DISCUSSION Vuelta a España Stage 13 | Can anyone but Joao Almeida stop Jonas Vingegaard from winning the final GC? Was Vingegaard over the limit at Angliru?

The thirteenth stage of the Vuelta a España was the queen stage of this edition with no doubts. With more than 200km in the menu and the mythical climb to Angliru, the stage promised a lot of action and it certainly delivered.

The climbs were all packed in the final part of the stage, with around 160 flat kilometres prior to that. A big breakaway was established once again, with 25 men going down the road. The main names present were Mads Pedersen, Bob Jungels, Jefferson Cepeda, Clément Braz Afonso and Antonio Tiberi.

Visma took the responsibility to work back in the bunch, as Jonas Vingegaard wanted to fight for the stage win, not letting the gap to go above the 4-minute mark. Q36.5 suddenly started pulling during the first climb of the day: Alto La Mozqueta (6.4km à 8.2%), working for Tom Pidcock, and in the next climb (Alto del Cordal, 5.5km à 8.8%) it was UAE who took the lead of the bunch.

Four men – Tiberi, Cepeda, Jungels and Vinokurov – distanced from the early break on the Cordal, but Tiberi would crash in the descent when he was trying to come back to the front after a puncture and lost all his options.

Soon after starting the ascent to Angliru, protestors blocked the road once again and stopped the break for about 20 seconds, although no Israel – Premier Tech riders were in front. UAE kept setting the tempo, but they had to do it without the help of Juan Ayuso, who had been dropped immediately after his team started pulling.

Jay Vine and Felix Grosschartner reduced the size of the peloton to barely 10 units, and then Joao Almeida took the front of the group and imposed a hellish pace. The remaining survivors lost contact one by one, until it was just Almeida and Vingegaard alone in front.

The Portuguese rode ambitiously, trying to drop Vingegaard but with no success. The Dane resisted but didn’t have the legs to fly solo, and in the final downhill sprint he couldn’t overtake Almeida, who won the stage in epic fashion.

Behind them, Hindley was the best of the rest of the GC men, losing just 28 seconds. Tom Pidcock struggled but managed to maintain the third place in the overall, sitting 2:18 behind Vingegaard.

Once the stage finished, we asked some of our writers to share their thoughts and main takeaways about what happened today.

And there they were, the Portuguese. Full of hope. Eagerly waiting for what was to come. Somewhere in the north of Spain, waiting for hours, maybe for their hero. Not on just any mountain, but on the Angliru—easily framed as the big brother of Alpe d’Huez from the Tour de France. Just watching the images of the riders at full effort makes you feel the pain rising from your toes, coursing through your legs, up your back, and into the very top of your neck.

And the wait was rewarded. The Portuguese fans got exactly what they had come for: their João Almeida right at the front, with only one rider still able to follow, Jonas Vingegaard. Earlier, it was clear that UAE was finally working for their leader—not everyone yet, it must be said, but more than in previous days.

While the rest were battling one another, only one question remained: who would take the victory? Almeida gave everything, maybe even hit his limit between the third and first kilometer from the top, but found another burst in the last 400 meters of the climb. Then came the furious rush downhill. Vingegaard still on his wheel, but Almeida was unleashed and even opened a gap of one and a half meters. Vingegaard, head sunk deeper between his shoulders in those final kilometers, accepted it.

Almeida took a deserved stage win and could soon hand the flowers to the birthday boy, Oliveira. The embrace beyond the line between the two champions, as well as between Almeida and Oliveira, shows what this sport is. The most beautiful sport on earth. And when we set aside the time gap between Vingegaard and Almeida in the general classification, we see that the Vuelta is far from over.

Behind them, everything remains incredibly close, with no small names in the mix: Pidcock, Ciccone, Pellizari, Gall, Riccitello, and more. All top riders. The Vuelta is far from finished. But for my Portuguese colleagues, none of that matters today. They have turned into busy bumblebees, all buzzing with joy. Their hero won on the Angliru. Joao Almeida.

João Almeida has been perfect. He did everything he had to do. The team worked for him and he delivered with an outstanding performance.For those who reproach him for not attacking, you don't attack on the Angliru. The Angliru is so hard that you have to go at your own pace and let whoever can follow you. And that's what Almeida did perfectly.

As for Jonas Vingegaard, it wasn't clear to me if he didn't have the strength to pass him at the finish or if he didn't want to dispute the victory with the man who led him all the way up the climb. Either way, the Dane seems hard to beat in this Vuelta.As for the rest of the riders, kudos to Abel Balderstone. Top 10 in a mythical finish like the Angliru and best Spaniard in the general classification. We will see if he is able to maintain that status in the rest of the race, but it is already a very positive note for Caja Rural.

After writing two days ago that the Vuelta a España podium was far from sealed, here comes Angliru to prove me right. No, I'm not going to talk about Juan Ayuso, because even the birthday boy, Ivo Oliveira, helped the team more on the final climb than the "belly-bellying" Spanish cyclist.

