After three weeks of racing, Primož Roglič was topped victorious in Madrid as he gained the Vuelta a España for a record-equalling fourth time. The Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider safely navigated the streets of the Spanish capital within the remaining stage time trial to safe the general victory forward of Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Enric Mas (Movistar).
His win places him degree with Roberto Heras for probably the most general victories within the race’s historical past and after Tadej Pogačar’s exploits at each Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, Roglič’s victory additionally marks a clear sweep for Slovenia within the Grand Excursions this season.
When requested in his post-race interview about the potential for a record-breaking fifth win, Roglič replied “it’s by no means sufficient, however initially it’s loopy to have already got 4, so I simply need to take pleasure in it”.
In the meantime, after years of being a virtually man, Stefan Küng lastly gained the primary Grand Tour stage of his profession, as he took the victory on the ultimate stage of the race with a dominant efficiency. The Groupama-FDJ rider flew across the 24.6km-long course to high the timing sheets with a time of 26 minutes and 28 seconds, placing half a minute into Roglič in second place.
This win will even give him loads of confidence going into the remainder of the season forward of his residence World Championships in Zurich later this month. In his post-race interview, Küng mentioned “there are loads of massive particular person time trials developing and whenever you get the arrogance you simply need to keep on the wave”.
There was just one change within the top-10 on the overall classification on the ultimate day, as Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) leapfrogged David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) to take fifth place after a horrific time trial from the Frenchman.
The 23-year-old Dane additionally gained the youth classification, with Jay Vine (UAE Crew Emirates) and Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) additionally getting across the course unscathed to win the mountains and factors classifications respectively.
RESULTS: VUELTA A ESPAÑA 2024, STAGE 21, MADRID > MADRID (24.6KM)
1. Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ, in 26:28
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +31s
3. Matteo Cattaneo (Ita) Soudal Fast-Step, +42s
4. Filippo Baroncini (Ita) UAE Crew Emirates, +43s
5. Mauro Schmid (Swi) Jayco AlUla, +46s
6. Mathias Vacek (Cze) Lidl-Trek, +52s
7. Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Dstny, +56s
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +1:02
9. Harry Sweeny (Aus) EF Schooling-EasyPost, +1:03
10. Bruno Armirail (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, at identical time
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 21
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, in 81:49:18
2. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, +2:36
3. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, +3:13
4. Richard Carapaz (Eu) EF Schooling-EasyPost, +4:02
5. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +5:49
6. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, +6:32
7. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +7:05
8. Mikel Landa (Spa) Soudal Fast-Step, +8:48
9. Pavel Sivakov (Fra) UAE-Crew Emirates, +10:04
10. Carlos Rodríguez (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers, +11:19
