The rider who may threaten Jonas Vingegaard and João Almeida at the 2025 Vuelta a España

When August arrives, cycling fans are already only thinking about the Vuelta a España. The 2025 edition will start on Saturday 23rd in Torino and end on Sunday 14th September with the classic finale in Madrid. Jonas Vingegaard is looking at this moment like the main favourite for the red jersey but after the Clàsica San Sebastiàn Giulio Ciccone has placed himself very well in every chart.

The big favorites for the red jersey will be Vingegaard and João Almeida most likely, especially the Dane, who comes from second overall in the Tour de France. He finished 4 minutes and 24 seconds behind Tadej Pogacar, but he also took 6:36 to the third-placed Florian Lipowitz, showing that he has a large margin over the rest of the field in regular conditions. Therefore, with the absence of Tadej Pogacar, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike will be the man to beat.

A new contender for the podium or even victory has put his foot down at the 'Donostia Klasikoa', winning over UAE Team Emirates - XRG and Isaac del Toro. We are talking about Giulio Ciccone, who comes from winning the Clasica de San Sebastian after quite a few months without racing and has shown that he is in a very good shape. The form is there, and if he can put it to use in the high mountains he will be a big threat.

The start in his home country could be an added incentive for the Italian Lidl-Trek rider. It should be remembered that he had to abandon the Giro d'Italia because of a crash he suffered when he was fighting for the maglia rosa. He was 2:20 behind Isaac del Toro after 13 stages, but his crash on stage 14 forced him to withdraw from the start line of stage 15. Ciccone has in the past proven his credentials as a Grand Tour rider.

He is performing at an exceptional level. It all started with the UAE Tour, where only Tadej Pogacar could beat him in the final general classification. In other words, he was the first of the mortals, the best of the humans. In Liège-Bastogne-Liège, exactly the same thing happened. He finished after beating Ben Healy in the final sprint for second on the day.

In between, Ciccone competed in three races. He was 13th in a rather dense Tirreno Adriatico, was missing in Milano-Sanremo and finished fourth in the Tour of the Alps, winning the first stage and wearing the overall leader's jersey for one day. Only Michael Storer, Thymen Arensman and Derek Gee, three specialists in the high mountains, finished ahead of him. Alongside Giulio Pellizzari and Antonio Tiberi, the Italian can have high hopes for this Vuelta.