As it happened: UAE Team Emirates-XRG claim another Vuelta a España win and new red jersey crowned on stage 10

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 10 of the Vuelta a España!

We're back after the rest day and raring to go with another summit finish on the cards today.

Firstly, the big rest day news: Juan Ayuso is leaving UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

The team confirmed Ayuso's departure last night, but we don't know where he's off to just yet.

So far, we believe he is going to start today and ride the rest of the Vuelta, supporting João Almeida, but we'll have to see if that actually happens.

My colleague James has written a full breakdown of what led us to this point, and analyses whether Ayuso is right to leave the team.

It's a great read.

A failed project – Where did Juan Ayuso and UAE Team Emirates-XRG's partnership go wrong and is he right to leave now?

The Ayuso news overshadowed some other stories from the rest day, but this honest interview from race leader Torstein Træen is really worth a read.

It's very possible he will lose red today.

'I was so mentally broken' – Vuelta a España leader Torstein Træen opens up about deep struggles with concussion on first rest day

Here's a reminder of what we have coming up today:

The riders are currently signing on in the Sendaviva nature reserve.

You can, as ever, watch the podium protocol live on X, if you so wish.

Ayuso will start stage 10

Juan Ayuso has got out the team bus, dressed and ready, and has taken selfies with fans, so we can assume he will start the stage today despite yesterday's dramatic news.

The stage will get underway in a few minutes with the neutral roll-out at 12:55 CEST.

Current jerseys

Here's a reminder of who is wearing what jerseys, if you forgot over the rest day.

Red jersey: Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious)

White jersey: Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)

Polka dot jersey: Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

Green jersey: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)

Seems like the neutral start might be running a little late.

Neutral start

There we go, the riders are away.

The neutral section today is 8.8km long, so will take 15 minutes, or just under.

Despite the summit finish, the first two thirds of today's stage are pretty flat.

This means that it could be a challenge for a breakaway to get away on flatter roads. This could also be a day for the break to win, so the peloton may be fairly selective in who they let go up the road.

We'll find out soon!

Here's the start.

Even if it's a breakaway day, the GC could well be shaken up on the 9.4km final climb.

Here's a reminder of how things stand:

1. Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious)
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +0:37
3. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1:15
4. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) +1:35
5. Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +2:14

Vuelta a España standings 2025 – general classification after stage 9

Official start

And we're racing!

175km stand between the peloton and the finish line.

Wow, Juan Ayuso spoke at the start in Spanish saying he didn't agree with how the team communicated his departure last night.

He said he wanted it to be made public after the Vuelta finished.

All smiles despite saying UAE deliberately want to damage his image. It will be interesting how this Vuelta plays out for him and the team.

As expected, the attacks have started already – we have two riders trying to get away right now.

Sounds like they are Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-QuickStep) and Dries De Pooter (Intermarché-Wanty), and they have about 10 seconds.

They attacked around the 9km completed mark, but the gap is small and we're still early in the stage, so this might keep moving for a bit.

And the two leaders are caught. The breakaway fight continues.

11km done.

Here's the riders passing through kilometre 0.

The attacks are continuing, but no one with a clear gap yet.

The peloton are going over a little rise, which could help the break form.

There's another small hill shortly after too.

15km done and things are all together but the tension is high, with splits happening all the time.

This could go on for quite a while, though typically in this Vuelta, the breakaway has been established relatively quickly – not like the two-hour fights we sometimes saw in the Tour de France.

EF Education-EasyPost's DS Tom Southam explained more about that to us in this story: 'It's inspiring for them' – How Ben Healy's Tour de France success is helping next-gen EF Education-EasyPost riders stay on fire at Vuelta a España

Four riders up the road

Four riders are on the move – Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek), Harold Tejada (XDS Astana), Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ) and Jaume Guardeño (Caja Rural Seguros RGA) are up the road.

Aaand they're caught. Back together again.

20km done now. It's been a super fast start.

150km to go

This is a rapid start!

The peloton has split – not sure just yet who is in the first part.

Sounds like things are back together again.

The average speed is over 50km/h right now.

Simply nothing is sticking.

Green jersey Mads Pedersen has been amongst the fight for moves.

140km to go

35km done and still no break sticking.

This means the peloton are thinking that whatever goes has a chance of making it to the line, so they want to be selective, and let a group go that either isn't threatening for GC, or that they can catch.

This a great image of what the break formation/battle looks like.

135km to go

40km done and still no breakaway. They haven't even been racing for an hour, to give you an idea of the speed.

Here's some insight from Chris Hamilton, via the Vuelta's website.

One non-starter today, Picnic PostNL's Casper van Uden.

