★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ LA VUELTA A ESPANA ≡
Everyone knew that Slovenia’s three-time Vuelta a Espana winner Primoz Roglic was going to strike on Friday 19th stage, starting just five seconds off the lead and with a brutal finishing climb up the Alto de Moncalvillo.
And he did, winning the 164.8 km stage in 3:54:55, 46 seconds up on David Gaudu (FRA) and Mattias Skjelmose (DEN). Most importantly, Roglic finished 1:49 ahead of leader Ben O’Connor (AUS) and took back the red leader’s jersey with a 1:54 time edge.
O’Connor had been the race leader since the sixth stage, where he won by 4:33 and finished 6:31 ahead of Roglic, taking the race lead and enjoying a hefty 4:51 time advantage. But Roglic cut into the lead steadily, winning stage 8 and by the start of the final week, his deficit was down to 1:03.
Roglic got back most of that in stage 16 – another uphill finish – finishing 11th, but gaining another 58 seconds on O’Connor (in 20th), setting up the Friday charge into the lead.
But Roglic’s team, the German-based Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe squad, suffered several illnesses overnight and was in poor shape on Saturday for stage 20, a final climbing stage with seven ascents and an uphill finish over 172.0 km. Roglic rode conservatively, while Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar won his second La Vuelta stage, in 4:38:37, seven seconds ahead of Spain’s Enric Mas and 10 seconds ahead of Roglic, who got up to third. O’Connor was sixth, 14 seconds back of the winner, so Roglic’s final-day lead increased to 2:02 with Mas third at +2:11.
There were no surprises on Sunday, with the final day’s ride a flat, 24.6 km Individual Time Trial in Madrid. Roglic excels in these kinds of stages and he was good, finishing second to Swiss Stefan Kung, who won in 26:28.37. Roglic was 30.68 seconds back and Mattia Cattaneo (ITA) was third at +41.90.
O’Connor finished 11th at +1:05.54, and Mas was 23rd (+1:33.11), so Roglic finished in 81:49:18, a healthy 2:36 ahead of O’Connor in second and Mas (+3:13) in third. Defending champion Sepp Kuss of the U.S. was 14th overall (+20:25).
This was O’Connor’s best finish ever in a Grand Tour; he was fourth in the 2021 Tour de France and in the 2024 Giro d’Italia.
Mas, 29, won his fourth Vuelta a Espana medal: silvers in 2018-21-22 and now third. No Spaniard has won this race since 2014.
Roglic – the winner in 2019-20-21-24 – tied the career record for most La Vuelta wins with four with Spain’s Roberto Heras, who won in 2000–03-04-05. He also won the Giro d’Italia in 2023 and was the Tour de France runner-up in 2020. But he’s failed to finish in his Tour attempts in 2022-23-24. So what’s next?
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 547-event International Sports Calendar for the rest of 2024 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
