Filippo Ganna wins the inconsequential mini time trial of La Vuelta

If from the beginning it was already expected that the semi-urban time trial that La Vuelta was disputing in Valladolid was going to result in few differences, yesterday afternoon the organization, faced with the protests against Israel that had been called, made the decision to reduce the route to just over 12 kilometers completely urban, which obviously resulted in minimal differences that once again sell false excitement. In any case, the 40 seconds between Vingegaard and Almeida leave La Vuelta open so that any scenario is possible in Bola del Mundo, just what the organization was looking for with the proposed route.

Just like in the mountains, the time trial in Valladolid barely produces differences

Although many doubted that La Vuelta was really running, Filippo Ganna has fulfilled the only objective with which he started his participation two weeks ago in Turin and has won the only individual time trial that La Vuelta 2025 had.

A time trial that was already a priori considered to be not very decisive due to its short length, initially 27 km, and which ended up being even less so after the route was shortened to just 12.2 kilometers in order to facilitate control by the security forces of the route in the face of protests that threatened this stage 18.

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No blood was shed on this day and despite the acts of protest being noticeable on every TV screen, no action was taken that put the normal development of the stage at risk. A stage in which the top favorite, Filippo Ganna, started very early due to the accumulated delay in the general classification, setting the best time, which surpassed that of Daan Hoole, another of the early starters, with a time of 13 minutes flat that, in the end, would not be surpassed thanks to a tremendous final third of the stage in which all those who were threatening his time gradually deflated one after another, including a Jay Vine who came close to victory, finishing just one second behind the Italian.

The attention turned to the performance of the top four in the general classification with a double battle between Jai Hindley and Tom Pidcock for the third step of the podium and between Joao Almeida and Jonas Vingegaard for the leadership.

There was special doubt about the performance of Tom Pidcock, a cyclist who for one reason or another has hardly contested time trials. However, the British rider knew how to take advantage of the initial section with several tricky corners to put 4 seconds on his rival in the first split, a lead he would maintain throughout the rest of the time trial to finally position himself 3 seconds closer to achieving the coveted podium spot.

In the other battle between the Portuguese and the Dane, the stage started with equality in the most technical part but, in the second two-thirds of the time trial, a back and forth along a long avenue, Joao Almeida showed that he is a bit more of a specialist than Vingegaard and added a few seconds to his account until he finished the stage with an interesting lead of 10 seconds that tightens the classification a bit more for the stage on Saturday in the Sierra de Guadarrama although, in view of the route and how La Vuelta has unfolded, the 40-second advantage that Vingegaard still holds in the general classification seems insurmountable unless some unforeseen event occurs.

Stage 18 Classification

1. Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) 13'00''
2. Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +01''
3. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +8''
4. Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +10''
5. Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +10''
6. Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) +11''
7. Kelland O'Brien (Jayco-AlUla) +15''
8. Alec Segaert (Lotto) +16''
9. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +18''
10. Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek) +19''

General Classification

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) 65h07'13''
2. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +40''
3. Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5) +2'39''
4. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +3'18''
5. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +4'19''
6. Matthew Riccitello (Israel-PremierTech) +5'17''
7. Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +5'20''
8. Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) +7'26''
9. Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious) +7'42''
10. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +10'19''