He's a young sprinter, and there aren't many sprint opportunities left, so he'll rest instead of trudge through the mountains.

Still all together as the tense breakaway composition continues.

These long fights for the breakaway tend to actually disadvantage the escapees, not just because they've had to work harder to get in it, but they have less time to build up a gap before the finale.

So riders will be hoping something sticks soon.

125km to go

50km done in the first hour and still no break.

Pretty hard return to racing after the rest day.

Average speed so far is 52km/h! Wow.

Jay Vine is one of the riders involved in the break fight.

The riders that have been trying all race – Pedersen, Vine – will be getting tired now, with still no break going clear.

A lot of riders are spending a lot of energy here.

Crash

Many riders have gone down in the bunch.

Not sure exactly who was involved in that crash yet, but Raul García Pierna was one of them.

The other riders are making their way back into the peloton.

60km completed and still no break. This is probably the longest this has taken all race.

Riders are attacking, it's definitely not settled or as if no one is trying.

It's just that absolutely nothing is sticking as the peloton rips through Navarra at still nearly 50km/h.

Looks like UAE are very keen to have a rider in the break today – there's always one of their riders at the front of the bunch and riding aggressively.

We may have a break!

Three riders have a small gap after 66km – Jay Vine (UAE Team-Emirates-XRG), Javier Romo (Movistar) and Jardi van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost).

Gap is up to 15 seconds. These riders will be praying this one sticks.

The gap is about 18 seconds. The peloton haven't entirely sat up and let this go yet.

Riders caught

Romo and Van der Lee have been caught, but Vine is trying to push on on his own.

Not sure how long that will last, never good to be a solo breakaway rider.

100km to go

And still no proper break. Wow what a day.

Vine caught

75km done and Jay Vine is caught. All together again.

Abandon

Raul García Pierna has abandoned after crashing earlier.

A shame, because he's had a strong start to this Vuelta.

Vine is back in the bunch.

Here's what was the break.

There are a couple more uncategorised climbs coming soon, and then the cat. 3 Alto de Las Coronas before the final climb.

These could help some attacks go, but we may also see the peloton stay together to the last climb.

80km down already, we're nearly halfway though the stage.

Matteo Jorgenson is coming back to the peloton after dropping by the medical car.

Hopefully nothing too serious for him.

It's crazy how intense the peloton has been going for two hours straight.

85km in now and they're still attacking at the front.

The peloton is definitely slowing down a bit, unsurprisingly.

Maybe the elastic will finally snap soon.

It's not really clear exactly which team is working so hard to keep this together. Seems like loads of teams are fighting at the front, not just one team controlling things.

It's just through and off for the riders who are trying to get away.

We're onto a bit of a rise now.

Mads Pedersen is dropping away now, after spending most of his day so far at the front.

Andrea Bagioli and Harold Tejada are trying to push on, they have a little gap.

Bagioli and Tejada are back in the bunch. Things are super spread out.

Victor Campenaerts has just dragged Jonas Vingegaard up to the very front of the bunch on the descent...

Campenaerts is dragging out a group here, with Vingegaard on his wheel.

There are 10 riders in front with a small gap behind them.

Could we see Jonas Vingegaard go on a really long range attack here? Or is he just testing his rivals?

The gaps are only small, but Almeida is not in the front group with Vingegaard, and nor is red jersey Træen.

Visma have sat up a bit, and some more expected riders are attacking again.

The average speed is still 49.3km/h. Wild.

The peloton is super strung out.

Q36.5 are one of the other teams who have been keen to be in front.

25 riders in the lead

A gap has opened up with a group of about 25 riders in front.

Jay Vine and Michael Kwiatkowski are amongst it, Bahrain are trying to close it behind.

The gap is only a handful of seconds, so I'm not going to type out the 25 names just yet, given they may be caught before I manage it...

In the main peloton, Bahrain are doing the work and Visma are just behind them.

UAE are represented with two riders – Vine and Bjerg – up front.

The riders in front don't really want to be in a 25 rider group, so riders are attacking the attack.

65km to go

Okay, here are the riders in the lead:

Bjerg, Vine, Bernard, Aular, Castrillo, Romo, Sobrero, Zwiehoff, Vervaeke, Kwiatkowski, Armirail, Staune-Mittet, Azparren, González, Tejada, Conci, Masnada, Molard, Balderstone, Nicolau, Ortuba, Thierry, Leemreize, Vermaerke, Craps, Segaert, Côté.

Sean Quinn and Archie Ryan from EF Education-EasyPost are trying to bridge across.

The gap is up to over a minute now.

Looks like this group is allowed to go.

Junior Lecerf from Soudal-QuickStep is with the EF riders trying to bridge.

