Jonas Vingegaard at the Vuelta a España

Jonas Vingegaard won the 2025 Vuelta a España by 1:16 from João Almeida, with three stage wins along the way. Before that he finished second in 2023, just 17 seconds behind team-mate Sepp Kuss, and in 2020 he rode his very first Grand Tour in Spain as a domestique. This is the full Jonas Vingegaard Vuelta story: three starts, the key stages and the chaotic finale in Madrid.

Jonas Vingegaard Vuelta results: three starts

Vingegaard has ridden the Vuelta three times and won five stages – two in 2023 and three in 2025. In 2025 he was also second in both the points and the mountains classifications. He skipped the race in 2024 after the Tour de Pologne, saying he had never been this tired after a Grand Tour, and in 2026 his season ended with his Tour de France crash.

• 2020: 46th – Grand Tour debut, working for the winner Primož Roglič
• 2023: 2nd, 17 seconds behind Sepp Kuss – stage wins on stages 13 and 16
• 2025: overall winner, 1:16 ahead of João Almeida – stage wins on stages 2, 9 and 20

2020: A debut as Roglič's helper

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic the 2020 Vuelta was held in October and November. It was Vingegaard's first Grand Tour, and he rode as a domestique for Primož Roglič, who won the race. He finished 46th and 14th in the young rider classification. A year later he was second at the Tour de France.

2023: Second behind Sepp Kuss

A few weeks after his second Tour win, Vingegaard started the 2023 Vuelta as co-leader with Roglič. On stage 6 the American Sepp Kuss got into a breakaway, gained several minutes and took the red jersey. In the stage 10 time trial in Valladolid Vingegaard lost about a minute to Remco Evenepoel and Roglič and was more than two minutes behind Kuss. He then won stage 13, finishing on top of the Col du Tourmalet, and stage 16 to Bejes, and was second to Roglič on the Angliru on stage 17 – leaving him just 8 seconds behind Kuss overall.

The Sepp Kuss Vuelta story

Kuss had been Vingegaard's most important mountain domestique at the 2022 and 2023 Tours – and now the helper was in red. The team let Kuss win: he took the overall title, Vingegaard was second at 17 seconds and Roglič third at 1:08, a one-team podium that Wikipedia describes as unprecedented. Kuss stayed with the team, later extended his contract, and at the 2026 Giro he won the queen stage while Vingegaard won the race. More on his team-mates and rivals on our page about Vingegaard, Pogačar and Sepp Kuss.

The 2025 Vuelta a España: the red jersey

The 2025 Vuelta started in Turin on 23 August, and with Tadej Pogačar absent Vingegaard was the big favourite. On stage 2 to Limone Piemonte he was caught in a crash before the final climb but still won the stage in a photo finish against Giulio Ciccone and took red. He briefly lost the lead on placings to David Gaudu and, after stage 6, to breakaway rider Torstein Træen, but on stage 9 to Valdezcaray he attacked ten kilometres out, rode alone to the top and won by 24 seconds from Tom Pidcock and Almeida.

From stage 10 onwards the red jersey was his for good. Race reports say he fell ill in the second week and had to defend. Almeida became his main rival, winning on the Angliru with Vingegaard the only one able to follow, and the gap was 48 seconds going into the final week. The Valladolid time trial was cut to 12.2 km for safety reasons, and he lost 10 seconds there. The race was settled on the penultimate stage to Bola del Mundo on 13 September, where he went clear before the final kilometre to win his third stage. He won by 1:16 from Almeida and 3:11 from Pidcock.

Protests and the cancelled finish in Madrid

The 2025 Vuelta was marked by pro-Palestinian protests against the participation of Israel–Premier Tech. Several stages were shortened and two had no winner: stage 11 in Bilbao, where times were taken three kilometres from the finish, and the final stage in Madrid on 14 September. Protesters invaded the route, the stage was stopped and the official podium ceremony was cancelled; riders and teams held a private podium in a car park instead. Vingegaard said he had been looking forward to celebrating with his team and the fans, and that everyone has the right to protest, but not in a way that affects or endangers the race. The overall result had been settled the day before and stood.

What the Vuelta win meant

It was his third Grand Tour win after the Tours of 2022 and 2023 – see Vingegaard at the Tour de France – and it set up the full set, completed with the 2026 Giro d'Italia. His whole career is on our career page. In Denmark the Vuelta is shown on TV 2 and TV 2 Play as well as Eurosport and HBO Max; the official race site is lavuelta.es.