OFFICIAL Stage 20 Results

[Laurens De Jong]

Hello, Vuelta a España Gamers!

 

STAGE Grade: A-

 

I rate today’s stage an A-. This was a hard, hard stage. Made hard by the route, but also the team tactics. I gave the GC factor five stars, not because there were big changes, but because the outcome of the 2025 Vuelta a España was decided today.

 

It was also just flat out an interesting race to watch. Giulio Ciccone and Mikel Landa in front, going for it. There’s always hope. There’s always reality. The two cannot coexist. If the finish line had been at the bottom of the final climb, who knows.

 

I enjoyed today’s race.

 

Route: 5/5         GC: 5/5             Tactics: 5/5       Sprint: 2/5         Surprises: 2/5

 

 

Despite all the talk about ten seconds in the time trial, and being on the limit on Wednesday, I didn’t believe for one second that Jonas Vingegaard was going to crack today. I didn’t even think João Almeida was going to crack. I watched today’s stage with no expectation that anyone relevant would crack.

 

I was once again 100% wrong. Giulio Pellizzari, fifth in the standings, on his way to the white jersey. But, with 6.8 kilometers to go, he cracked. As soon as he was dropped by the group Vingegaard, he started eating. That’s how we knew he was in trouble. He didn’t get dropped because he had a bad day. He got dropped because he hadn’t fueled correctly on this hard stage.

 

It was on this exact climb in 2015 that Tom Dumoulin cracked. He was in the red jersey, but Fabio Aru attacked early. Dumoulin had no calories to counter and suffered a painful defeat. And learned a lesson.

 

Pellizzari probably learned a lesson today. After eating, he lost 45 seconds before they even started the final climb. He lost another two minutes on that climb. He cracked, lost fifth place in the standings, lost the lead in the Youth competition.

 

That climb, where Pellizzari lost all that time, is the Alto de Guarramillas. Seldom has a cycling climb been more ski lift centered than this one. It goes up straight underneath the chairlift, also called Guarramillas. When there’s snow here, this is a ski run, also called Guarramillas.

 

And there is snow here in the winter. Like almost everyone else, I had no idea you could ski this closely to Madrid. You can see Madrid from the top of the climb. And there are two ski resorts here. This one, Puerto de Navacerrada, and Valdesquí on the other side of the Bola del Mundo radio towers.

 

There used to be several more lifts here, but they’ve all disappeared in the last decade. The one we saw is the only one left on this side of the valley. It’s a four-seater detachable lift. When the Vuelta was last here in 2012, the lift was spinning. You could see the chairs. But not today, the chairs were in the garage and all you could see was cables.

 

And cyclists. Let’s go back to them. Vingegaard’s attack was supremely well-timed. I was watching that climb thinking, nobody can attack here. You can’t attack on a 20% ramp. You can only survive. If you go into the red, you’ll gain one centimeter, and then you have to pay that back tenfold.

So when Vingegaard attacked, I was astonished. Then I looked at the roadbook and I understood: he attacked between two sections of 20%. Where he launched, it was 12%, maybe 13%. Steep, but it can be done. He had five seconds before Almeida even realized what was going on. Stage won, Vuelta won.

 

What if. What if. Pellizzari cracked because this was a hard, hard stage after almost three weeks of racing. This happens in grand tours. Vingegaard didn’t crack because he has done as little as possible for three weeks. What if UAE Team Emirates – XRG had made him work hard? What if Almeida had done as little as possible for three weeks?

 

Cycling is a team sport. UAE takes home a KOM jersey and six stage wins. But second place overall. Again. They’re probably happy with that, but they shouldn’t be. We’ll remember Vingegaard longer than Almeida, and he deserves better. What if, what if.

 

I want to highlight Bjoern Koerdt from Team Kate today as the rider only one team picked. Until recently I had never heard of him, but his name kind of stands out. I’ve seen it spelled Bjoern, too, and AutoCorrect changes it to Bjørn. I think it could also be Björn.

 

That was my first question: it says he’s from Great Britain, but that’s not a very English name. It turns out he’s half-German, half-Swedish. Bjoern, Bjørn, Björn, all come down to the same name. When he was ten, he rode l’Alpe d’Huez with his father. I say Alpe d’Huez, but it was one of those “l’Etape Tour de France” cyclosportives with 15,000 riders. The route is the next day’s stage in the Tour de France. This time, 110 kilometers, over the Galibier and then Alpe d’Huez.

