OFFICIAL Stage 19 Results
Laurens De Jong
Hello, Vuelta a España Gamers!
STAGE Grade: A-
I rate today’s stage an A-. Credit to the course design. We didn’t get the echelons, but the uphill gradient made for one of the more exciting bunch sprints I’ve seen in a while. Alpecin-Deceuninck’s team tactics from 15 kilomters out are related to the sprint, but I’m giving it separate credit. It was amazing.
Route: 4/5 GC: 1/5 Tactics: 5/5 Sprint: 5/5 Surprises: 1/5
Cycling is a team sport. One of my favorite moments of the day was Marc Soler, in the final twenty kilometers of the race. Behind the peloton, with the team car, picking up bottles. “Give me one more and then I’m out of here.” A bunch of pedal strokes in high gear and he passed 150 riders in ten seconds. From where he started handing out bottles to his teammates.
Question: why was UAE Team Emirate – XRG riding in the front of the peloton? Answer: to make sure João Almeida didn’t have to work to ride in the front. Question: why was Almeida in the front, then? Anwer: to avoid getting taking out by any crashes in the surge to the inevitable bunch sprint. Question: isn’t it hard work for the team to do that? Answer: yes, that’s why Soler was handing out bottles.
Not for today. Less than twenty kilometers to ride, these guys don’t need to fuel or hydrate to get to the finish. But they do need it to recover in time for Saturday’s race.
Soon after Soler handed out bottles, the likes of Jay Vine and Juan Ayuso started dropping back. So they’re fully recovered before stage 20. The decider. Except: did they do that so they can ride for themselves? Or for Almeida? We’ll know in 24 hours.
Outside of the sprint, not much happened. Jakub Otruba was the lone breakaway rider. He went with Victor Guernalec from Arkéa - B&B Hotels, but his team decided he would be needed in the sprint and called him back. One hundred and eleven kilometers riding solo, in front of the peloton. His reward: 97th in the stage, and a 1,000 euros fine for “using a non-compliant position or point of support on the bicycle that represents a danger to the rider or competitors.”
Back when we still had junior
gearing, I told our juniors and their parents that that rule exists to teach
the riders that stupid rules exist. I’m not wrong! The UCI penalizes riders for
wearing socks wrong or, in this case, for getting out of the saddle. Or to be
precise: to lean his body on his handlebars. The regulations say: “the only
points of support [allowed] are the […] the feet on the pedals, the hands on
the handlebars and the seat on the saddle.” Otruba had his chest on the
handlebars. At least the 1,000 euros fine is less than he earned for his time
with the combativity award, 3,000 euros.
In other news: Jonas Vingegaard has now won the 2025 Vuelta a España. Cycling is a team sport. Today Team Visma | Lease-a-Bike demonstrated they are a team, and UAE Team Emirates – XRG demonstrated they are not.
Salamanc. The intermediate sprint. Otruba ahead, the peloton together. Visma moved to the front, four strong. Nobody reacted. Visma launched, and nobody reacted. Jonas Vingegaard won the sprint from the peloton, and took four bonus seconds. To be sure nobody else got the remaining two seconds, Matteo Jorgenson took those. That’s working as a team.
Behind them, UAE started sprinting long after they had lost this particular battle. Forget all the other dysfunctional behavior from the last two weeks. Or in the Giro d’Italia. This alone is unacceptable from a team who wants to win the Vuelta. If I were Almeida, I’d be livid. If I were the UAE team boss, I’d be livid.
Because this is on the team riders. If you see a bunch of very! visible! yellow team jerseys and a red jersey make a move, then you follow. No questions asked! You follow and counter.
It’s not the four seconds Vingegaard gained. It’s not even the four seconds he gained for zero effort. It’s the mentality. It’s Visma’s statement: we will do whatever it takes for our leader to win the 2025 Vuelta a España.
UAE’s counterargument: we won’t.
That’s unacceptable. Because cycling is a team sport.
Jonas Rickaert was picked by just one team, Team Wes. He played a big part in his team’s majestic win today, so we’ll focus on him.
With 7.5 kilometers to go, the peloton was 500 meters from the finish. Instead of going straight, we turned left, out of the town, and loop around to come back from the other way. It’s good they did that because it provided the elevation that made this stage special.
Three or four kilometers earlier, we could spot Alpecin-Deceuninck in full force at the rear of the peloton. Okay, I thought. Saving energy. But soon that left turn will appear and then the mad dash into the valley, and subsequent shenanigans. It’s time to move up so you’re not caught out.