Admittedly, it wouldn't have made much of a difference to Angliru, but seeing him take off so early again only demonstrates that there are 24 teams in the Vuelta. The Juan Ayuso Cycling Team has only one rider, already has two wins, and couldn't care less about his teammates.

Everyone, without exception, was tipping Angliru for Jonas. Everyone except me. I might have been the only one in the newsroom to have written João Almeida as the stage winner. Vingegaard once again didn't attack, counter-attack, or attempt a move. He certainly doesn't need to, but for my part, he won't escape being labeled a true "wheelsucker."

He already does the same with Pogacar, now with Almeida. I have a feeling this Jonas, the Jonas of Angliru, won't win the Vuelta a España. Fancy a bet? Of the remaining men fighting for the overall, Pidcock survived the day, but his podium spot is threatened by Hindley and Gall. The fight for the youth jersey is fierce, with Pelizzari and Riccitelo separated by seconds. Ciccone, Bernal, and Jorgenson have gone unnoticed. Torstein Traeen, surprisingly, remains firm in the Top-10. Chapeau to him.

An interesting day. I believed, and I think most would agree with me, that the Vuelta could well be virtually won today by Vingegaard if he were to pull off one of his climbing materclasses. He did not, but instead João Almeida did, backed by the most solid work UAE has collectively done so far this race - with Felix Grosschartner's rise in form being great news for the team. UAE took the race by the horns and didn't let Visma do its own thing.

Dare I say, on such a finale, it wouldn't make a physicaly difference, but psychologically it does make, and Almeida went into the steep part of the final climb with full confidence. He had the legs to distance everyone but Vingegaard, but outsmarted the Dane in the downhill finale, something I was surprised with because Vingegaard knew what was coming, he simply did not make a move and let Almeida take the lead through the dangerous and downhill final bends.

The result? A stalemate on paper, but in real life it's far from a stalemate but a statement from Almeida that he wants to and CAN win the Vuelta. 46 seconds in regular conditions is a gap only Tadej Pogacar could take from Vingegaard.

But these aren't regular conditions, the two came in with very different preparations towards the Vuelta and we can't say that their form will evolve equally throughout the coming days. A bad day can see 46 seconds being lost by either of them, there are are least three very difficult summit finishes left.

Away from the fight for victory Jai Hindley did take the leap I previewed, he showed his very best level today and made a statement towards his intentions of jumping into the final podium. And he might just do that tomorrow already, although Giulio Pellizzari will be focused on his own white jersey and is unlikely to - at this point - aid the team in putting pressure on Tom Pidcock.

Pidcock himself rode as expected, a very strong long mountain effort, but he is simply not as good of a pure climber as his rivals, so it will not be easy to maintain his current position all the way into Madrid.

What a stage that was, Angliru always delivers thrilling stages and today was no exception. Joao Almeida was very brave today, and he was the strongest. He said in a post-race interview that he was expecting Vingegaard to attack at any moment and he was surprised he didn’t. I think he isn’t the only one surprised, everyone was expecting him to do that.

It was the queen stage, arriving at the mythical Angliru, and he couldn’t win two days ago due to the protests. It was the perfect day for a champion like him to make a statement: drop everyone, arrive solo and increase the lead over his rivals. But he didn’t do that, instead he just sat on Almeida’s wheel the whole climb.

One obvious question arises: he didn’t attack because he didn’t want, or because he couldn’t? He said he was a bit disappointed that he couldn’t win today because he was eyeing this stage, so I think the conclusion is that Almeida drove him to the limit and he just didn’t have the legs to attack. Following Almeida’s pace was enough for Jonas, which is actually very promising for the next stages.

We don’t have a very dominant Vingegaard easily beating everyone. He has found some competition, someone that can challenge him. Even if it is seemingly only one, that is much better than nothing. 46 seconds separate both riders, with plenty of mountain stages ahead and a long individual time trial.

Almeida received good support from his teammates today, except from the usual suspects, but that is not a novelty. Domen Novak, Jay Vine, Felix Grosschartner and even Ivo Oliveira (coming from the break) helped and pulled to help him attack. Ayuso and Soler, on the other hand, were nowhere to be seen. The first coincidentally lost contact with peloton right when his team took control of the bunch, while Soler disappeared at some point without pulling a single meter. Coincidences once again.

Tom Pidcock struggled today but still didn’t lose as much as what we could have imagined once he was dropped. The Briton managed his efforts and is still sitting in third. It is clear that he cannot beat Vingegaard and Almeida, but the podium is a realistic opportunity and something that few people actually thought he could achieve before the start of the race, especially after his invisible performance at the Giro.

He will not have it easy against Jai Hindley, the Australian already knows how to win a Grand Tour (do not forget he won the Giro in 2022) and is getting better and better at the Vuelta. Felix Gall is not far either, so we are having an exciting fight for the overall win and at the same time one for the podium. La Vuelta is as open as ever.