Place Name: Frazione Quota 1400 Panice Soprana
Address: Frazione Quota 1400 Panice Soprana 91, 12015 Limone Piemonte Cuneo, Italy
Details: August 24, 2025
We don't have to wait long to get the first uphill finish of this Vuelta. The race leaves Alba and heads West to Borgo San Dalmazzo then turns South to Limone Piemonte and the finish. Alba sits at around 200M above sea level and the road climbs nearly the entire stage up to nearly 1,400M and within touching distance of the French border. There are no categorized climbs along the route except for the final 10KM which averages 5.5%. The last 4KM are the hardest at 6.5% but maybe not hard enough for any GC rider to make separation. If it is too easy for the GC guys but too hard for the sprinters, we could see a break away make it to the finish and, given Jasper Philipsen owns the Red Jersey, we should also see a new race leader regardless by the end of the day.
Liam Slock of Lotto, Gal Glivar of Alpecin-Deceuninck, and Jakub Otruba of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA got away from KM0 and they were joined by Nico Denz of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe a few moments later. The bunch shut down and the gap went out to over 1 minute. Burgos-Burpellet BH weren't happy with missing the move and when he got a chance, Sinuhé Fernández attacked to try and bridge the minute gap. Denz got the call from the radio and he sat up to go back to the safety of the peloton with Fernández making contact with the break a few kilometers later. Q36.5 took control at the front of the peloton and kept the gap below 2 minutes.
Rain drops started to fall with 105KM to go but the road was mainly dry when Slock attacked and took the maximum points at the intermediate sprint in Busca. Lidl-Trek formed a lead out for Mads Pedersen to gather the remaining points but Israel-Premier Tech came around with speed and the sprint was won by Ethan Vernon for fifth place. His teammate, Jake Stewart, was next with Pedersen following just behind.
The situation remained unchanged through Cuneo and Villanova Mondavi with Xabier Azparren of Q36.5 doing all of the work to control the four leaders. On a rise outside of Villanova Mondavi, Otruba accelerated which distanced Fernández and Slock. The rain was increasing and the roads were soaked at the top as Slock rejoined and started a short downhill at 44KM to go. A few minutes later, the riders were in a deluge and unfortunately Guillaume Martin of Groupama-FDJ crashed and was forced to abandon the race. Azparren pulled off the front of the peloton with 30KM to go through the town of Boves as other teams pushed forward for better positioning on wet roads. Through a roundabout with 27KM to go, nearly all of the Q36.5 and Visma-Lease a Bike riders crashed including Tom Pidcock and Jonas Vingegaard. The bunch slowed down to let the fallen catch back on which allowed the gap to the break to grow.
The accord didn't last long because the final climb was approaching and the GC teams were racing full speed for the bottom. When the break arrived at the categorized part of the climb at 10KM to go, the gap had evaporated to just 35 seconds. The bunch looked more like they were coming into a sprint finish rather than climbing to a summit finish with competing trains across the road. The last of the break was caught with 6KM to go. Visma-Lease a Bike, Ineos, and Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe were best placed at the front when the road tipped up closer to 6-7%. Lidl-Trek led through 2KM to go until the final kilometer with a large group still together.
The first move came from Marc Soler of UAE-XRG at 500M from the line. That was closed down and the sprint started with 175M to go by Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek. Vingegaard was straight on his wheel with Egan Bernal of Ineos third in line. The final few meters seemed to last a lifetime and Ciccone's legs gave out within a few meters of the finish. Vingegaard had just enough with the smallest bike throw to take the win. A resurgent David Gaudu of Groupama-FDJ took third place on the stage. Bernal took fourth place with João Almeida of UAE-XRG in fifth, leading a group of around 20 riders at 2 seconds down.
The GC now matches the stage result for the top four with Vingegaard now holding the Red Jersey by 4 seconds to Ciccone.
Tags: La Vuelta Ciclista a España, 2025, September, Stage 2, La Vuelta Ciclista a España 2025, Alba, Limone Piemonte, Liam Slock, Gal Glivar, Jakub Otruba, Sinuhé Fernández, Xabier Azparren, Jonas Vingegaard, Marc Soler, Giulio Ciccone, David Gaudu