Protesters sabotage Vuelta stage 11 finish in Bilbao; Pidcock proves stronger than Vingegaard on Pike

Everyone is already looking ahead to Friday’s stage, which features the infamous Alto del Angliru. But anyone who overlooked stage eleven would be sorely mistaken. Racing in the Basque Country is always tough, and the Vuelta organizers had put together a phenomenal course. Short, steep climbs, this was a classic stage for the region!

Before the riders could even start the stage, they were already at a standstill. A large group of protesters blocked the road, and the peloton could only continue after a delay. It was yet another incident in this year’s Vuelta, following issues in stages five and ten. The situation led to a discussion between the riders, the organizers, and the riders' union: how should the race continue from here?

No real conclusion was reached in the talks, so the race went ahead as planned. Right from the start, it was a battle, many riders saw the stage around Bilbao as a great opportunity for a breakaway. It turned into a massive fight, but Visma | Lease a Bike wasn’t giving anyone any space. Jonas Vingegaard's son was celebrating his birthday, and the red jersey wearer had already declared: “I want to win!”

Eventually, a group of three riders was allowed to animate the day. Among them were Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates - XRG), Orluis Aular (Movistar), and Mads Pedersen. The green jersey wearer from Lidl-Trek was extremely active and ultimately managed to force the move himself. The trio gained a maximum lead of about a minute and a half on the peloton, but Visma | Lease a Bike wasn’t taking any chances.

Led by the efforts of Dylan van Baarle and Wilco Kelderman, the gap was never allowed to grow. At a certain point, Pedersen and Aular had had enough, they saw their hard work wasn’t paying off and dropped back to the bunch. That left poor Soler to carry on alone. The Spaniard had previously won a Vuelta stage in Bilbao, but this time, it looked like a much tougher task.

A counterattack from the peloton didn’t amount to much: Louis Vervaeke managed to bridge up to Soler, but was caught just a kilometer later, right before the Alto del Vivero. On this climb, which had to be tackled twice in the finale, Mikel Landa launched an attack. The Basque rider from Soudal Quick-Step wanted to shine in his home region! But he wasn’t alone.

Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) bridged across to Landa, while a chase group had formed behind them, featuring none other than Mads Pedersen. He grabbed extra points in an intermediate sprint but was caught shortly after, leaving just the two leaders ahead of the peloton. Two? No, just one! Landa cramped up and had to drop back: heartbreaking.

Buitrago pushed on, but on the Vivero, he quickly began to feel the pressure from the GC contenders breathing down his neck. Visma | Lease a Bike set the pace, but it was Joao Almeida who launched the first real attacks. The Portuguese rider tried twice, but both times Jonas Vingegaard and the in-form Ben Tulett were right on his wheel.

In the end, twelve riders crested the Vivero together, including Victor Campenaerts and Matteo Jorgenson. Missing from that group were Torstein Træen and Felix Gall, both in the general classification top ten, although they managed to bridge back on the descent toward the Alto de Pike.

Meanwhile, there was a lot of chatter in the peloton, but why? At the finish line, chaos had reportedly broken out due to a large group of protesters, forcing the organizers to make a drastic decision: no stage winner would be declared. However, the official times for the GC were taken at the 3-kilometer mark before the finish.

“Due to several incidents at the finish line, we have decided to take the time classification at 3 kilometers before the finish,” the organization announced. “There will be no stage winner. Points will still be awarded for the mountains classification and the intermediate sprint, but not at the finish line.”

There was still racing on the Pike, and what a battle it was. Tom Pidcock launched a bold attack and even dropped Jonas Vingegaard on the climb. The Brit reached the summit solo and headed toward the 3-kilometer point, where GC times were recorded. Vingegaard managed to catch up on the descent and gained crucial seconds on Almeida and the rest.