Although Tuesday’s concluding climb was truncated, the Vuelta a España’s seventeenth stage saw its Cat. 1 summit finish undisturbed. On the wildfire-blackened slopes of Alto de El Morredero, Red Bull’s Giulio Pellizzari showed that his sixth place in the Giro d’Italia was no fluke, taking his first professional win to extend his lead in the young rider competition. Jonas Vingegaard kept safe in red.
The Course
Wednesday’s 143-km route ended with the 80th edition’s sixth Cat. 1 summit finish: 8.8-km, 9.4 percent Alto de El Morredero.
For the third week of a Grand Tour, Wednesday’s breakaway wasn’t particularly huge, a dozen riders getting loose after a couple of failed attempts. Cat. 3 Paso de las Traviesas was smack dab in the middle of the route. Visma-Lisa Bike pulled the peloton and by Traviesas’ peak, the escape’s advantage was only 1:30.
And so Stage 17 rambled towards its climax on El Morredero, the fugitives making several digs at each other as the climb drew nearer. There were several uphill kilometers before the ascent officially began, and it was here that the breakaway fragmented. However, with Red Bull acting as locomotive in the peloton train, the catch was inevitable.
When the break was dispatched, Felix Gall, once a podium contender, struggled to hang on to the red jersey group.
Almeida was isolated with 8 km to climb, but Vingegaard had three teammates as the road passed through the windy, wildfire-charred landscape. Jai Hindley, looking for the podium, attacked with 6.5 km remaining. Pidcock, Vingegaard and Matthew Riccitello joined in. Almeida was dropped at first, but he brought Pellizzari over.
Hindley and Pidcock set the pace before white jersey Pellizzari made a surge to go clear. Pidcock came in second and Hindley third. Jonas Vingegaard put two seconds into Almeida.
Vingegaard is expected to get the better of Almeida in Thursday’s Valladolid time trial.
2025 Vuelta a España Stage 17
1) Giulio Pellizzari (Italy/Red Bull) 3:37:00
2) Tom Pidcock (Great Britain/Q36.5) +0:16
3) Jai Hindley (Australia/Red Bull) +0:18
2025 Vuelta a España GC
1) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Visma-Lease a Bike) 64:53:55
2) João Almeida (Portugal/UAE-Emirates) +0:50
3) Tom Pidcock (Great Britain/Q36.5) +2:28
4) Jai Hindley…
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