Alpecin did none of that. They just sat back and sat back. All day they had been in the front, controlling the peloton and the breakaway rider. But now that the finale was on hand, they disappeared. I thought that was odd.
Instead it was masterful. Movistar moved to the front. They pulled on the climbs until all but one of them had blown. Team Picnic – PostNL to the front, they blew. Filippo Ganna moved to the front. He pulled and pulled and pulled. Blowing everyone and eventually himself.
One by one, the sprint teams came to the front and blew. Sections of 7% earlier, now 3.5%. Spanish flat. One by one the sprint teams came, except Alpecin. Nowhere to be seen. With 2,500 meters to go. And 1,500. No Alpecin. Then 1,200 meters, they moved up. Twenty-five riders ahead of them one second, on the front line the next second.
Three riders for Alpecin with 900 meters to go. Nobody else had more than two, most sprinters were on their own. Everyone had blown on those climbs.
Before the race, Elia Viviani was praising his lead-out man Jasper de Buyst. “You don’t learn how to lead out overnight,” he mused. I don’t know how long Alpecin have been studying the subject, but they knew exactly how to organize this lead-out.
They rolled out the red carpet for Jasper Philipsen just as they were in sight of the fixed cameras. You can’t do any better than that. Philipsen had won stage 20 of the 2025 Vuelta a España, with about 600 meters to go.
Still the road was going uphill. I’ve never seen Jonas Rickaert suffer so hard to lead out a sprint. With 350 meters to go, Edward Planckaert took over and made no mistake. Full gas, with room between himself and the barrier for one rider: Philipsen.
Watching it, I could not believe Alpecin had pulled it off like this. How patient do you have to be to stay in the pack for that long? Answer: more patient than Mads Pedersen. The Dane started to sprint with 250 meters to go. On TV it looked more successful than it was. Philipsen was still in Planckaert’s wheel. There is no way Pedersen, alone, in the wind, can beat Philipsen who hasn’t been in the wind yet. At all.
Even when he was still behind Planckaert, Philipsen wasn’t losing to Pedersen. But once released by Planckaert, Philipsen unceremoniously dropped everyone. A hard, hard sprint. After the finish, he collapsed completely. No energetic high-fives with teammates. Just hard, hard work.
Make no mistake about it: you will not see a better sprint than today’s. Maybe ever. Watch it a couple of times. It’s worth it.
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.
Spoiler alert: Team Ansel and Team Charles swap positions again; everyone else remains the same.
Team Samuel has been the dominant team in the sprint stages, today no exception. Most points from the stage, most points overall, most riders in the Top-25 (four). Second place were Team Dominic, with most points from classifications. In third were Team Charles and fourth were Team Ansel.
Team Hugo and Team Josh were tied in sixth. Team Sam were eighth. A gaggle of three teams followed in positions nine through eleven: Team Grace, Team Liz, and Team Amalia.
Team Will and Team Sylvia missed the boat today, twelfth and thirteenth, respectively.
Our game will now move on to stage 20. If you are rooting for Team Ansel, expect great things from Mikel Landa, Harold Tejada, and Jay Vine. For the Team Charles fans, look for Eddie Dunbar and Giulio Pellizzari on the climb.
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.
Speaking of stage 20, it’s all coming down to this one climb now. The riders will ride out to Puerta de Navacerrada from the north. That’s where the parking lots and ski lifts are. They’ll go down, loop around, and do the climb from the other direction. And then they’ll ride up one of the ski runs to the top of the Bola del Mundo climb. The entire climb is 12.3 kilometers at 8.6%, but it gets steeper and steeper as it goes along. The last 3.3 kilometers are 12.1%, with the steepest ramps 20%. My grand tour is harder than yours.
I believe Jonas Vingegaard is the best climber. But I don’t believe he’ll win the stage. He doesn’t have to. I don’t think João Almeida will win the stage, either. I have no confidence in UAE’s ability to organize that. I believe Jai Hindley can win the stage. I believe that Jay Vine can win the stage. Vine may want to defend his KOM lead, and Vingegaard can threaten that. So in a completely upside-down world, UAE may allow Vine to win the stage and the KOM competition, while Almeida will lose the overall competition.
