Stage 18 of the Vuelta a España delivers the 2025 race's one individual time trial and in classic Vuelta contrareloj country in Valladolid to boot.
Filippo Ganna won the last race against the clock here in 2023, and it proved crucial for leader Sepp Kuss, too, who produced a much better-than-expected TT performance and radically increased his chances of overall victory.
It will, however, now be a much shorter time trial this time as the original 27.2km course has been slashed to just 12.2km as the race braces for more protests.
Still, the memories of the course that starts and finishes in Valladolid from two years ago aren't welcome ones for current race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) as he looks ahead to the now 12.2km race against the clock which has only a small slope at the beginning.
"It was an awful TT for me. Hopefully I can make it right this time," Vingegaard said after stage 17. "It's a flat TT and we'll see. Hopefully I can do well tomorrow and it's a good day."
He lost 1:18 to winner Ganna in the 2023 stage 10 time trial of 25.8km but, more importantly, given the current scenario, that day he lost 28 seconds to the UAE Team Emirates rider João Almeida, who is now his nearest rival in the race for red.
While even a similar outcome this time wouldn't be enough to close the 50 seconds separating the pair, any advantage for Almeida over the shortened distance would certainly help keep the door wedged open ahead of what is bound to be a telling final day in the mountains on stage 20.
There is also a battle at play for the final podium spot, with just 36 seconds between third placed Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) and fourth-placed Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe). The 2022 Giro d'Italia winner may well have the advantage when it comes to the race against the clock – he has put time into the Q36.5 rider in each of the Tirreno-Adriatico opening time trials where they have met the past two years.
Still, particularly given the reduced distance, the difference isn't likely to be large enough to stop it being a high-tension battle in the Guadarrama mountain range on Saturday.
Time checks
- First intermediate time check at 8.4km
- Second intermediate time check at 18.7km
