Jonas Vingegaard powers to Vuelta stage nine win with Valdezcaray climb

  • Dane cuts nearly two minutes off gap to leader Træen

  • Tom Pidcock and João Almeida finish second and third

The twice Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard won stage nine of the Vuelta a España with a solo attack on the climactic climb to Valdezcaray on Sunday, shaving nearly two minutes off the gap to the overall leader Torstein Træen, who is ahead by 37 seconds.

Visma-Lease a Bike’s Vingegaard dominated the 13.2km category one climb at the end of the 195.5km ride from Alfaro to the Valdezcaray ski resort and although Tom Pidcock and João Almeida tried to chase, they finished 24sec off the pace.

Continue reading...

Vuelta a España: Philipsen sprints to stage win again as Træen stays in red

  • Jasper Philipsen pips Viviani and Vernon in photo-finish

  • Torstein Træen retains overall lead from Vingegaard

Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen sprinted to victory in stage eight of the Vuelta a España, edging Elia Viviani and Ethan Vernon in a photo-finish as Torstein Træen retained the red jersey.

Viviani’s Lotto teammates tried to lead him out in the last 1,000m of the 163km flat ride from Monzón to Zaragoza, but Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Philipsen, who had also won the first stage, pushed in the final moments to steal the victory.

Continue reading...

Juan Ayuso bounces back to claim first Vuelta stage win as Træen stays in red

  • Spaniard triumphs after Thursday collapse in Pyrenees

  • Torstein Træen retains overall lead from Vingegaard

The Spaniard Juan Ayuso showed a remarkable recovery after his collapse in the Pyrenees only 24 hours previously to go it alone on the climb to the finish and triumph in stage seven of the Vuelta a España.

Torstein Træen retains the red jersey, holding a 2min 33sec lead over Jonas Vingegaard, who moved from fifth to second in the standings but without closing the gap to the Norwegian.

Continue reading...

Jay Vine’s solo attack wins Vuelta’s sixth stage as Vingegaard loses lead to Traeen

  • Australian seals stage win in adopted home of Andorra

  • Vingegaard more than two minutes behind overall leader

Australian cyclist Jay Vine launched a solo attack off a breakaway group in the final 20 kilometres to win stage six of the Vuelta a España on Thursday, with Torstein Traeen of Norway taking second place and the overall race lead from Jonas Vingegaard.

Vine was part of a 10-man group which got away early on the 170.3km ride from Olot to Pal in Andorra, before the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider went for broke and held off the chasers to secure the third individual Vuelta stage win of his career.

Continue reading...

Chris Froome to undergo surgery after breaking his back during training crash

  • Four-time Tour de France winner stable in Toulon hospital

  • Scans showed five broken ribs and vertebrae fracture

Chris Froome has been airlifted to hospital after suffering a collapsed lung and breaking his back and five ribs during a serious crash while training in France.

The four-time Tour de France winner’s team confirmed that Froome would undergo surgery in Toulon on Thursday after the incident which took place on Wednesday. It said that the 40-year-old was now stable, and that no one else had been involved in the crash.

Continue reading...

Vingegaard retakes Vuelta lead while Israel Premier-Tech delayed by protesters

  • Vingegaard regains red jersey after team time trial

  • Israeli team stopped by protesters with Palestinian flags

Jonas Vingegaard regained the red jersey after stage five of the Vuelta a España in a dramatic team time trial in which Israel Premier-Tech were delayed by pro-Palestinian protesters on the route.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG won the stage but Visma-Lease a Bike’s second-placed finish allowed Vingegaard to regain the lead from Groupama-FDJ’s David Gaudu.

Continue reading...

Late Ineos call-up Ben Turner caps ‘crazy week’ by sprinting to Vuelta stage win

  • British rider times move to perfection in sprint

  • Gaudu takes red jersey from Vingegaard

Britain’s Ben Turner, of Ineos Grenadiers, outfoxed the Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in a sprint finish to win stage four of the Vuelta a España, with France’s David Gaudu taking the leader’s red jersey from Jonas Vingegaard.

Philipsen looked well placed coming to the line at the end of the 206.7km ride from Susa in Italy to the French town of Voiron, tucked in behind his compatriot and teammate Edward Planckaert, but Turner timed his move to perfection to win his first Grand Tour stage.

Continue reading...

Vingegaard keeps Vuelta lead after team suffer bike thefts but Gaudu closes gap

  • David Gaudu wins stage three with Pedersen second

  • Visma-Lease a Bike report theft of ‘several bikes’

Jonas Vingegaard maintained his overall lead of the Vuelta a España yesterday, finishing third on stage three after a fraught 24 hours in which his Visma-Lease a Bike team discovered the theft of several bikes from an equipment truck.

Vingegaard seemed largely unaffected, finishing on the wheels of second-placed Mads Pedersen and the stage winner, David Gaudu, after an uphill sprint at the end of the first medium-mountain stage of the race, a 139km ride from San Maurizio Canavese to Ceres in Italy.

Continue reading...

Vuelta a España: Jonas Vingegaard recovers from crash to win stage two

  • Visma-Lease a Bike rider left bloodied by spill in the rain

  • Dane recovers to pip Ciccone on mountain finish

Jonas Vingegaard finished strongly to win the mountainous second stage of the Vuelta a España on Sunday, emphasising his status as the general classification favourite in the absence of Tadej Pogacar by outsprinting Giulio Ciccone on the slopes of Limone Piemonte in northern Italy.

Vingegaard had to get off the tarmac to get his hands on the red jersey after being involved in a big crash that included a number of his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates, but he was able to rejoin the peloton with just a bloodied left elbow. The Danish rider went on to triumph in a mass sprint featuring a number of GC rivals on the climb to the town near the Italian border with France.

Continue reading...

Vuelta a España: Jasper Philipsen bounces back from Tour pain to win opening stage

  • Belgian claims red jersey after sprint finish

  • Opening stage starts in Italy for the first time

Jasper Philipsen, of Alpecin-Deceuninck, won stage one of the Vuelta a España in a sprint finish on Saturday to take the red jersey in a repeat of his heroics in the first stage of the Tour de France where he registered his last Grand Tour stage win.

Philipsen had also taken the yellow jersey at last month’s Tour before a serious crash, where he fractured his collarbone and needed surgery, ruled him out of the rest of the race two days later.

Continue reading...

Vingegaard has chance to shine at Vuelta in absence of world-weary Pogacar

Dane hopes to end two-year Grand Tour drought at the Vuelta a España, with the Tour de France winner and Remco Evenepoel absent

Jonas Vingegaard’s latest bid to escape the constant shadow of Tadej Pogacar and reboot his status as a Grand Tour winner kicks off this Saturday at the Vuelta a España.

The Dane’s two-year Grand Tour drought – his last success was in the 2023 Tour de France – has been marked by a near-fatal crash and some occasionally unseemly jostling for leadership within his Visma–Lease a Bike team.

Continue reading...

Richardson and Bjergfelt set world records in Turkey but Tanfield misses out

  • Richardson completes 200m flying start in 8.941sec

  • Tanfield falls short in attempt to break hour record

Britain’s Matt Richardson and Will Bjergfelt set world records at a ­special event backed by British Cycling in Turkey on Thursday.

Richardson became the first man to go under nine seconds in the 200m flying start, recording a time of 8.941sec in Konya. The 26-year-old, who switched allegiance from Australia to Britain last year, surpassed the mark set by Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands.

Continue reading...