The 2025 Vuelta a España was a three-week cycling race which took place in Italy, France, Andorra and Spain. It was the 80th edition of the Vuelta a España and the third and final grand tour of the 2025 men's road cycling season. It started on 23 August in Turin, and finished on 14 September in Madrid.
Classification standings Legend Denotes the leader of the general classification Denotes the leader of the young rider classification Denotes the leader of the points classification Denotes the leader of the team classification Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the winner of the combativity award
Stage 1 23 August 2025 – Turin (Reggia di Venaria) (Italy) to Novara (Italy),
The race began with a flat stage that was expected to offer an opportunity for the sprinters to take the first red leader’s jersey. There was a lone third-category climb that topped after of racing.
As soon as the flag dropped, six riders got a gap on the peloton. The break was composed of Koen Bouwman (), Alessandro Verre (), Nicolas Vinokurov (), Pepijn Reinderink (), Hugo de la Calle (), and Joel Nicolau (). Their advantage over the peloton maxed out at just over two minutes as and took control for their sprinters, Jasper Philipsen and Mads Pedersen, respectively. At the top of the only categorized climb on the stage, Verre took maximum points ahead of Nicolau and Vinokourov to take the first polka-dot jersey of the race. At the intermediate sprint with left, the break swept up the points and the bonus seconds available. With to go, de la Calle went solo off the front. The five remnants of the break were soon caught by the peloton. As the riders approached the finale of the stage, de la Calle was caught by the peloton at from the finish. The race headed to the inevitable bunch sprint with the sprinters’ teams setting stations at the front of the peloton. In the final sprint, Philipsen launched inside the final , sprinting to the victory ahead of Ethan Vernon () and Orluis Aular () to take the first red jersey. Pedersen, the other stage favorite, was unable to contest the finish and only took fourteenth on the stage.
Stage 2 24 August 2025 – Alba (Italy) to Limone Piemonte (Italy),
The second stage offered the first opportunity for the climbers to make a difference with the riders finishing atop a second-category climb to Limone Piemonte (9.8 km at 5.1%), which was the only categorized climb on the route. The intermediate sprint took place after of racing and offered six, four, and two bonus seconds to the first three riders across.
A four-man break composed of Jakub Otruba (), Gal Glivar (), Liam Slock (), and Nico Denz () was able to get away after a few kilometres. After Denz decided to drop back to the peloton, Sinuhé Fernández () joined the trio up front to establish the break of the day. The break’s maximum advantage was only around two minutes as the peloton kept them on a tight leash. At the intermediate sprint, Slock took the maximum points while Vernon racked up the last remaining ten points from the peloton. With left, Otruba attacked from the break, followed immediately by Glivar while Slock gradually got back to their wheel. Fernández was dropped and was eventually caught by the peloton.
With to go, a crash took down several riders in the peloton, including Jonas Vingegaard (). All riders who went down were able to get back up but Vingegaard’s teammate, Axel Zingle, needed several minutes before getting back on the bike. The break managed to reach the bottom of the final climb in front but they were eventually swept up with around left. There were no attacks from the peloton on the climb as the riders headed to a reduced bunch sprint. Inside the final kilometre, Marc Soler () attacked but he was immediately brought back. In the sprint, Vingegaard beat Giulio Ciccone () in a photo finish to win the stage, taking the red jersey in the process. David Gaudu () and Egan Bernal () finished third and fourth, respectively, while there was a two second gap towards the rest of the peloton.
Stage 3 25 August 2025 – San Maurizio Canavese (Italy) to Ceres (Italy),
Stage three was contested on a lumpy parcours that was expected to suit the versatile sprinters. There was a second-category climb that topped with to go. Afterwards, there were two uncategorized climbs before the riders gradually climbed towards the fourth-category climb to the finish in Ceres. The last averaged 4.2%.
It took a couple of kilometres before a group containing Sean Quinn (), Patrick Gamper (), Luca Van Boven (), and Verre managed to escape from the peloton. The peloton only gave them around two and a half minutes with controlling for Pedersen, who was the favorite for the stage. As the break tackled the second-category climb in the middle of the stage, Verre dropped everyone but Quinn before taking the maximum points to take back the lead in the mountains classification. The duo kept going before Quinn left Verre behind with to go. He was caught by the peloton at just under from the finish. Inside the final kilometre, Ciccone led out Pedersen before the Dane led into the final corner. However, Gaudu divebombed the corner to take the lead out of the exit, outsprinting Pedersen to win the stage. Vingegaard took third to take four bonus seconds, which allowed him to keep the red jersey over Gaudu, who is now on the same time as the race leader.
