Jonas Vingegaard does not shy away from his status as a favorite after winning the second stage and claiming the red leader's jersey in La Vuelta 2025

First uphill arrival of La Vuelta 2025, a completely flat stage with a 10-kilometer gentle climb. A stage that was resolved in a sprint but with protagonists very different from the usual ones in this specialty. The favorites for the general classification appeared for the first time in this race, with Jonas Vingegaard determined not to let any opportunity pass by and already wearing the red jersey.

Jonas Vingegaard is now the leader of La Vuelta 2025

Second stage of La Vuelta 2025, still in the Piedmont region with a stage that the race organization loves, completely flat and with a finish uphill. A stage that connected Alba with the town of Limone Piemonte, on the road that links Piedmont with the Ligurian coast through the Maritime Alps, which today the race barely touched with a very unselective uphill finish, designed only, as La Vuelta has often implied, to attract that occasional audience that only follows cycling during these holiday dates.

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Early breakaway, with the Q36.5 cyclists blocking the road after the first move that left Nico Denz, Gal Glivar from Alpecin, Jakub Otruba from Caja Rural, and Liam Slock from Lotto ahead. However, seeing how small the breakaway was, the team car ordered the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe cyclist to stop wasting energy in a breakaway that was going nowhere. Meanwhile, from behind, Sinuhé Fernández arrived to represent Burgos-Burpellet-BH.

From this point on, the stage, like yesterday's, entered siesta mode. A not very attractive spectacle for the viewer that, incomprehensibly, the La Vuelta organization insists on repeating stage after stage and edition after edition.

Only the appearance of rain in the last 40 kilometers pulled us out of the drowsiness, and with 27 kilometers to go, at a roundabout, tension was added to the stage as a large crash occurred at the front of the peloton, affecting almost the entire Visma-Lease a Bike team, including their leader Jonas Vingegaard.

Fortunately, the crash ended without consequences for him or his teammates, even for Axle Zingle whose shoulder popped out and had to be put back in place. Less fortunate was Guillaume Martin, who crashed a few kilometers earlier with worse luck and had to end his participation in La Vuelta.

¡HAN CANTADO VINGO!

Jonas Vingegaard beats Giulio Ciccone in the first uphill finish and is now the red jersey of @lavuelta.

You saw it on @Eurosport_ES and @StreamMaxES. #LaVuelta25 pic.twitter.com/CBJDFfiMUA

— Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) August 24, 2025

The final climb, very gentle and with fresh legs, resembled a flat stage finish, with the teams' trains trying to lead their leaders well-protected until the last kilometer where Marc Soler would try, unsuccessfully, to attack. With the finish line in sight, just 200 meters from the end, Tom Pidcock was the first to launch the sprint but without the usual strength.

On the other side of the road, Giulio Ciccone accelerated strongly with Jonas Vingegaard on his wheel. The Dane had to push himself to the limit to overtake the Lidl-Trek rider in the last meter, by just a few centimeters, as revealed by the photo-finish. A victory that also allows the Dane to take the lead in the general classification from the beginning.

Stage 2 Classification

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) 3h47'14''
2. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +00''
3. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +00''
4. Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers)+00''
5. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +02''
6. Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +02''
7. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +02''
8. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +02''
9. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +02''
10. Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5) +02''

General Classification

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) 7h56'16''
2. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +04''
3. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +06''
4. Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) +10''
5. Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5) +12''
6. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +12'' 
7. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) +12''s
8. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +12'' 
9. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +12''
10. Marc Soler (UAE Team Emierate-XRG) +12''