La Vuelta Ciclista a España 2025 Stage 16

September 9, 2025 The race arrives on the Western coast of Spain with a start in Poio for 168KM of racing to the Castro de Herville in Mos. Much of the terrain covered is also seen during the early season in O Gran Camiño and there is hardly a meter of flat road. The riders pass through Pontevedra early in the stage on rolling roads but with nothing too difficult. The first climb comes 74KM into the stage with the 9KM, 4.5% Alto de San Antoñino. 25KM later comes the Alto da Groba, an 11.5KM climb at 5.5% near the coast in Baiona. From the top of the Alto da Groba, there are six more peaks to summit in just 58KM including the 3.2KM, 9% climb of Alto de Prado and the climb to the finish at the Castro de Herville which is 8.3KM at 5% with the first 1.7KM at over 10%. It could be another breakaway day because it is hard to see any GC team wanting to control over such difficult terrain. After one hour of racing, the riders had covered 55KM in a lightning quick start as the break tried to form. Shortly after, a group of 17 riders got away and the gap grew out to over 4 minutes. With 90KM to go, the gap was 4 minutes 20 seconds with Visma-Lease a Bike leading the peloton. The break continued to stretch their lead out to 5 minutes with 68KM to go at the start of the Alto da Groba. The first move from the break came from Mikel Landa of Soudal Quickstep, 2.5KM from the top of the Alto da Groba. There was no immediate reaction from the group but near the top, Egan Bernal of Ineos pushed on the pedals and came across to Landa. Clément Braz Afonso of Groupama-FDJ bridged up to make three as they started the descent only about 5 seconds ahead of the rest. Brieuc Rolland was next to come across to join Afonso to give Groupama-FDJ two in the front group of four. Nico Denz of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe made it five in the front as the descent leveled off with the remaining break at 20 seconds behind. The peloton road conservatively up the Alto da Groba and looked to be out of the mix for the stage win at over 6 minutes. The gap between the five leaders and the rest of the break slowly crept out to 30 seconds on an uncategorized climb with 38KM outside of the town of Portela. Marc Soler of UAE-XRG was stuck in the chase group and decided it was now or never to get across. Bernal picked up his effort and pulled the lead group over the top to keep Soler out of the group at all costs. By the top, Soler was within 10 seconds of the five leaders and he had Finley Pickering of Bahrain Victorious for company. They could not close the gap however and the Bernal group was able to build their advantage back up to 30 seconds by the start of the steep Alto de Prado with 26KM to go. The gradients tipped up to 18% which was too much for Denz who was the first casualty of the lead group. Rolland was next to get popped which left just Afonso, Landa, and Bernal off the front. On the descent, disaster struck for Afonso when his rear tire went flat. There were no team cars to support and the neutral service took a while to respond which put the Frenchman out of contention. Over race radio with 16KM to go, it was announced that the race would be shortened and the stage finish and GC times would be taken at 8KM to go at the bottom of the final climb. Most of the rest of the race was now downhill which significantly changed the tactics in both the GC group and the leaders for the stage win. Landa and Bernal went under the new 1KM to go with over 1 minute to the chase group. Landa was stuck on the front and it was Bernal who opened his sprint first and powered to the line for the stage win. It's Bernal's first non-National Championships win since 2021 and his first at La Vuelta which puts him in the esteemed category of riders to win a stage in all three Grand Tours. We didn't get pictures, but Rolland managed to come across the line in third place, just 7 seconds after Bernal and Landa to salvage something for Groupama-FDJ after having three riders in the original break. Denz did an amazing ride to win the sprint for fourth place with Afonso taking fifth. The peloton livened up on the run in to the Alto de Prado with 26KM to go to get into position for the steep slopes. Bahrain Victorious won the battle and rode hard straight from the bottom. The bunch exploded and Felix Gall of Decathlon AG2R was the main GC name to go missing. Near the top, race leader Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike had to make a quick bike change due to a mechanical but he had Ben Tulett to swap with and he was quickly back in the group to start the descent. The GC group rode in to the finish together with the exception of Gall who lost 54 seconds.