Vuelta a España 2025 – A Complete Race Guide
3,151 kilometres, 46 mountain passes, 21 days of racing, 184 riders, one clear favourite. Will Jonas Vingegaard justify his odds in the 2025 Vuelta a España?

Joao Almeida is our Vuelta a España choice at a tasty 6/1. Picture provided royalty free by © ASO
Key Facts:
- Jonas Vingegaard is the odds-on favourite to win the 2025 Vuelta a España.
- The famous Tour of Spain begins on 23rd August in Italy.
- The season’s final Grand Tour features 184 riders who will race over 3,151 kilometres.
- João Almeida, with a similar profile to last year’s winner, is the best bet at 6/1 odds.
Four-time Tour de France winner and global superstar, Tadej Pogačar, may be missing, but the Vuelta a España, cycling’s third and final Grand Tour of 2025, is guaranteed to be a thrilling spectacle. The three-week race begins on Saturday, 23 August.
One hundred eighty-four riders, representing 23 teams, will set out on the gruelling 3,151-kilometre marathon, starting in Turin, Italy, and briefly visiting France and Andorra. Jonas Vingegaard, the 2023 Vuelta a España runner-up, is predicted to fare best.
The 2022 and 2023 Tour de France winner (and three-time runner-up) is priced up as the 4/11 favourite by the best UK betting sites. The odds suggest that UAE Team Emirates XRG riders João Almeida (6/1) and Juan Ayuso (13/2) will fill podium positions.
However, nothing is ever straightforward in cycling. Just two years ago, this race was won by Sepp Kuss. The American rider traded on 300/1 odds in the pre-race betting. Naturally, Jonas Vingegaard is the clear form choice, but the threat of accidents and injury is ever-present in Grand Tours.
Furthermore, sections of the Tour of Spain (AKA Vuelta a España) are often raced in debilitating heat. These factors combine to make Vingegaard’s odds unappealing. Besides, punters will have plenty of other bet opportunities – on the destination of jerseys, daily stage winners and more.
Bookies, Netflix, Eritrea – Everyone Loves Cycling!
Following some gloomy years, confidence in the sport has returned, and fan/team interaction has reached unprecedented levels. Bookmakers’ willingness to offer more betting markets on cycle races than ever underlines cycling’s all-round approval.
Cycling is riding high. Part of the sport’s increase in popularity can be attributed to Netflix’s ‘Tour de France: Unchained’ documentary. Now in its third series, it launched on the streaming platform in June 2023.
Globally, the three Grand Tours – Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Tour of Spain – are enjoying more television airtime than ever. Star riders are surfacing from countries that have never been considered sporting hotbeds. A case in point is sprinter Biniam Girmay.
The Eritrean athlete became the first black African cyclist to win a Grand Tour stage when winning at the 2022 Giro d’Italia. He won three additional stages in 2024’s Tour de France, sending his compatriots delirious.
Six Not to Be Missed Stages
This surge in popularity could make the 2025 Vuelta a España the most-watched edition of the race ever. If you are not already a cycling fan, or more so a casual viewer who likes to bet on and watch sport, here are six must-see stages in this year’s race.
- Stage 5: Figueres to Figueres (20km, team time trial)
- Stage 6: Olot to Pal (Andorra) (171km, mountain stage)
- Stage 13: Cabezón de la Sal to L’Angliru (202km, mountain stage)
- Stage 14: Avilés to Alto de La Farrapona (135km, mountain stage)
- Stage 18: Valladolid to Valladolid (26km, individual time trial)
- Stage 20: Robledo de Chavela to Bola del Mundo (159km, mountain stage)
Running from August 23rd until September 14th, La Vuelta 2025’s profile looks like this:
- 1 hilly stage
- 2 rest days
- 2 time-trials (one individual, one team)
- 5 mountain stages
- 6 flat stages
- 7 medium mountain stages
- 10 summit finishes
- 3,151 kilometres of racing
- 54,588 meters of elevation gain
What Are the Vuelta a España Jerseys?
There are four jerseys in the Vuelta a España. Whereas the Giro d’Italia’s race leader wears pink, and the Tour de France leader dons a yellow vest, it is a red jersey carried by the general classification leader in Spain’s Grand Tour.
The leader of the Vuelta’s mountains classification wears a polka-dot jersey. Its large blue spots make it a very different jersey from the one that the Tour de France’ King of the Mountains’ leaders wear.
In the Vuelta a España, the points leader’s green jersey is lime green. The jersey for the best young rider is a familiar plain white. A specific jersey does not accompany the Most Combative Rider accolade (Premio de la Combatividad).
How to Watch the Vuelta a España
Every Vuelta a España stage will be shown live on TNT Sport. British and Irish Fans can also watch the action ad-free on the Discovery+ streaming service. The broadcaster’s coverage will be bookended by ‘The Breakaway’, a preview and recap show hosted by Orla Chennaoui.
Previous Vuelta a España Winners
- 2024: Primož Roglicc
- 2023: Sepp Kuss
- 2022: Remco Evenepoel
- 2021: Primož Roglic
- 2020: Primož Roglic
- 2019: Primož Roglic
- 2018: Simon Yates
- 2017: Chris Froome
- 2016: Nairo Quintana
- 2015: Fabio Aru
What Are the Best Vuelta a España Bets?
Twelve months ago, when three-time winner Primož Roglic was the clear favourite, Sepp Kuss began this race as a 5/1 shot. This year, he is quoted on 100/1 odds and Roglic, now a four-time winner, like fellow superstar Tadej Pogačar, is absent.
Kuss could be a spot of each-way value despite being Jonas Vingegaard’s key domestique. João Almeida also knows a thing or two about playing the wingman’s role (a domestique) as he has supported Tadej Pogačar in the two most recent editions of the Tour de France.
The official UAE Team Emirates XRG website states its 2025 Tour of Spain’s ambitions will be headlined by the Portuguese star, “who will lead the team’s general classification ambitions when the race begins in Torino on 23 August.”
Almeida Is Fancied to do a Primož
With a free rein, Almeida could enjoy a breakthrough Grand Tour success as his form is solid, and he has had his fair share of misfortune. In six completed grand tours, the 27-year-old has finished in the top 10 on every occasion.
Almeida was in fourth place in the general classification at the 2022 Giro d’Italia when he was forced to abandon the race due to a positive test for COVID-19. The same issue, unfortunately, saw him withdraw from the 2024 Vuelta a España mid-race.
At the 2025 Tour de France, injuries – most notably a fractured rib – led to his withdrawal early in the second week.
His form had been excellentbeforehand, winning the Tour de Suisse, Tour de Romandie, and Tour of the Basque Country.
This profile is very similar to the one Primož Roglic brought to last year’s Vuelta party – he too had to pull out of the French classic – before taking the Spanish prize.
Racing just half of the Tour de France means Almeida will have fresher legs than Vingegaard (who completed the race to take second), so he is considered the best bet at the current odds.