Standings after stage 19:
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Charles* |
3371 |
2 |
1 |
|
2 |
Team Ansel* |
3368 |
1 |
-1 |
|
3 |
Team Dominic* |
3314 |
3 |
0 |
|
4 |
Team Hugo* |
3208 |
4 |
0 |
|
5 |
Team Josh* |
3166 |
5 |
0 |
|
6 |
Team Tadej* |
3151 |
6 |
0 |
|
7 |
Team Samuel* |
3137 |
7 |
0 |
|
8 |
Team Grace* |
3007 |
8 |
0 |
|
9 |
Team Amalia* |
2974 |
9 |
0 |
|
10 |
Team Sam* |
2575 |
10 |
0 |
|
11 |
Team Will* |
2477 |
11 |
0 |
|
12 |
Team Liz* |
2264 |
12 |
0 |
|
13 |
Team Sylvia* |
2185 |
13 |
0 |
Standings after stage 19 (including adults):
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Kari |
3651 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Kent |
3586 |
2 |
0 |
|
3 |
Team Craig |
3526 |
3 |
0 |
|
4 |
Team Charles* |
3371 |
5 |
1 |
|
5 |
Team Ansel* |
3368 |
4 |
-1 |
|
6 |
Team Mitchinson |
3315 |
6 |
0 |
|
7 |
Team Dominic* |
3314 |
8 |
1 |
|
8 |
Team Chuck |
3312 |
7 |
-1 |
|
9 |
Team Feng |
3281 |
9 |
0 |
|
10 |
Team Corsa |
3225 |
11 |
1 |
|
11 |
Team Hugo* |
3208 |
12 |
1 |
|
12 |
Team Adam |
3204 |
10 |
-2 |
|
13 |
Team Josh* |
3166 |
13 |
0 |
|
14 |
Team Tadej* |
3151 |
14 |
0 |
|
15 |
Team Samuel* |
3137 |
16 |
1 |
|
16 |
Team Amelia |
3099 |
15 |
-1 |
|
17 |
Team Corey |
3011 |
17 |
0 |
|
18 |
Team Grace* |
3007 |
18 |
0 |
|
19 |
Team Laurens |
2984 |
20 |
1 |
|
20 |
Team Amalia* |
2974 |
19 |
-1 |
|
21 |
Team Julie |
2871 |
22 |
1 |
|
22 |
Team Rob |
2851 |
21 |
-1 |
|
23 |
Team Joe |
2813 |
23 |
0 |
|
24 |
Team Jonwaine |
2806 |
24 |
0 |
|
25 |
Team John |
2710 |
26 |
1 |
|
26 |
Team Wes |
2700 |
25 |
-1 |
|
27 |
Team Sam* |
2575 |
27 |
0 |
|
28 |
Team Will* |
2477 |
28 |
0 |
|
29 |
Team JB |
2284 |
29 |
0 |
|
30 |
Team Liz* |
2264 |
30 |
0 |
|
31 |
Team Doug |
2242 |
32 |
1 |
|
32 |
Team Sylvia* |
2185 |
31 |
-1 |
|
33 |
Team Kate |
1000 |
33 |
0 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 19:
|
Name |
STAGE RESULTS |
RED JERSEY |
GREEN JERSEY |
POLKA DOT JERSEY |
WHITE JERSEY |
POINTS/CLASS |
TOTAL |
PREVIOUS |
CUM. TOTAL |
|
Team Amalia* |
35 |
38 |
8 |
7 |
5 |
58 |
93 |
2881 |
2974 |
|
Team Ansel* |
67 |
39 |
13 |
11 |
0 |
63 |
130 |
3238 |
3368 |
|
Team Charles* |
80 |
45 |
13 |
6 |
5 |
69 |
149 |
3222 |
3371 |
|
Team Dominic* |
80 |
47 |
13 |
6 |
5 |
71 |
151 |
3163 |
3314 |
|
Team Grace* |
35 |
42 |
8 |
11 |
0 |
61 |
96 |
2911 |
3007 |
|
Team Hugo* |
65 |
35 |
13 |
11 |
0 |
59 |
124 |
3084 |
3208 |
|
Team Josh* |
65 |
35 |
13 |
11 |
0 |
59 |
124 |
3042 |
3166 |
|
Team Liz* |
49 |
26 |
9 |
11 |
0 |
46 |
95 |
