When the Vuelta organizers decided to cancel the final stage and the official awards ceremony, the disappointment among riders and staff was palpable. But from that frustration, a simple and brilliant idea was born: give the winners their moment of glory anyway.

Late in the evening, in the parking lot of the hotel hosting the teams, someone hung a red Vuelta banner—presumably the one used for post-race interviews—and arranged three water bottle containers as steps for an impromptu podium. A speaker blasted "Eye of the Tiger," and the party began. It was the teams' idea, and they also sent a message to the race. You cancel everything and don't have a Plan B? We've got you covered!

One after the other, the winners climbed onto the “podium”: Matthew Riccitello (Israel Premier-Tech) for the white young rider jersey, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) for the green points jersey, Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) for the polka-dotted jersey for best climber.

Then the highlight: the celebration of the general classification, with Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) on the third step, João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in second and finally Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike), winner of the 2025 Vuelta.