Pellizzari strengthens the white jersey on another day of mountain without differences in the fight for the podium

Cycling is back in La Vuelta despite the fact that stage 17 of La Vuelta was close to suffering another route cut, this time motivated by the strong wind at the top of El Morredero, which fortunately subsided as the day progressed to allow us to discover a new and spectacular face of this port despite the scorched surroundings by the fires that devastated the area a few weeks ago.

The wind, the lack of strength, and the stage design lead to another day without differences among the favorites

The mountains returned to La Vuelta 2025 with a route between O Barco de Valdeorras and Alto del Morredero, a climb that was faced by a new alternative to the previous two times the race had arrived here, a slope with double-digit gradient zones that promised a show despite the stage design once again abusing the almost single-port format, with just a third-category bump in the middle of the stage. This time, however, less of a constraint due to the difficult terrain of El Bierzo.

Today seemed to be a stage for the general classification contenders, so the breakaway, consisting of 12 riders, had less level than usual in recent days, with Brandon Rivera, Tiberi, Tejada, Samitier, or Leemreize as the most notable cyclists. In any case, the peloton barely gave them any advantage, so they barely exceeded 2 minutes, clearly insufficient given the toughness of the final part of the stage.

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The stage once again had uncertainty regarding its ending, this time due to the strong wind blowing at the finish line, which even prevented the setting up of much of the infrastructure that La Vuelta usually deploys. Fortunately, during the stage, the wind strength decreased, so the organization finally decided to keep the original finish line.

After passing through the capital of El Bierzo, Ponferrada, the terrain turned merciless towards the mountains, and even though it was not a mountain pass, it became a trap where the escapees, with Antonio Tiberi trying to make his move, began to attack each other and continue dreaming as long as they were not caught. All this despite the fact that by then the gap was barely a minute.

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe tried to toughen up the race in this section before the climb, but at the beginning of the ascent, Visma-Lease a Bike took back control and set the most comfortable pace for their leader within the necessary demand to keep the race under control.

A pace that decimated the group, leaving Felix Gall hanging on for kilometers until, with 6 kilometers to go, Jai Hindley launched an attack that was responded to by Pidcock, Vingegaard, and Riccitello, while surprisingly, Joao Almeida was not able to keep up with them. However, between the headwind and the fact that Jonas Vingegaard did not seem to have the best legs, rumors suggest that he has been ill in the past week, the Dane did not take advantage of the opportunity to secure La Vuelta, and with his solid pace, the Portuguese managed to catch up, bringing Giulio Pellizzari with him.

Pellizzari, seeing the lack of ambition in the group, did not let the opportunity pass. He attacked for the first time with 4 kilometers to go. He did not manage to create a gap in that first attempt, but he did in the tough second attack he made. Matthew Riccitello tried to close the gap several times, but each time he found Jai Hindley at his wheel, doing a phenomenal team job, drying up the offensive and protecting his teammate's advantage.

This allowed Pellizzari to gain a half-minute advantage that would ultimately be decisive not only to achieve a coveted stage victory but also to consolidate his lead in the white jersey classification for the best young rider, where he leads Riccitello by just over a minute.

With the finish line in sight, Tom Pidcock also tried to gain a few seconds in his bid to defend the third step of the podium, recovered after a few days of suffering excessively, and seems determined to fight for his position in the classification, while Jai Hindley crossed the line in third place, denying any bonus seconds to Jonas Vingegaard, who no longer seems to be in the same top form he showed at the beginning of La Vuelta.

Stage 17 Classification

1. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) 3h37'00''
2. Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5) +16''
3. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +18''
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +20''
5. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +22''
6. Matthew Riccitello (Israel-PremierTech) +26''
7. Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +53''
8. Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious) +53''
9. Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) +58''
10. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'44''

General Classification

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) 64h53'55''
2. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +50''
3. Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5) +2'28''
4. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +3'04''
5. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +3'51''
6. Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +4'57''
7. Matthew Riccitello (Israel-PremierTech) +4'59''
8. Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) +6'24''
9. Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious) +7'06''
10. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +10'16''