DISCUSSION Vuelta a España Stage 14 | Is UAE's domination bad for cycling? Did Marc Soler disobey team orders?

The fourteenth stage of the Vuelta a España featured a back-to-back mountain stage, so there was no rest for the riders after the queen stage of Saturday. Riders had to tackle la Farrapona as a summit finish, a never-ending climb with a very steep section at the end of the ascent.

As usual during these past days, a big break was established to fight for the stage win. The flat terrain of the first half of the stage made it easier for non-pure climbers to join the group in front, with some of the main names present being Marc Soler, Victor Campenaerts, Mikkel Bjerg, Jefferson Cepeda, Bruno Armirail or Kevin Vermaerke. UAE and Visma wanted to have riders in front for tactical purposes.

The advantage of the breakaway skyrocketed to more than 6 minutes. During the second climb of the day (San Lorenzo, 9.9km à 8.6%), UAE took control of the bunch, dropping important riders such as Giulio Ciccone or Egan Bernal.

After all the criticism, Juan Ayuso stepped up for the team and worked for Joao Almeida until the final Alto de la Farrapona climb. In the front, Marc Soler and Johannes Staune-Mittet went clear, until the Norwegian couldn’t follow the pace anymore and left Soler alone in front.

It seemed a battle between Soler and his team at some point, and it was the Spaniard who prevailed, arriving solo and giving UAE their seventh stage win of this Vuelta edition. Behind him, Giulio Pellizzari accelerated with 3km to go to set an attack from Jai Hindley, who launched it inside the last kilometre.

He dropped everyone except for Vingegaard and Almeida, who overtake him and arrived second and third respectively. The rest of the GC men arrived a few seconds behind, with no major changes in the classification. Jonas increased his lead in 2 seconds with Almeida thanks to the bonus seconds.

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

In green Asturias, it was a long wait for the final six kilometers, where the climb tilted up at more than nine percent. Soler was already on the attack and held on until the end, despite the chasing group of favorites. Everything was spot on today for UAE.

Earlier, on the climb to San Lorenzo, even Juan Ayuso had come to lend the UAE boys a hand. United Ayuso Energy at work, so to speak. Behind Soler, we saw the same pattern as always: Vingegaard kept a close watch on Almeida. That will not change. Who takes the sprint for second place matters little.

UAE controls the peloton and secures stage wins. Jonas Vingegaard controls UAE by keeping Almeida in check. That is how both teams will measure themselves. It would just be nice for the rest of the Vuelta if a third rider showed up to shake things up — like Jai Hindley once tried.

We could once again talk about UAE’s tactics, whether Juan Ayuso works or not, whether he drops early or late, whether Marc Soler is up front or behind, but what really stands out to me is that a team owned by a State with an unlimited budget has been crushing the 2025 season with victories, and at this point has already won 7 out of 14 stages in the Vuelta a España 2025.

I think it’s dangerous for the sport that the gap between one team and the rest is so overwhelming, and it seems to grow larger every year. Other than that, a null day in the general classification fight because of the headwind on La Farrapona. Tomorrow will be an important day for the rest of the teams in the race to at least try, out of a bit of dignity, to prevent UAE from winning again.

Today Juan Ayuso fulfilled his duty and worked for Joao Almeida for the first time. It was refreshing seeing him finally working for the team, so nothing to reproach. Let’s see if he will keep that behaviour until the end of the Vuelta.

UAE worked really well as a bloc, every domestique contributed to helping Almeida except for Marc Soler. I didn’t get what he was doing, he was riding a race while his whole team was riding a completely different one. I think everyone was expecting him to just sit in the break and follow wheels without spending more energy than strictly required. It was important for UAE and Visma to have satellite riders in the break, so it made sense that Soler was there today.

But instead of waiting for Almeida, he attacked on the final climb, dropped everyone else in the break and won solo. Was that agreed upon with the team? Did Soler ignore team orders and went for the stage? I actually think the team gave him green light to try that.

The feeling I have is that UAE want to get as many stage wins as possible to make sure they beat the HTC – Columbia record of 85 pro wins in a season back in 2009. So instead of prioritizing the GC with Joao Almeida, they are playing a double game. They are undoubtedly the most powerful team in the world, so they have the firepower to do that. And so far, even if we can criticize them for not adequately support Almeida and his GC ambitions, they have been very successful.

They have 7 (!!) stage wins and counting, while Almeida is sitting in second place in the overall and looking as the only contender that could beat Vingegaard. Today Soler didn’t help, but I am not sure whether he would have made any difference. If Almeida had attacked from far, it would be a different story, but he didn’t.

I expected more ambition from Almeida today actually, especially after how much his team worked. I don’t know whether he didn’t have the legs to try, he didn’t want to deprive Soler of his victory or maybe it was the headwind at the Farrapona.

Jonas Vingegaard looked solid as usual, but he also didn’t attack today. I would have expected him to try to increase his lead if he could, because 48 seconds is not a comfortable margin. His plan has been following Almeida’s wheel, but I expect him to go to the offensive in the next stages.

The rest of the GC contenders performed as expected, Tom Pidcock continues defending his podium position with tooth and nail. Remember he is not a pure climber and yet he is riding impressively. In a high mountain stage as it was today, Hindley only managed to recover 10 seconds off the Briton, so his podium dream seems closer and closer.