2169 |
2264 |
|
Team Sam* |
65 |
31 |
12 |
11 |
0 |
54 |
119 |
2456 |
2575 |
|
Team Samuel* |
98 |
42 |
14 |
11 |
0 |
67 |
165 |
2972 |
3137 |
|
Team Sylvia* |
0 |
33 |
4 |
12 |
0 |
49 |
49 |
2136 |
2185 |
|
Team Tadej* |
65 |
42 |
13 |
6 |
9 |
70 |
135 |
3016 |
3151 |
|
Team Will* |
0 |
42 |
4 |
6 |
0 |
52 |
52 |
2425 |
2477 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 19 (including adults):
|
35 |
44 |
8 |
7 |
5 |
64 |
99 |
3105 |
3204 |
|
|
Team Amalia* |
35 |
38 |
8 |
7 |
5 |
58 |
93 |
2881 |
2974 |
|
Team Amelia |
65 |
30 |
13 |
11 |
5 |
59 |
124 |
2975 |
3099 |
|
Team Ansel* |
67 |
39 |
13 |
11 |
0 |
63 |
130 |
3238 |
3368 |
|
Team Charles* |
80 |
45 |
13 |
6 |
5 |
69 |
149 |
3222 |
3371 |
|
Team Chuck |
65 |
44 |
12 |
11 |
5 |
72 |
137 |
3175 |
3312 |
|
Team Corey |
2 |
38 |
5 |
12 |
0 |
55 |
57 |
2954 |
3011 |
|
Team Corsa |
65 |
42 |
13 |
7 |
0 |
62 |
127 |
3098 |
3225 |
|
Team Craig |
65 |
46 |
13 |
7 |
9 |
75 |
140 |
3386 |
3526 |
|
Team Dominic* |
80 |
47 |
13 |
6 |
5 |
71 |
151 |
3163 |
3314 |
|
Team Doug |
65 |
26 |
12 |
5 |
0 |
43 |
108 |
2134 |
2242 |
|
Team Feng |
80 |
42 |
13 |
6 |
0 |
61 |
141 |
3140 |
3281 |
|
Team Grace* |
35 |
42 |
8 |
11 |
0 |
61 |
96 |
2911 |
3007 |
|
Team Hugo* |
65 |
35 |
13 |
11 |
0 |
59 |
124 |
3084 |
3208 |
|
Team JB |
0 |
38 |
5 |
7 |
0 |
50 |
50 |
2234 |
2284 |
|
Team Joe |
65 |
27 |
13 |
12 |
0 |
52 |
117 |
2696 |
2813 |
|
Team John |
83 |
31 |
14 |
6 |
0 |
51 |
134 |
2576 |
2710 |
|
Team Jonwaine |
65 |
33 |
12 |
9 |
0 |
54 |
119 |
2687 |
2806 |
|
Team Josh* |
65 |
35 |
13 |
11 |
0 |
59 |
124 |
3042 |
3166 |
|
Team Julie |
87 |
34 |
14 |
11 |
3 |
62 |
149 |
2722 |
2871 |
|
Team Kari |
65 |
53 |
13 |
6 |
9 |
81 |
146 |
3505 |
3651 |
|
Team Kate |
8 |
16 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
16 |
24 |
976 |
1000 |
|
Team Kent |
65 |
49 |
13 |
11 |
9 |
82 |
147 |
3439 |
3586 |
|
Team Laurens |
65 |
33 |
13 |
6 |
5 |
57 |
122 |
2862 |
2984 |
|
Team Liz* |
49 |
26 |
9 |
11 |
0 |
46 |
95 |
2169 |
2264 |
|
Team Mitchinson |
65 |
42 |
13 |
12 |
0 |
67 |
132 |
3183 |
3315 |
|
Team Rob |
65 |
32 |
13 |
6 |
4 |
55 |
120 |
2731 |
2851 |
|
Team Sam* |
65 |
31 |
12 |
11 |
0 |
54 |
119 |
2456 |
2575 |
|
Team Samuel* |
98 |
42 |
14 |
11 |
0 |
67 |
165 |
2972 |
3137 |
|
Team Sylvia* |
0 |
33 |
4 |
12 |
0 |
49 |
49 |
2136 |
2185 |
|
Team Tadej* |
65 |
42 |
13 |
6 |
9 |
70 |
135 |
3016 |
3151 |
|
Team Wes |
50 |
31 |
8 |
11 |
0 |
50 |
100 |
2600 |
2700 |
|
Team Will* |
0 |
42 |
4 |
6 |
0 |
52 |
52 |
2425 |
2477 |
-Laurens.