingegaard entered the final kilometer with a lead of more than half a minute. Denmark’s Vingegaard of Team Visma-Lease a Bike continued his strong racing all the way to the finish line and crossed the line as winner of stage 9. Thomas Pidcock and Joao Almeida reached the finish twenty-four seconds later and Pidcock proved the fastest rider. The rider from Great Britain finished second, while Joao Almeida completed the stage podium.

“I felt super great today and then on the last climb I told my team to speed up. Super team work and super happy that I could finish it off,” stage winner Jonas Vingegaard explained to Roadcycling.com shortly after the stage finish.

“Maybe I didn’t do my homework well enough, because I was surprised to discover ten kilometers remained after I attacked. I was looking for the stage win and it was also my ambition to take seconds on my main competitors in the general classification,” Vingegaard added.

Torstein Traeen remains general classification leader after stage 9. The Norwegian rider from Bahrain-Victorious will wear the red jersey in tomorrow’s rest day and in stage 10, which will be contested on Tuesday. Vingegaard is now 37 seconds behind the GC leader, while Joao Almeida is 01:15 minutes behind the leader. Tom Pidcock is fourth, Felix Gall fifth, and Giulio Ciccone now sixth. Egan Bernal dropped to eleventh and Ben O’Connor is fifteenth.

Monday will be the first rest day of this year’s Vuelta a Espana. Tuesday’s stage 10 of Vuelta a Espana 2025 will continue in mountainous terrain as the riders set out on a 175.3-kilometer ride from Parque de la Naturaleza Sendaviva to El Ferial Larra Belagua. The riders will hopefully have used the rest day to recover and recharge their human batteries and are expected to engage in a fierce battle on the Category 1 climb, which will take the riders to the finish line. Expect riders such as Jonas Vingegaard, Joao Almeida, Giulio Ciccone and Egan Bernal to try to advance in the general classification as the Vuelta enters its second week.

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