Stage 4 26 August 2025 – Susa (Italy) to Voiron (France),
The race left Italy on the fourth stage as the riders made their way into France. The first featured three categorized climbs - the third-category Puerto Exiles (5.6 km at 5.6%), the second-category Col de Montgenévre (8.3 km at 6.1%), and the second-category Col du Lautaret (13.8 km at 4.3%). After summiting the Lautaret, a long descent followed and the rest of the stage was mostly flat apart from an uncategorized climb with just under to go.
After a fight to get into the break, five riders were able to get a gap on the peloton. The group included Louis Vervaeke (), Kamiel Bonneu (), Mario Aparicio (), Quinn, and Nicolau. They were able to get an advantage of as much as four minutes before the peloton began to reel them in. Over the categorized climbs in the first half of the stage, Nicolau gathered enough points to take over the lead of the mountains classification from Verre. With still to go, the break was already brought back by the peloton, prompting Aparicio to try and form another break. After he was caught, Fernández went on a solo move of his own. His lead never went above a minute and he was reeled in with left.
At the intermediate sprint with to go, Pedersen took maximum points ahead of the duo of Vernon and Jake Stewart. Shortly afterwards, there was an attack from Bruno Armirail (). His lead maxed out at around 40 seconds before being swallowed up at from the finish. A few kilometres later, there was a crash that took down several riders but no one was seriously hurt. The riders headed to the expected bunch sprint, where Ben Turner () edged out Philipsen to take his first Grand Tour victory. By finishing 25th on the stage compared to Vingegaard’s 42nd place, Gaudu took the red jersey by having the least sum of stage finish positions from the first four stages.
Stage 5 27 August 2025 – Figueres to Figueres, (TTT)
The race reached Spain on the fifth stage as the riders tackled a flat team time trial in Figueres. The teams set off at four-minute intervals in the reverse order of their team classification standing with the exception of , which was the last team off the start ramp by virtue of having the general classification leader, Gaudu. Each team’s time was set by their fourth rider across the line.
The first team off the start ramp, , set the initial benchmark time of 25’ 53”. Their team was not beaten until the seventh team off the start ramp, , was able to do so. They set a time of 25’ 35”, becoming the first team to average more than 56 kilometres per hour. Their time was threatened by , which set a time that was 10 seconds faster by the first time check. However, they slowed towards the end, eventually finishing with a time of 25’ 42”, seven seconds slower than . was in contention for the stage win and despite being more than ten seconds slower by the second time check, they managed to threaten ’s time before falling short by just three seconds. Three more teams, , , and , were able to beat ’s time at the first time check before falling behind by the second time check. Eventually, the best performance was ridden by . They took 14 seconds from in the final part of the course to set a time of 25’ 26”, averaging almost 57 kilometres per hour. eventually finished second on the day, going eight seconds slower than the winners. With Gaudu losing 16 seconds to Vingegaard on the day, the Dane regained the red jersey by eight seconds ahead of the trio of Juan Ayuso, João Almeida, and Soler.
Protestors with Palestinian flags and a banner reading "Neutrality is complicity. Boycott Israel" blocked Israel-Premier Tech's team time trial. The team finished the stage in 19th place of 23, 54 seconds to the stage winners, but were then awarded 15 seconds due to the protest, thus placing them in 14th place. One protestor was arrested by the regional Catalan Police. Vuelta's director, Javier Guillén, responded by stating "they cannot allow what happened" in Stage 5 with the Israel-Premier Tech team. Some sports commentators have commended protestors, but disapproved that the protest affected only one team and for putting rider safety at risk during the protest. Other commentators disapproved the protest all together affirming that the Vuelta is not the place for such protests.
Stage 6 28 August 2025 – Olot to Pal (Andorra), The riders tackled the first proper mountain stage on the sixth stage, which featured a summit finish at Pal in Andorra (9.6 km at 6.3%). Before arriving at Pal, there were three categorized climbs - the third-category Collada de Sentigosa (11.4 km at 4.1%), the first-category Collada de Toses (24.3 km at 3.5%), and the first-category Alto de la Comella (4.2 km at 8%). At the top of the latter climb, there were six, four, and two bonus seconds available to the first three riders across the top.
A few kilometres after the flag dropped, a group of 10 riders were able to escape from the peloton. The best-placed rider in the break was Torstein Træen (), who was only 58 seconds down on Vingegaard at the start of the stage. Lorenzo Fortunato (), Louis Vervaeke (), and Armirail were other riders in the break who were also in contention to take the red jersey from Vingegaard. immediately set a steady pace in the peloton, allowing the break to increase their advantage and were content to let the break fight for the stage win. At the top of the first climb, the Collada de Sentigosa, Jay Vine () took maximum points over Vervaeke. Over the top of Collada de Toses, Vervaeke was able to beat Vine, initially taking the lead in the mountains classification. As the break approached the final , their lead reached its highest at almost seven minutes, which meant that Træen was firmly in the virtual lead of the general classification.