The final Grand Tour of the 2025 UCI WorldTour, the 88th Vuelta a España, begins on Saturday in Torino, Italy, the sixth foreign start since 1997. After claiming fourth in the Giro d’Italia, Canada’s Derek Gee will look to take a third consecutive Grand Tour top-10.
The Course
The 2025 Vuelta a España has an Italian start, features both team and individual time trials, and is another mountainous affair, with eleven summit finishes and Angliru and La Bola del Mundo the epic climbs of the 88th edition.
The riders race in Italy for three stages, including Stage 2’s mountain finish at Limone Piemonte. Stage 4 heads into the French Alps for another day in the mountains. The team chrono is the next day as the race finally hits Spain. Then come two consecutive Cat. 1 summit finishes. After a sprint stage, a hectic Week 1 ends with another Cat. 1 summit finish.
Week 2’s highlight is the Angliru stage, the 12.3-km, 10.1-percent beast sure to dash some GC hopes.
The final week features a 26-km time trial in Valladolid and the La Bola del Mundo summit finish on the penultimate day. A traditional sprint conclusion in Madrid will crown the red jersey.
The Contenders
Four-time winner Primož Roglič isn’t back to defend his title, but the list of favourites is an interesting one. There are fellows who did well in their first 2025 Grand Tour (Gee, Jonas Vingegaard, Felix Gall, Egan Bernal, Giulio Pellizzari). And there are plenty of chaps looking to bounce back from a disappointing first Grand Tour, either because crashes took them out of competition (Giulio Ciccone, Jai Hindley, Mikel Landa, João Almeida, Filippo Ganna) or due of poor performance (David Gaudu, Antonio Tiberi).
This race is Vingegaard’s to lose. With rival Tadej Pogacar deciding not to freight his 2025 schedule before the Rwanda Worlds, the Dane is favoured to take his third Grand Tour title. Almeida and Juan Ayuso, who was having a poor Giro d’Italia when a bee sting caused him to climb off his bike, will provide the now-traditional UAE-Emirates opposition to Visma-Lease a Bike.
Of course, Gee will hold Canada’s attention. In the last two Grand Tours he has raced, the national champion has finished in the top-10,…
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