'I don’t think I’ll ever get used to winning' – Jay Vine flies to second mountain stage victory at Vuelta a España on stage 10 as Jonas Vingegaard moves into red

Jay Vine mastered the breakaway on stage 10 of the Vuelta a España to climb to his second victory of this race, as Jonas Vingegaard took over the red jersey.

After a 100km-long fight to get into the day's escape, UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Vine attacked from it on El Ferial Larra Belagua to take his fourth Vuelta stage, and UAE's fourth of this race. Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) finished second, with his teammate Javier Romo in third.

Meanwhile, Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious) ended his three-day stint in the race lead, losing enough to mean Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike claimed back the top spot on general classification.

Vine's victory for UAE followed a 24 hours dominated by more mixed stories about the team, after the announcement that Juan Ayuso would leave at the end of 2025.

The Australian navigated the 26-rider break expertly, waiting until almost 5km to go to power on alone, and was never seen again.

His teammate João Almeida, third overall, attempted to force splits on the final climb in the group of general classification contenders, but gaps weren't coming. In the end, Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) led the men aiming for the red jersey in, including Vingegaard and Almeida.

"Winning is so, so hard, and it’s such an incredible feeling when it happens," Vine said post-stage on TV. "I don’t think I’ll ever get used to winning, because it’s just unbelievably hard.

"I think I made my move for two and a half hours at the start of the race, trying to follow the big moves. The guys would help me where they could. At the two hour mark I just said it wasn’t happening, then there was a crash and I got stuck behind that, and we were jumping for another 45 minutes. Mikkel [Bjerg] helped me get across, and I thought that was the hardest part of the race until the final climb turned into that.

"I didn’t want to drag everyone up the climb, so I tried playing a bit of possum at the bottom, and was able to attack my way across to the other riders. Then I got rid of Archie, and then got to Pablo and was able to drop him through the last s-bend, and then it was just gritting my teeth to the end."

How it happened

The Vuelta a España resumed after the first rest day in much the same way as before, with a mountain stage, another summit finish.

The flat start to stage 10, however, meant that it was very difficult for a breakaway to establish itself. In fact, despite the efforts of many, including the man in the lead of the mountains competition, Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), the day’s escape wasn’t set until well over 100km into the day. The average speed after two hours of racing was 49.9km/h, which shows how full-on everyone was.

Finally, with around 68km to go, a group established itself in front of the peloton. The 26 were: Mikkel Bjerg and Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Orluis Aular, Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo (Movistar), Matteo Sobrero and Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) Louis Vervaeke and Junior Lecerf (Soudal Quick-Step), Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Bruno Armirail and Johannes Staune-Mittet (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Xabier Mikel Azparren and David González (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Harold Tejada, Nicola Conci and Fausto Masnada (XDS Astana), Rudy Molard (Groupama FDJ), Abel Balderstone, Joel Nicolau, and Jakub Ortuba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Paul Thierry (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Gijs Leemreize and Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic PostNL), Lars Craps and Alec Segaert (Lotto), Sean Quinn and Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost) and Pier-André Côté (Israel-Premier Tech).

This big group was allowed some leeway from the peloton, taking three minutes into the closing section of the day.

On the Alto de Las Coronas, the first classified climb of the day, Romo took the points ahead of Vine, ostensibly in an attempt to escape the break, not take points. Romo kicked off the move, and was joined by Vine, Bernard, Castrillo, Ryan, Azparren, Conci, Balderstone and Segaert.

Behind, Bahrain Victorious continued to pull on the front of the peloton, for red jersey Torstein Træen.

Bernard won the intermediate sprint in Isaba, with 21km to go, before Segaert launched an attack from the front group through the 20km-to-go marker.

The classified final climb to El Ferial Larra Belagua began with 9.9km to go, with an average of 6.3%, but with ramps above this.

Lotto’s Segaert built up a lead of 43 seconds with 13km to go, making him believe a first Grand Tour stage victory might be in sight, while the rest of the break were another 30 seconds back. The peloton was 3:14 behind Segaert.

As the climb began, Bernard, Conci, Vine, Ryan Castrillo and Romo were left chasing Segaert, with the win seeming likely to come from these riders.

With 7.6km to go, Castrillo caught Segaert, with Vine, Bernard, Romo and Ryan following. The attackers had just over two minutes on the red jersey group, what was left of the peloton. Here, Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) pulled for João Almeida, shadowed by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).

As the group of favourites made it onto the climb, Træen was dropped, leaving around 11 riders. Almeida put the pace on the front, followed by Vingegaard and others.

Vine caught Castrillo with 5.5km to go, pulling in the blue polka-dot jersey, before going alone.

Lower down the mountain, seven riders were left in the GC group: Almeida, Vingegaard, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

Almeida attacked again with 5km to go, followed by Vingegaard, Pidcock and Jorgenson, and Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech), they were 1:17 behind Vine. The group swelled again, with Hindley and Pellizzari joining.

Vine flew to victory, having comfortably distanced Castrillo, while most of the GC contenders finished together, with Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) among those losing time.

Results

Vuelta a España 2025 stage 10: Parque de la Naturaleza Sendaviva > El Ferial Larra Belagua (175.3km)

1. Jay Vine (Aus) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 3:56:24
2. Pablo Castrillo (Esp) Movistar, +35s:
3. Javier Romo (Esp) Movistar, +1:04
4. Archie Ryan (Ire) EF Education-EasyPost, +1:05
5. Tom Pidcock (Gbr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling
6. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek
7. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
8. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike
9. Junior Lecerf (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
10. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, all at same time

General classification after stage 10

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 37:33:52
2. Torstein Træen (Nor) Bahrain Victorious, +26s
3. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, 38s
4. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +58s
5. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +2:03
6. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +2:05
7. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:23
8. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +2:16
9. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, at same time
10. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, +2:43