PREVIEW & FAVOURITES | Vuelta a España 2025 stage 19 - Uphill sprint another battle with Pedersen and Philipsen

We preview stage 19 of the Vuelta a Espana, which will take place on the 12th of September. This will be the penultimate sprint stage with an uphill finale favouring Mads Pedersen. The stage is estimated to start at 13:55CET and finish at 17:20CET.

Another opportunity for the sprinters late in the race. The town of Guijuelo will host the finale of a transition stage where the fast men will have the chance to shine. It's a stage without categorized climbs and one where the organizers really made an effort to satisfy and convince the sprinters into staying in the race.

But also in classic Vuelta fashion, we've got a slight climb to the finish. The final 2.3 kilometers average 3% and they are all straightforward meaning a constant effort, which gets slightly steeper towards the final meters of the stage. We could see some surprises in such a finale and this deep into the race.

Some northwestern wind, which means we will have a fast day and for the first time in the race, actual chance of echelons happening. Not too likely, but the open roads in this transition stage do give space for that.

Mads Pedersen - The truth is this sprint suits all of the best sprinters in the race, since barely no pure sprinters made the trip to the Vuelta. On the top of the list is Mads Pedersen, who has been sick but is still going to be the main favourite for such an arrival.

Jasper Philipsen and Ben Turner, both stage winners and with quality men to lead them out, will be the next men in line to fight for the stage win in case the Dane does not have the legs. Orluis Aular and Ethan Vernon are also very well suited to this finale in truth so the differences aren't going to be too big, whilst Cofidis' Bryan Coquard in his best years would also go on to fight for a stage win here. But he has been rather absent this entire Vuelta so I can't say for sure if he will have the legs.

The more sprinters such as Elia Viviani, Madis Mihkels and Stanislaw Aniolkowski are more likely to struggle in the uphill sprint whilst in such a depleted sprinter field, we may have puncheurs such as Tom Pidcock, Anders Foldager, Fabio Christen and Jordan Labrosse potentially fighting for a top result.

The GC riders are all also going to have to be towards the front, specially with gaps in some positions being quite small. There can be splits in such an arrival, and no-one will want to lose time unnecessarily.

*** Mads Pedersen, Ben Turner
** Jasper Philipsen, Orluis Aular
* Bryan Coquard, Elia Viviani, Madis Mihkels, Tom Pidcock, Anders Foldager

Pick: Ben Turner

How: INEOS with a perfect leadout and Turner winning the sprint.