La Vuelta Ciclista a España 2025 Stage 13

September 5, 2025 Even though today may not have the most elevation gain of this Vuelta, most would still classify it the Queen Stage considering the reputation of the climbs to be ridden. The start is on the Cantabrian coastline in Cabázon de la Sal. Leaving the sea side, the riders head West for 140KM of the 203KM stage on, more or less, flat roads to the town of El Entrego where they start the first of three difficult climbs. The first is the Alto La Mozqueta which is 6.4KM at 8.2% but it is just a warm up for what's to come. The intermediate sprint is in La Vega at the base of the Alto del Cordal, a leg snapping 5.5KM at nearly 9%. From the top, there is only 8KM of descending before the start of the Asturian giant, the mighty Angliru. The first half of the 12.4KM climb is the "easy" half at 9% but once they reach 7KM to go, the gradients average over 13% for the remainder of the climb. Riders can only go at their speed and, if a break doesn't make it to the finish line first, the winner of today could also be stamping his authority as the winner of La Vuelta. A large break of 25 riders got up the road on a nearly cloudless day and with 67KM to go, Visma-Lease a Bike had them pegged at around 3 minutes 15 seconds. The break hit the narrow climb of La Mozqueta at 55KM to go with a gap of 3 minutes 45 seconds as Rémi Cavagna of Groupama-FDJ was driving the group. Cavagna pulled off with 2.5KM to climb and gave way to Bob Jungles of Ineos who increased the speed which started to shell riders. By the top, Jungles had only Nicolas Vinokurov of XDS-Astana, Jefferson Cepeda of Movistar, Antonio Tiberi of Bahrain Victorious, Gianmarco Garofoli of Soudal Quickstep, and Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek with him and they were still holding 3 minutes 40 seconds. Tiberi had an unfortunate puncture on the descent of La Mozqueta which left him chasing along with Huub Artz of Intermarché-Wanty. Through the town of El Lago, a dog was tied to a chair but it was able to run out onto the road nonetheless. Tiberi and Artz narrowly got passed and the dog was wrangled before the next group came passed but it got the blood pumping for many. Pedersen led uncontested through the intermediate sprint in La Vega and sat up out of the break. He added 20 more points in the Sprint competition that he now firmly leads. The bunch took their last opportunity to refuel which allowed the gap to the four leaders, Jungles, Vinokurov, Cepeda, and Garofoli, to start the the Alto del Cordal at 27KM to go with nearly 4 minutes. Artz and Tiberi were chasing at 25 seconds but they were slipping backwards. Garofoli was dropped early on the climb. Jungles led much of the way up but it was Vinokurov who took the summit first ahead of Jungles and Cepeda over the the Alto del Cordal at 21KM to go. They had a gap of nearly 1 minute to Tiberi and 3 minutes to the peloton who were starting to accelerate under pressure from UAE-XRG. When the three leaders arrived at the bottom of the Angliru with 12.4KM to go, their advantage was down to 2 minutes 20 seconds. A few protesters entered the road and blocked them for at least 30 seconds while police secured the course. UAE-XRG were still leading the charge in the peloton and looked all in for João Almeida. Jungles was alone at the front when the road really got steep at 7KM to go but he only had 45 seconds on the favorites group, now numbering less than 15 riders. Felix Großschartner had the ride of his season so far, pacing Almeida all the way inside 6KM to go. When he pulled off, only Almeida, Jai Hindley of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, and race leader Jonas Vingegaard and his teammate Sepp Kuss of Visma-Lease a Bike were still there. Almeida went into ITT mode and caught Jungles with 5.5KM to go but Hindley, Kuss, and Vingegaard were still sitting on his wheel. 1KM later however, Almeida's pace was too strong for both Kuss and Hindley but Vingegaard looked under control. Gradients never dipped below 16% from 4KM to 2KM to go but Almeida persisted in his effort. Almeida continued to lead under 1KM to go with Vingegaard clung to his wheel. The last 500M was downhill, around the crest of the mountain, and the two leaders exited the fog and rode into the glorious sunshine, providing stunning views out across Asturias. Almeida kept the speed so high on the twisting narrow road that there was no place to even contest a sprint. Almeida sailed through the finish line as victor on the stage with Vingegaard in second on the same time. Hindley was next across the line in third place at 28 seconds with Kuss in fourth just 2 seconds later. The GC wasn't shaken up as much as expected but there were still moves. Torstein Træen slid from fourth to ninth and Motteo Jorgenson dropped from seventh to eleventh which bumped up everyone else in between. Hindley jumped four places into fourth overall at 3 minutes. Tom Pidcock lost 1 minute 16 seconds today but holds on to third overall, now at 2 minutes 18 seconds. A 4 second time bonus for Almeida over Vingegaard makes the gap now a bit closer at just 46 seconds.