The protests against Israel overshadow Egan Bernal's fantastic victory

New stage for the escape, as we were already advancing in our forecasts for the last week but with the extra incentive of having two of the most beloved cyclists in the peloton, Mikel Landa and Egan Bernal. An attractive day of cycling but, as happened in the stage with the finish in Bilbao, it ended up conditioned by the protests against the genocide perpetrated by Israel in Gaza, which forced the organization to move the finish line 8 kilometers from the conclusion.

Once again, the extradeportive aspect dominates the news of La Vuelta 2025

What promised to be an exciting stage once again was overshadowed by the protests against the invasion of Israel in Gaza, which forced the organization to move the timing point 8 kilometers from the conclusion. A back and forth between the inaction of the organization, the increase in the intensity of the protests, and the firm stance of the Israel-PremierTech team.

The solution does not seem simple, and the problem is that this seems to be cutting short what remains of La Vuelta without anyone trying to find a solution. In fact, yesterday afternoon L'Equipe suggested the possibility that the final stage of La Vuelta in Madrid might not take place. This information was quickly denied by the organization while the French media retracted the news. Now, given what has happened, the question is whether they will even make it to Madrid when, for now, significant protests have been announced during the time trial in Valladolid.

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Focusing on the sporting aspect, as we were saying, an interesting stage was initially proposed, even in terms of the general classification, due to the always challenging terrain of Rias Baixas. A stage with two very distinct halves, one without excessive difficulties, beyond those set by the Galician geography, and a second half with four consecutive ascents: San Antoñino, Alto da Grova, the short but tough Alto de Prado, and the final ascent to Castro de Herville.

With the precedents of previous stages, the breakaway of the day was once again fiercely contested, which made the first hour of the race very fast-paced. Finally, a group of 17 cyclists was consolidated with Soler, Baioli, Cepeda, Landa, Bernal, Jungels, Pickering, or Vermaerke.

Meanwhile, the peloton once again avoided the fight and let the breakaway gain enough advantage to know that the stage victory would be among them. They completed the first of the climbs, consolidating the differences, and, already on the second climb, despite the wind and rain that began to lash the cyclists, with still 60 kilometers to go, Mikel Landa thrilled the fans with one of those attacks that are so popular, this time with strength and solidity to be the winner.

Seeing that the gap was becoming worrying, Bernal launched in pursuit, showing tremendous legs and managing to catch up easily, and on the descent, Nico Denz, Brieuc Rolland, and Clément Braz joined them. Together, they made their way despite the nice struggle they had with the rest of the escapees during a section of tough ramps after the climb.

With the breakaway consolidated, they faced the extremely steep ramps of Alto de Prado and its rough asphalt, where Egan Bernal and Mikel Landa showed that they were the strongest, managing to distance themselves from their companions to go for the victory. We also saw movements on these same ramps with the arrival of the peloton, where Bahrain-Victorious decided to increase the pace, reducing the peloton to a minimum and forcing UAE Team Emirates-XRG to stop Marc Soler, who was already out of contention in the breakaway, to assist Joao Almeida.

However, problems arose for the leader Jonas Vingegaard, who, almost at the top of the climb, suffered an untimely puncture that was immediately resolved by taking the Danish rider's bike designated for such situations, managing to reintegrate into the group almost instantly.

We turned our attention back to the head of the race, and just as we were thinking about the tremendous battle expected between Egan Bernal and Mikel Landa in the ascent to Castro de Herville, news came of the change in the location of the finish line, right at the 8 km banner, a place that coincided with the first ramp of the final ascent. This time, unlike what happened in Bilbao, the organization determined that there would be a stage winner, something that surely did not please Tom Pidcock, who was left without a victory then.

In a completely anticlimactic finish, after winding through narrow streets, the banner that marked the end of the race appeared, and Egan Bernal was the quickest to react, securing the victory without any difficulty on a day when the Landismo once again missed seeing their idol raise his arms.

Stage 16 Classification

1. Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) 3h35'10''
2. Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) +00''
3. Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ) +07''
4. Nico Denz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +1'02''
5. Clément Braz (Groupama-FDJ) +1'02''
6. Bob Jungels (INEOS Grenadiers) +1'10''
7. Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic-PostNL) +1'12''
8. Finlay Pickering (Bahrain-Victorious) +1'12''
9. Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost) +2'48''
10. Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) +2'48''

General Classification

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) 61h16'35''
2. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +48''
3. Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5) +2'38''
4. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +3'10''
5. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +4'21''
6. Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +4'24''
7. Matthew Riccitello (Israel-PremierTech) +4'53''
8. Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) +5'46''
9. Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious) +6'33''
10. Junior Lecerf (Soudal-QuickStep) +8'04''