La Vuelta 2025 Stage 16 recap – Egan Bernal wins protest-shortened stage as Jonas Vingegaard survives late puncture

Protests brought yet more disruption to La Vuelta as Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) edged Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) to his first major win in over four years after the Colombian champion took the spoils in a shortened Stage 16 of La Vuelta.

Pro-Palestine demonstrations forced the race organisers to cancel the final ascent to Castro de Herville at short notice and bring the finish forward to the 8km to go banner, at the base of the ascent.

On the punchy rise to the makeshift finish line, Bernal outkicked the Basque veteran Landa to secure his first WorldTour win since a career-threatening training crash in 2022.

A strange and subdued end to what promised to be an exciting finale saw Landa condemned to the 31st second place finish in his career after his former Sky team-mate turned the page to complete his clean sweep of stage wins on cycling’s Grand Tours.

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) survived a late scare to retain his 48-second lead over Portugal’s Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). The red jersey was forced to ride the final 10km of the stage on team-mate Ben Tulett’s bike after picking up a puncture near the top of the penultimate climb.

Vingegaard, Almeida and third-place Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) all finished together almost six minutes in arrears to protect their places on the virtual podium with five days of the race remaining.

But following the latest day of protests and demonstrations, it remains to be seen if the 80th edition of La Vuelta will make it to Madrid for the scheduled finish on Sunday.

Felix Gall and Giulio Pellizzari swap places, ditto Torstein Traeen and Junior Lecerf. Meanwhile, Egab Bernal rises to places to 12th at 9:36, keeping his hopes of a top 10 finish alive.

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike)
2. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +0:48
3. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) +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-Premier Tech) +4:53
8. Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) +5:46
9. Torstein Traeen (Bahrain-Victorious) +6:33
10. Junior Lecerf (Soudal Quick-Step) +8:04

The finish came 8km from the finish at the foot of the final climb, but this is how it will be remembered for posterity:

1. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers)
2. Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) "
3. Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ) +07
4. Nico Denz (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +1:02
5. Clement Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ) "
6. Bob Jungels (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:10
7. Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic PostNL) +1:12
8. Finlay Pickering (Bahrain-Victorious) "
9. Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost) +2:48
10. Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) "

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) led home the group of GC favourites 5:52 down alongside Tom Pidcock and Joao Almeida. Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) was the big loser, the Austrian losing the best part of a minute.

So, that’s stage wins in all three Grand Tours now for Egan Bernal, who takes his first ever win on Spanish soil. On top of that, Bernal now has victories in shortened stages in all three of cycling’s Grand Tours – something, surely, of a one-man club.

The GC riders come through the 8km banner and their day is done. Jonas Vingegaard survives a late scare to finish the stage on team-mate Ben Tulett’s bike. Tom Pidcock and Joao Almeida are there. What a mess.

It was Brieuc Rolland who took third place, not his Groupama-FDJ team-mate Clement Braz Afonso, who has to settle for fifth behind Nico Denz. The remnants of the break come over in dribs and drabs before the GC group or around a dozen come ‘home’. It all escalated very quickly and an air of anti-climax hangs over a race that may well not make it to Madrid at this rate.

Another day, another victory for the protesters as cycling vulnerability is exposed once again.

The news must have filtered through because the two former team-mates opened up a sprint to the foot of the climb – the make-shift finish line – and it’s Egan Bernal who outkicks Mikel Landa on the uphill slog to the line. The Colombian takes his first win since his accident – but that one will be bittersweet given the circumstances.

We’re not sure if Landa and Bernal know that the finish is coming up in a couple of kilometres. It’s going to be a controversial end to today’s stage. They still have 30 seconds on Braz Afonso.

We have confirmation that the riders will no longer tackle the final climb of the Castro de Herville today because of protests going on at the summit. The GC times and stage result will be decided 8km from the finish, which is fairly imminent. It seems like Tom Pidcock may have heard about that before some of the others, for he put in a big attack on the descent just now.

We’re hearing that we have more protests on the course – and as a result, the GC times will be taken with 8km to go before the final climb. Big news.

Heartbreak for the Frenchman, whose chances of a stage win have been dealt a major – fatal? – blow. He needs to stop for a rear wheel change after picking up a flat. So, that leaves just two contesting the win for now: Bernal and Landa.

The red jersey stops and swaps bikes with team-mate Ben Tulett. That was swiftly and slickly dealt with by the two – and the Dane is quickly back with the GC favourites ahead of the summit. They still trail the front of the race by 6’50". But Vingegaard will have to ride the rest of the stage on someone else’s bike.

With the Bernal-Landa group riding strong up the road and his chances of a second stage win disappearing, Marc Soler sits up. He will wait for his UAE team-mate Joao Almeida. Will they try to steel a march on the red jersey today?

The peloton has been whittled down to around 15 riders on this steep section of the climb. Bahrain still push hard for Traeen.

The Spaniard leads Bernal and Braz Afonso over the top of the Alto del Prado to add more KOM points to his name: he has 15pts today. He also takes six bonus seconds, with Bernal taking four and the Frenchman two.

Rolland goes over 20 seconds later, while the Soler chase group is 1’03" down.

Frenchman Brieuc Rolland can’t keep up with Graz Afonso, Bernal and Landa. Denz, meanwhile, has battled back to join Soler and Pickering. They could be joined by Jungels and Vermaerke, soon, which will help their chances as their deficit grows to almost a minute.

Denz is really pedalling squares as Soler and Pickering pass him and ride on in pursuit of the leaders – but their gap is now almost a minute so that have it all to do. It’s a crazy tough climb, and it’s become all slippery with the drizzle surface water mixing with the dust.

On the front of the peloton behind it’s the Bahrain Victorious team of Torstein Traeen – defending his 10th place from Bernal – who have taken up the chase ahead of the Visma train. They’re 7’20" down and things will really blow up on this climb.

No surprise to see the German powerhouse tailed off by this leading move. Soler and Pickering are combining well and will reel in Denz soon, but they still have 22 seconds to close if they want to join Bernal, Landa, Rolland and Braz Afonso. It’s a tough climb, with an ever-changing gradient which, at times, pitches up into double digits. Hard to find a rhythm.

The race has started the narrow and twisting Cat.2 Alto de Prado (4.3km at 8.9%). It’s here where Miguel Angel Lopez – remember him? – sensationally quit the race just two days from the finish after a huge hissy fit.

The German leads his four fellow escapees through the sprint at Couso. They still have 18 seconds on Pickering and Soler as they continue their dash down towards the foot of the penultimate climb.