 

He was ten. Years old.

 

Now he’s 21 and he races for Team Picnic – PostNL. He was eighth in stage three of this year’s Vuelta. I don’t recall noticing that. That was the stage David Gaudu won, beating Mads Pedersen and Jonas Vingegaard. I have no idea how Koerdt managed to get eighth in that group. He was punching above his weight that day, even if he did climb Alpe d’Huez when he was ten.

 

Today he was involved in a scary crasy in the day’s feedzone. I assume someone musette caused a chain reaction and he and Rolland Brieuc went down. Brieuc was fine, Koerdt had to be treated for his injuries on his left elbow and his right hand.

 

He then proceeded to finish the stage in 118^th place, just thirty minutes down from Vingegaard. It resulted in zero points for Team Kate.

 

Watch the final kilometer HERE.

Watch the official La Vuelta highlights HERE.

Watch the extended NBC Sports highlights HERE.

Read the TNT Sports report HERE.

 

Disclaimer: Pro Cycling Stats has been down all day. I get the results directly from there, and my spreadsheet calculates all the points. To get us through the day, I hand typed in all the results. Historically, I often type in a wrong bib number here or there. Hopefully we can recalculate the points tomorrow, if and when PCS comes back online.

 

Spoiler alert: Team Ansel and Team Charles swap positions again; so did Team Samuel and Team Tadej. Everyone else remains the same.

 

Team Grace dominated the stage today. Most points from the stage and most points overall, they won by a big margin. Team Samuel were in second. Team Dominic, most points from classifications, in third place beat Team Ansel, most riders in the Top-25 (ten), in fourth.

 

Team Sam took fifth and Team Charles had to settle for sixth today.

 

Team Hugo and Team Josh tied for seventh. Team Amalia and Team Will tied for ninth.

 

In eleventh place were Team Sylvia, in twelfth Team Tadej. Team Liz missed the boat today in thirteenth place.

 

I’ve said this before but this time I mean it: we’re headed into the final stage with one of the smallest leads ever. If we add up the Final Standings Bonus Points, but not Sunday’s stage results, then Team Ansel will win by 2 points. Giulio Pellizzari’s result did that.

 

But we hope we will have a stage tomorrow, and the results will count. Team Charles have Bryan Coquard. He needs to score 2 points or more. Unless one of Team Ansel’s riders will stray into the Top-25. Realistically, this will probably go to Team Charles. But even the 2 points for the Super Combativity Award (to be decided after the stage on Sunday) could swing the game. Tune in tomorrow to find out the outcome!

 

Keep in mind that Team Charles has the Final Standings points advantage, and an advantage in sprint stages. If Team Ansel isn’t ahead by at least 40 points after stage 20, the winner will most likely be Team Charles.

 

Let’s be honest, nobody knows if there will be a stage 21 finish on Sunday. I am pessimistic, but if there is, then it will be a bunch sprint. Am I certain it will be Jasper Philipsen again?

 

Not quite. These final grand tour stages have a way of finally delivering a win to a sprinter who has come close. Philipsen has been next-level, but why not Orluis Aular, why not Arne Marit, why not Ethan Vernon. Philipsen remains the favorite, but other teams have worked well for their sprinters and it takes just a small mistake to lose a sprint. Ben Turner has demonstrated that. It could be someone else’s turn on Sunday.

 

As long as we make it, I’ll be happy.

 

Standings after stage 20:

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Ansel*	3600	2	1
2	Team Charles*	3586	1	-1
3	Team Dominic*	3547	3	0
4	Team Hugo*	3422	4	0
5	Team Josh*	3380	5	0
6	Team Samuel*	3377	7	1
7	Team Tadej*	3356	6	-1
8	Team Grace*	3261	8	0
9	Team Amalia*	3187	9	0
10	Team Sam*	2796	10	0
11	Team Will*	2690	11	0
12	Team Liz*	2437	12	0
13	Team Sylvia*	2392	13	0

 

Standings after stage 20 (including adults):

