Vingegaard

Italy’s Filippo Ganna won a shortened individual time trial on stage 18 of the Vuelta a Espana as Britain’s Tom Pidcock retained his third place in the overall standings.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Joao Almeida, who is second in the general classification, took 10 seconds off the advantage of overall race leader Jonas Vingegaard.

The stage was reduced from 27.2km to 12.2km to ensure “greater protection” for riders because of security concerns resulting from a series of pro-Palestinian protests during the three-week race.

Police numbers were also ramped up, with hundreds of protestors waving flags along the route and whistling riders from Israel-Premier Tech.

And French news agency AFP reported that two protestors were detained for trying to jump over barriers.

Two-time world time trial champion Ganna, 29, lived up to his billing as the favourite, with the Ineos Grenadiers rider edging out Australian Jay Vine by a second in Valladolid.

“Obviously, with the news of the change in the parcours [route] last night it was a bit strange, but I tried to do the best today,” said Ganna, who was 10 seconds quicker than anyone else over the final four kilometres.

“The first part I didn’t find the correct rhythm and in the final I tried to push over without thinking of the numbers. I am really happy for today.”

While Ganna’s fast finish ensured he pipped Vine, all eyes were focused on the battle at the top of the general classification.

Almeida finished strongly to put time into Visma-Lease A Bike’s Vingegaard and the Portuguese rider now sits 40 seconds behind the Dane with two competitive stages of racing remaining.

Q36.5 Pro Cycling’s Pidcock finished 29 seconds behind Ganna but managed to extend his advantage over Australian Jai Hindley in the battle for the final podium spot by three seconds.

With a relatively flat 161.9km run from Rueda to Guijuelo scheduled for Friday, it raises the prospect of a huge day in the mountains on Saturday’s penultimate stage with a summit finish on the Bola del Mundo.

Portugal’s Joao Almeida outpaced overall leader Jonas Vingegaard to win the gruelling 13th stage of the Vuelta a Espana – as the race was again disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters.

Almeida of UAE Team Emirates-XRG took over the lead from team-mate Felix Grossschartner with less than six kilometres to go to the summit finish at the Alto de Angliru.

The Portuguese and Vingegaard, the top two in the general classification, then broke away from Jai Hindley and 2023 winner Sepp Kuss with three kilometres to the summit before the duo battled it out in for the stage win up the steep ascent.

Earning bonus seconds with his first stage win at the Vuelta, Almeida closed the gap to Visma-Lease a Bike’s Vingegaard to 46 seconds in the overall rankings.

“This is a special one, I still don’t believe it,” Almeida said.

“I just put my pace from the bottom and I just did my bit the best I could. Jonas was always on my wheel. We were both on the limit and I was waiting for his attack anytime.

“I think this is the hardest climb in the world, its crazy, I’m really sore.”

Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock remains third overall despite finishing seventh in the stage, but he is now two minutes 18 seconds off two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard.

Australia’s Hindley, who took third in the 202.7km ride from Cabezon de la Sal to Alto de L’Angliru, sits fourth in the general classification.

Protesters waving Palestinian flags disrupted the stage before the climb to Angliru, affecting lead riders Jefferson Cepeda, Bob Jungels, and Nico Vinokurov.

The stoppage lasted a few seconds before security intervened.

“We were slowed down a bit by a demonstration during the race, but that didn’t change anything – we knew we would be caught by the best,” said Vinokurov, who held a three-minute lead over the peloton before the disruption.

The race organisers were forced to end stage 11 without a winner on Wednesday because of protests.

Meanwhile, the Asturias government boycotted Friday’s stage while urging Israel-Premier Tech to pull out of the race.

Stage 13 finished in Asturias, with two more stages on Saturday and Sunday also passing through the principality.

Gimena Llamedo, vice-president of the principality, said “it would be best for everyone” if Israel-Premier Tech withdrew from this year’s Vuelta.

“We don’t have the capacity to prevent your participation,” Llamedo said.

“Not even the government of Spain has it. But what we can and want to do is express our disagreement.”

After stage 11, the team, owned by Israeli-Canadian businessman Sylvan Adams, said pulling out of the race would “set a dangerous precedent” in cycling.

“We must not be impassive or indifferent to what is happening in Gaza. It is a matter of conscience, of mere humanity,” said Llamedo, urging the protesters not to endanger the safety of the cyclists or disrupt the race.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 64,231 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The ministry also says 370 people have so far died during the war as a result of malnutrition and starvation, including three over the past 24 hours.

Spain’s Juan Ayuso held off Javier Romo to win stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana in a breakaway as Jonas Vingegaard retained the overall race lead.

Ayuso, 22, who also won stage seven and is leaving UAE Team Emirates-XRG at the end of the season, was joined by his compatriot as he tried to go solo on the final climb of the day, about 26km from the finish of the 144.9km route from Laredo to Los Corrales de Buelna.

Romo finished second and France’s Brieuc Rolland crossed in third, before Victor Campenaerts led home a 16-man group that formed from a larger contingent of over 40 escapees earlier in the day.

“I had already won a stage and he had to pull more if he wanted to win the stage,” Ayuso told TNT Sports.

“I was told from the car to play it like this. It is not something I really enjoy, not co-operating fully, but sometime you have to play it smart.

“I knew how to time my sprint and I timed it perfectly.”

Vingegaard was flanked by his Visma-Lease a Bike team-mates as he came home over six minutes later, along with other GC favourites including Joao Almeida and Britain’s Tom Pidcock.

The final 100 metres to the line was marked by a show of pro-Palestinian protest flags, but there was no repeat of stage 11 when racing was affected and curtailed three kilometres before the finish in Bilbao.

That had led to race technical director Kiko Garcia reportedly discussing the Israel-Premier Tech team, external in the context of the safety of the rest of the peloton.

Friday’s 13th stage is the second longest in this year’s Vuelta at 202.7km and it should see the general classification race ignite on the final climb, a brutal summit finish on the Angliru where gradients will ramp up above 20%.