Bahrain Victorious are keeping the gap at a minute. Not fully sure why. They shouldn't want Træen to have to face a full-out GC fight on the final climb.

Meanwhile, Bjerg is pushing the break on. No Visma riders are in the group, and Jay Vine could be on for a second stage win.

Riders are attacking from the break still.

The gap is 1:19.

Ryan, Quinn and Lecerf have made the junction.

Here's the leaders, there are 30 of them now after some riders made the junction.

Climb: Alto de las Coronas (8.8km at 4.4%)

The leaders are onto the penultimate climb the cat. 3 Alto de las Coronas.

It's 8.3km long, with a 4.4% average gradient.

Here's a look at your red jersey, Torstein Træen. He's not giving up without a fight, that's clear.

The gap is up 1:48 now, but there's still a lot of climbing to come.

And we're about halfway up the Alto de Las Coronas.

Javier Romo is attacking from the break as the climb eases off a touch. He's on his own for now, but some riders are trying to bridge up to him.

The gap has just tipped over two minutes.

50km to go

Romo has 25 seconds on the break, with the peloton 2:10 back on them.

2km to the top of this climb.

Jay Vine is attacking out of the break now.

He's looking for some mountains points at the top of the climb, to extend his lead in the jersey.

KOM: Alto de las Coronas (cat 3)

Romo takes the maximum points atop the climb, as Vine grabs some in second too. Pablo Castrillo takes the final point.

Here's more on what Juan Ayuso said at the start of the stage.

Today could be his last day on the race – it wouldn't be surprising if he or the team pulled him out after this.

'It's like a dictatorship' - Juan Ayuso slams UAE management at Vuelta a España start as row erupts over timing of announcement he will leave team

Romo is pushing on, trying to win the stage, but he's only nine seconds ahead of Vine. The break are at 28 seconds.

The gap to the peloton is approaching three minutes, so it seems like we could have a breakaway win today.

Two in the lead

Jay Vine joins Javier Romo.

40km to go

Romo and Vine are working together here and pushing hard.

The leaders are about to be caught by some more breakaway chasers.

Romo and Vine caught, making eight riders in front.

The eight riders are:

Vine, Romo, Bernard, Aular, Ryan, Azparren, Conci and Balderstone.

These eight riders are 25 seconds ahead of the rest of the break.

Vine is trying to get the group working – only him and Azparren were really rolling through. He's a bit frustrated.

There's no organisation in the chasing group, so riders are going at it alone, which is a tough ask, especially against eight leaders.

There's a bit more cohesion in the lead group now.

About 25km to go before the official start of the final climb, but the road is gently uphill until then.

9 in the lead

Alec Segaert has joined the leaders

Why are Bahrain controlling?

It's still Bahrain who are controlling the bunch, in their role as the red jersey team.

None of the nine leaders are a real threat to the overall, the closest is Abel Balderstone at 13 minutes.

In the chasers, Junior Lecerf is closer, just 4:21 down on Træen, so they do have to be careful that the young Belgian doesn't nab the race lead.

Rob Hatch has just called Ayuso's interview this morning – and UAE's management of it – a 'disasterclass'.

You can read what he's talking about here: 'It's like a dictatorship' - Juan Ayuso slams UAE management at Vuelta a España start as row erupts over timing of announcement he will leave team

30km to go

The nine riders are working well together, whilst the chasers aren't really. These nine will be thinking about the stage win now.

Remember, even if the break are going to win this stage, that doesn't mean we're not going to see some GC action on the climb to Larra Belagua...

Vingegaard has already been active today, and only needs to take 37 seconds on Træen to take red.

10 in the lead

Kevin Vermaerke has just joined the lead group.

The young American is a name you should know – he's off to UAE next year.

Here's part of the lead group.

Just approaching the intermediate sprint – the seconds and points probably don't matter to any of these riders, but maybe someone wants a cash prize.

Bahrain are doing a good job at keeping the gap at a steady three minutes.

Intermediate sprint: Isaba

The riders just roll through. Julien Bernard takes the maximum points.

20km to go

The final climb starts at 9.9km to go.

The average gradient is 6.3%, and they'll climb up to 1,590m above sea level.

Attack

Alec Segaert is on the attack from the leaders!

He went through the 20km to go banner.

Segaert already has a 25 second gap!

Here's Segaert in the break, before he attacked.

He has a 33-second lead now.

14km to go

Segaert is really powering on. He's got 41 seconds now.

Camera operator just got whiplash panning to some sheep. He has his priorities right.

10km to go

The gap is 38 seconds. The chase group are working, but also thinking that they can close it on the climb.

Climb: Puerto de Belagua

We're onto the final climb!

