Despite Jonas Vingegaard only leading João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) by less than a minute heading into the final week of the 2025 Vuelta a España, his Visma-Lease a Bike are unconcerned and focused on the final week of racing.
Just 48 seconds separate Vingegaard and Almeida and the Portuguese rider has emerged as the key contender and Visma’s biggest rival after defeating him atop the Alto de Angliru and continuing to impress as other rivals fade away.
Vingegaard gained 30 seconds on Almeida thanks to his stage 9 victory and was expected to regain the red jersey from Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious) and extend it as week two raged on before reaching Galicia.
He achieved one of those goals, with Træen getting dropped on stage 10 to Larra Belagua, but his lead on Almeida has only reached 48 seconds after the second week. Almeida won on the Angliru, with Vingegaard content to stay in his slipstream and follow him over the finish line.
“Of course, we would have liked to have a bit more of a gap already, but João Almeida is really strong, so for the moment, we are happy with where we are,” Visma’s Head of Racing, Grischa Niermann, told Cyclingnews after stage 15.
Visma sports director Jesper Mørkøv has noted the equality between the two super teams.
“It’s looking good for Jonas, we have a good, strong team around him, but UAE also have a good, strong team around Almeida,” Mørkøv told Cyclingnews.
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