‘João showed he can beat Jonas’ – Almeida keeps Vuelta a España GC battle alive with defeat of Vingegaard on Angliru

A savage, relentless climbing pace by João Almeida all the way up the Angliru may not have been enough for the UAE Team Emirates-XRG racer to drop Vuelta a España leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) on Spain’s toughest single ascent. But Almeida’s spectacular summit victory has certainly forced Vingegaard on the defensive, just when the Dane was expected to distance all his rivals and – at least for now – means the Vuelta’s battle for GC supremacy is far from over.

On the sun-drenched summit of the Angliru, Almeida and his team were understandably delighted at their latest win of the 2025 Vuelta, their sixth and very arguably their most special to date. After all with two summit victories in this Vuelta alone, on the Angliru, a climb so steep it considerably favoured the lighter climbers, Vingegaard had been widely expected to take a giant leap towards overall victory.