'Oof, I'm very sore' – João Almeida wins atop Angliru on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España as Jonas Vingegaard keeps red jersey

João Almeida won atop the Alto de L'Angliru on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España as Jonas Vingegaard hung onto the red jersey.

Almeida won UAE Team Emirates-XRG's sixth stage win of this Vuelta atop the legendary Asturian climb, taking seconds on his main rival, Vingeggard of Visma-Lease a Bike.

The Portuguese rider stormed to victory from seemingly the bottom of the climb; while he was unable to shake Vingegaard from his wheel, the Dane could never come round.

The climb, 12.4km at 9.7%, rarely disappoints, and the race split apart, although there was not a knockout blow for one rider over another. It was also a very fast day, with the 202.7km, with 3,958m of climbing, completed at 41.3km/h.

The lead pair gained time on the other general classification rivals, with Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) moving up, and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) and Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) among those losing out. However, Pidcock remains on the overall podium.

Vingegaard leads the race by 46 seconds from Almeida, with Pidcock 2:18 behind the leader. Hindley is now in fourth, 42 seconds behind Pidcock, with Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) 15 seconds further back. Pellizzari and Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) both moved up the top 10 despite losing time to some of those above them on GC.

"This is a special one. I still don’t believe it," Almeida said on TV post-stage. "Thanks to my teammates, they were key today. They did an amazing stage. I just put my pace from the bottom, and I just did the best I could.

"Jonas was always on my wheel, the last kilometre I was on the limit, I guess we were both on the limit. I was waiting for his attack any time. I thought he was going to pass me at the finish line, I knew it quite well from two years ago and I took the first corner first and then it’s hard to pass. It was an amazing day. I think it’s the hardest climb in the world, it’s crazy. Oof, I’m very sore."

Asked if this gave him confidence in aiming for the win, Almeida said: "I have a lot of time to make up to Jonas, he’s looking phenomenal, it’s going to be hard, but we’ll never give up."

The early part of the day was dominated by a large break, which featured Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), as the Dane continued for hunt for intermediate sprint points, which he duly did.

The last remnants of that break, Bob Jungels (Ineos Grenadiers), Nicolas Vinokourov (XDS Astana) and Jefferson Cepada (Movistar), were all caught halfway up the Angliru, after they had been briefly held up by a protest.

While Vingegaard remains in red, and the top three remain the same overall, with four mountain top stages to come, including one tomorrow, there remains a lot up for grabs at this Vuelta. The battle for red seems tight between Vingegaard and Almeida, while that for the podium and the top fives counts a few more among it.

Almeida's victory was also the 79th for UAE this season, as the team approaches the record for most wins in a year; currently held by Columbia-HTC with 85 in 2009.

Results

Vuelta a España 2025 stage 13: Cabezón de la Sal > L'Angliru (202.7km)

1. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:54:15
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +28s
4. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +30s
5. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +52s
6. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:22
7. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +1:16
8. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, at same time
9. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +2:15
10. Abel Balderstone (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, +3:06

Vuelta a España 2025 general classification after stage 11

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 49:30:54
2. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +46s
3. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +2:18
4. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3:00
5. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +3:15
6. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:01
7. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, +4:33
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +4:54
9. Torstein Træen (Nor) Bahrain Victorious, +5:21
10. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +5:26