Jonas Vingegaard wins on the Bola del Mundo and mortgages triumph in the Vuelta
Jonas Vingegaard, Visma-Lease a bike rider, won the 20th and penultimate stage of the Vuelta a España by a breakaway, mortgaging his final success in the race, which will end tomorrow in Madrid at the end of a 111.6-kilometer stage starting in Alalpardo.
The Dane came alone to the finish line at the top of the Bola del Mundo, after 165 kilometers in the mountains, preceding by 11 seconds the U.S. Sepp Kuss, his teammate in Visma who won the Iberian stage race just ahead of him two years ago.
Third on today’s final climb at 13 seconds is Australian Jai Hinley of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. Vingegaard now has a 1’16” lead over his main rival, Portuguese Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who finished fifth at 22 seconds.
Vingegaard, 28, a stage race specialist, is thus about to add to his palmares with his third participation: in 2023, as mentioned, he finished second after placing 46th in 2020.
He also won two Tours de France, in 2022 and 2023, beating Tadej Pogacar, behind whom at the Grande Boucle he placed second in 2021, 2024, and this year. He has not yet participated in the Giro d’Italia.