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Kari	3941	1	0
2	Team Kent	3850	2	0
3	Team Craig	3752	3	0
4	Team Ansel*	3600	5	1
5	Team Charles*	3586	4	-1
6	Team Chuck	3560	8	2
	Team Mitchinson	3560	6	0
8	Team Dominic*	3547	7	-1
9	Team Feng	3521	9	0
10	Team Corsa	3460	10	0
11	Team Hugo*	3422	11	0
12	Team Adam	3408	12	0
13	Team Josh*	3380	13	0
14	Team Samuel*	3377	15	1
15	Team Tadej*	3356	14	-1
16	Team Amelia	3309	16	0
17	Team Grace*	3261	18	1
18	Team Corey	3257	17	-1
19	Team Laurens	3204	19	0
20	Team Amalia*	3187	20	0
21	Team Julie	3100	21	0
22	Team Rob	3073	22	0
23	Team Joe	3019	23	0
	Team Jonwaine	3019	24	1
25	Team Wes	2928	26	1
26	Team John	2908	25	-1
27	Team Sam*	2796	27	0
28	Team Will*	2690	28	0
29	Team JB	2481	29	0
30	Team Liz*	2437	30	0
31	Team Doug	2424	31	0
32	Team Sylvia*	2392	32	0
33	Team Kate	1055	33	0

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 20:

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	RED JERSEY	GREEN JERSEY	POLKA DOT JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Amalia*	154	36	10	7	4	59	213	2974	3187
Team Ansel*	165	38	15	12	0	67	232	3368	3600
Team Charles*	146	43	15	7	4	69	215	3371	3586
Team Dominic*	161	46	15	7	4	72	233	3314	3547
Team Grace*	188	42	10	12	0	66	254	3007	3261
Team Hugo*	150	35	15	12	0	64	214	3208	3422
Team Josh*	150	35	15	12	0	64	214	3166	3380
Team Liz*	124	26	11	12	0	49	173	2264	2437
Team Sam*	161	32	14	12	0	60	221	2575	2796
Team Samuel*	170	42	14	12	0	70	240	3137	3377
Team Sylvia*	156	33	6	12	0	51	207	2185	2392
Team Tadej*	133	41	15	7	9	72	205	3151	3356
Team Will*	156	42	6	7	0	57	213	2477	2690

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 20 (including adults):

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	RED JERSEY	GREEN JERSEY	POLKA DOT JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Adam	139	42	10	7	4	65	204	3204	3408
Team Amalia*	154	36	10	7	4	59	213	2974	3187
Team Amelia	149	28	15	12	4	61	210	3099	3309
Team Ansel*	165	38	15	12	0	67	232	3368	3600
Team Charles*	146	43	15	7	4	69	215	3371	3586
Team Chuck	172	44	14	12	4	76	248	3312	3560
Team Corey	186	39	7	12	0	60	246	3011	3257
Team Corsa	169	42	15	7	0	66	235	3225	3460
Team Craig	149	46	15	7	9	77	226	3526	3752
Team Dominic*	161	46	15	7	4	72	233	3314	3547
Team Doug	138	26	12	4	0	44	182	2242	2424
Team Feng	174	42	15	7	0	66	240	3281	3521
Team Grace*	188	42	10	12	0	66	254	3007	3261
Team Hugo*	150	35	15	12	0	64	214	3208	3422
Team JB	144	39	7	7	0	53	197	2284	2481
Team Joe	152	27	15	12	0	54	206	2813	3019
Team John	143	32	14	7	0	55	198	2710	2908
Team Jonwaine	157	33	12	9	0	56	213	2806	3019
Team Josh*	150	35	15	12	0	64	214	3166	3380
Team Julie	164	34	14	12	3	65	229	2871	3100
Team Kari	204	53	15	7	9	86	290	3651	3941
Team Kate	39	16	0	0	0	16	55	1000	1055
Team Kent	178	48	15	12	9	86	264	3586	3850
Team Laurens	160	32	15	7	4	60	220	2984	3204
Team Liz*	124	26	11	12	0	49	173	2264	2437
Team Mitchinson	176	42	15	12	0	69	245	3315	3560
Team Rob	162	33	15	7	5	60	222	2851	3073
Team Sam*	161	32	14	12	0	60	221	2575	2796
Team Samuel*	170	42	14	12	0	70	240	3137	3377
Team Sylvia*	156	33	6	12	0	51	207	2185	2392
Team Tadej*	133	41	15	7	9	72	205	3151	3356
Team Wes	168	32	10	12	0	54	222	2706	2928
Team Will*	156	42	6	7	0	57	213	2477	2690

 

¡Viva la Vuelta!

 

-Laurens.