Just over 9km to the top. Segaert is 45 seconds ahead.

Romo accelerates, but Vine is straight on his wheel.

Ryan is up there in front too.

Vine is looking cagey. He knows he's a marked man.

Azparren is the first rider to be dropped as the pace increases, followed by Balderstone and Vermaerke.

Still it's Vine on the front, with Segaert still away.

The pace is really upping in the peloton now, too – they have just hit the base of the climb, three minutes behind the break.

UAE are pacing, maybe lining something up for Almeida.

Ayuso is leading out Almeida. Showing some teamwork.

The Vine group has Alec Segeart in vision now, they'll catch him soon.

Vine is dropping his companions pretty steadily.

The gap from the leaders to the peloton is down to 2:20 now after 2km of climbing.

Ayuso is setting the pace on the front of the peloton, with Almeida on his wheel, and Visma lined out behind them.

The gap is under two minutes now with this work from Ayuso.

7km to go.

Up front, the leaders have caught Segaert, and Pablo Castrillo is on the counter-attack.

In the peloton, Ayuso has just swung off and passed over to Marc Soler.

The 'peloton' has been town apart here to fewer than 15 riders.

Red jersey Torstein Træen is just dropping off the back of it, with a teammate trying to help him.

Almeida takes over at the front of the group and accelerates.

This drops Gall, Ciccone and Kuss.

Træen is fairly definitively dropped now, as Almeida pushes on.

Vingegaard is glued to his wheel.

Castrillo is leading, with Vine about to join him – just those two left in front as Ryan struggles.

In the GC group, Pidcock is also still there.

The GC group is Almeida, Vingegaard, Jorgenson, Pidcock, Matthew Riccitello, Giulio Pellizzari and Jai Hindley.

In the lead, Vine has just caught Castrillo – the Spaniard is holding his wheel for now.

5km to go

Vine drops Castrillo and goes solo with 5km to go.

Behind, Træen trails by 30 seconds, so Vingegaard is nearly in the virtual lead.

Jorgenson pacing, but Almeida immediately attacks.

Vingegaard is right with him, with Pidcock on his wheel. Jorgenson is also holding on behind Pidcock.

Almeida is on a mission.

Riccitello is also in this five-rider GC group, but they've dropped Hindley and Pellizzari.

They're 1:18 behind Vine, with 4.5km to go.

Almeida lets Jorgenson take over the pace setting.

Træen is alone now, trying to limit his losses.

Up front, Vine is leading.

Castrillo isn't giving up behind, but it looks like Vine is on the way to a second stage win.

He has 18 seconds on the Spaniard chasing alone.

Jorgenson calmed things down, so Hindley, Pellizzari and Fortunato rejoined the GC group.

They're gradually mopping up breakaway riders.

Vingegaard is in the virtual lead for the moment.

Things are fairly calm in the GC group, with Jorgenson pacing into the final 3km.

3km to go

3km to go for Jay Vine.

All things being well, he's on the way to the stage win. Castrillo is swinging all over his bike as he battles on, but the gap isn't coming down.

The GC group are all together as Jorgenson continues on.

Time is running out for any big attacks.

The GC group are definitely not ripping on. Ciccone is close to rejoining them, after being dropped a while ago.

Visma do need to keep some pace on though, if they want Vingegaard to take red from Træen.

Although they might not be too fussed about that.

2km to go

Vine is totally in control.

Final kilometre

Jay Vine is into the last kilometre.

In the GC group, Pellizzari has taken over on the front of the group.

Vine wins

It's stage win number two for Jay Vine!

He claims victory on stage 10, making in four wins and counting for UAE Team Emirates-XRG in this race.

Pablo Castrillo takes second. He was hoping for more today.

The GC group are sprinting to the line now, no late attacks.

The remainder of the break swept up the bonus seconds, and Pidcock sprints to fifth place.

Træen, Gall and Bernal are all in a group behind losing points. So Vingegaard is going to take red.

Jay Vine, two time stage winner!

Træen crosses the line, and says goodbye to the red jersey.

It was a valiant stint for the Norwegian, who has battled cancer and concussion to get here.

New leader

Jonas Vingegaard is officially the new leader of the Vuelta a España.

Results

Here's the stage result.

Results powered by FirstCycling

The new GC

Vingegaard now leads the race by 26 seconds from Træen.

Almeida is in third, at 38 seconds, with Pidcock fourth at 58 seconds.

A movement to note is that Matthew Riccitello has moved into the top 10 with his ride today.

Chapeau to this man, battling to honour the jersey.

A good moment for UAE Team Emirates-XRG after some fairly tense moments over the last 24 hours.

Vine's reaction: