Jasper Philipsen seals hat-trick of stage wins at Vuelta 2025 with sprint finish, Jonas Vingegaard pounces on UAE error

Jasper Philipsen claimed a hat-trick of victories at La Vuelta 2025 after storming to victory in Stage 19 on Friday. On a day of little drama, the Belgian provided a thrilling finale after leaving Mads Pedersen in his wake on the uphill rise to the line. Elsewhere, red jersey Jonas Vingegaard claimed valuable bonus seconds after a blunder from UAE Team Emirates-XRG in the intermediate sprint.

Highlights: Philipsen completes Vuelta hat-trick as Vingegaard gains bonus seconds

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Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) soared to a third victory of this year's La Vuelta with a commanding win in Stage 19 ahead of the green jersey Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).

Denmark’s Pedersen was a distant second after Philipsen benefited from a flawless lead-out from his Alpecin team-mates on the uphill rise to the line in Guijuelo, with Venezuela’s Orluis Aular (Movistar) crossing the line in third.

In a day of little drama, race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) caught his red jersey rival Joao Almeida and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team napping, the Dane darting clear to pocket four bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint in Salamanca.

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Vingegaard extended his lead at the top of the general classification to 44 seconds over Portugal’s Almeida ahead of Saturday’s summit showdown on the Bola del Mundo climb in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains west of Madrid.

Two riders went clear at the start of the 162km stage, with Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Victor Guernalec (Arkea-B&B Hotels) quickly establishing a three-minute lead over the bunch.

With Saturday’s final mountain stage clearly looming in the collective mindset of the peloton, the riders edged along at a relatively slow average speed of only 37 km/h over the first two hours of racing, with Frenchman Guernalec soon throwing in the towel and returning to the pack.

Stage 19 as it happened: Philipsen powers past Pedersen for third win

Riding in his fourth breakaway of his debut Grand Tour, Czech journeyman Otruba cut a lonely figure as he pushed on and along a succession of flat and straight roads across the barren and exposed Castilian-Leonese plateau, with the expected crosswinds never really materialising.

The 27-year-old’s lead peaked at just over four minutes but it came tumbling down as the pace ratcheted up a few notches on the approach to Salamanca, where Vingegaard’s Visma team caught UAE off guard by launching their man to four bonus seconds.

It was a cruel but wholly avoidable blow for Almeida, who just one day earlier had made such a huge effort to take 10 seconds back from Vingegaard during the time trial in Valladolid.

‘Where on earth were UAE here?!’ – Vingegaard profits from 'gift' to earn bonus seconds

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The lingering threat of crosswinds saw the peloton momentarily split as the pace increased ahead of the final hour of racing. But the animation came to nothing, and in the ensuing lull, Burgos Burpellet BH duo Mario Aparicio and Sergio Chumil tried their luck with an opportunistic dig.

The pair’s foray off the front did not last long, and it all came back together ahead of the finish in Guijuelo, the country’s Jamon Iberico capital. There was nothing ham-fisted about the tactics of Ineos Grenadiers, who used the power of Thursday’s winner Filippo Ganna to stretch out the peloton on the approach.

But Alpecin-Deceuninck got their ducks in a line at just the right moment, with Belgian duo Jonas Rickaert and Edward Planckaert leading Philipsen to the front with intent inside the final kilometre.

Pedersen launched early on the other side of the road, but the green jersey was unable to match Philipsen for pace and the Belgian crossed the line with over a bike length’s advantage.

Aular took third, with Belgium’s Jenthe Biermans (Arkea) and Britain’s Ben Turner (Ineos) completing the top five.

'It’s been a tough three weeks' - Philipsen reflects on 'amazing' Stage 19 win

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"It was a really, really tough finish," Philipsen said after completing his hat-trick. "Definitely, after 11 days not going this deep, it hurts.

"The team did an amazing pull and an amazing timing before the last kilometre. It was definitely a team job. We have been super strong throughout the Vuelta. Jonas (Rickaert) and Edward (Planckaert) were super fast and I was struggling in the wheel – but I saw the finish line and pushed though. It was really nice."

Philipsen will have a chance to notch a fourth win on Sunday in the race’s final stage to Madrid on Sunday.

"With this team, we try to keep the winning flow going and we will try to keep it going on Sunday," he said. "But it’s going to be hard because it’s been a tough three weeks."

‘Silver shoes, diamond legs’ – Philipsen claims hat-trick of stage wins at Vuelta

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Before that, the small matter of the final GC showdown between Vingegaard and Almeida on the fearsome Bola del Mundo climb, which returns to the race for the first time in 13 years.

With just 44 seconds separating the top two in the general classification, Almeida will be hoping he does not trail Vingegaard by four seconds on Saturday after his team’s blunder in Salamanca.

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