La Vuelta a España riders get some rest on Monday, September 8, before the final stretch this week: the last six stages, where the winner will be decided. As it stands now, there only seem to be two candidates with real options of winning the Grand Tour: Jonas Vingegaard and Joao Almeida.
Well before the race began, everybody thought Vingegaard, who has been either runner-up or winner at Tour de France for the last years, would be champion in Spain, given the absence of Tadej Pogacar. However, while the Dane from Team Visma leads in the General Classification, he is chased very close by Joao Almeida, from UAE Emirates, 48 seconds behind. The third, Tom Pidcock, is over 2 and a half minutes behind.
There are six stages left, and some standouts: Stage 17, on Wednesday, September 10, will be a climb to Alto de El Morredero, in León, where there will be nearly 9 km with 10% of slope, reaching an incline of 12% at some points. The following day, Stage 18, will be a time trial in Valladolid, where Vingegaard could have the opportunity to secure enough distance to win the race.
However, it could all come to the penultimate stage, a climb to Bola del Mundo, a mountain near Madrid famous for its aerials, that last appeared in La Vuelta in 2012.