After days and weeks of edging ever nearer, Primož Roglič lastly lifted the pink GC chief’s jersey from the shoulders of Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), on stage 19 of the Vuelta a España.
He made a formidable solo escape on the ultimate climb to take a stage win that had not been within the plan, he stated afterwards.
“I stated I do not want the stage,” he stated with a shake of the top afterwards. “I cannot say their names, however some guys determined ‘we do not take heed to anyone, we pull,’
“So, we had nothing else to do, ultimately we needed to make a name,” he added. “We needed to be all on the identical facet, so yeah, then we go for it.”
Purple Bull-Bora Hansgrohe rider Roglič and his group alike on imperious type as they swept up the day’s early break on the foot of the ultimate climb to Alto de Moncalvillo in northern Spain, earlier than unleashing a race-winning assault midway up.
It noticed Roglič win solo by 51 seconds over runner-up, and 1:49 forward of O’Connor, who merely couldn’t discover a solution to the Slovenian’s push.
O’Connor now sits in second place, 1:54 behind Roglič, with Mas third at 2:20.
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Nevertheless, it was removed from ‘job accomplished’, Roglič added afterwards, pointing to 2 laborious days to return: “We are saying on a regular basis, ‘Queen stage to return’… Will probably be tremendous laborious. And nonetheless we do not do the conventional laps in Madrid, it is once more a decisive day for the GC time trial, so it is from accomplished.”
Of the appreciable GC time hole to O’Connor, Roglič stated: “[I’m] undoubtedly amazed. It is higher than 5 minutes behind [a reference to his deficit after stage six]. I am pleased with the best way I am functioning and pleased with the blokes.”
If he does go on to win on Sunday, it will be Roglič’s fourth victory within the race, which he final received in 2021.
Talking afterwards, the Aussie stated he had not been in a position to carry out in addition to he’d hoped on the Moncalvillo, however that he and his group would do their finest to maintain maintain of second place over the subsequent two days.
“I used to be a bit damaged on the finish. I truly felt fairly good till midway,” he stated. Of Purple Bull’s assault, he added: “I wasn’t actually stunned, however I did not count on myself to be so unhealthy on the finish. I used to be a bit common to be trustworthy. However that is simply the fact.”
Requested what was on his thoughts, having worn pink since successful stage six, he stated: “Monday, having beers, sitting on the terrace and enjoyable.”
The way it occurred
Friday’s nineteenth stage of the Vuelta revolved round two climbs – the category-three Puerto de Pradilla, which got here 93km into the 168.5km parcours, and the first-category summit end to Alto de Moncalvillo.
Described as essentially the most difficult climb within the Rioja area, the Montcalvillo’s 8.6km slopes register a hefty common gradient of 8.9%, with 15% ramps round midway up.
The peloton fielded and introduced again quite a few assaults within the opening 25km, earlier than the five-man group of Isaac Del Toro (UAE-Staff Emirates), Simone Petillo and Vito Braet (each Intermarché-Wanty), Fran Miholjević (Bahrain Victorious) and Eddy Plankaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
The hole rose shortly to greater than 5 minutes, however didn’t keep there for lengthy, and commenced to fall properly earlier than the race reached the primary climb of the Pradilla.
With 50km to go, Braet had returned to the peloton and the hole to the break was under two minutes.
Roglic’s Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe group have been already using laborious on the entrance, apparently with a purposeful eye on the end.
The break was nonetheless out entrance come the underside of the climb of the Montcalvillo and commenced attacking one another as they reached it. Nevertheless, with Purple-Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe drilling it on the entrance, the catch was inevitable, and it was made inside 2km of the underside of the climb.
The German group, amassed on the entrance, continued to set a really excessive tempo. With 5.8km to go, the hammer went down and, nonetheless seated, Roglič was towed off the entrance by two team-mates, dropping everybody else behind. Ben O’Connor and the remainder of Roglič’s top-10 rivals, might solely look on.
5 hundred metres later, having opened a 30-second hole on the remaining and brought digital pink, Roglič was able to fly solo.
Each Enric Mas (Movistar) and Richard Carapaz (EF Training-EasyPost) sensed weak spot in O’Connor, gapping the Australian with assaults of their very own.
However Roglič, emotionless and pushing his trademark excessive cadence, by no means seemed in hassle, using on forward to take a GC lead that will probably be troublesome to overturn.
Outcomes
Vuelta a España 2024, Stage 19: Logroño > Alto de Montcalvillo, 168.5km
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, in 3:54:55
2. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, +46s
3. Matthias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, at s.t.
4. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, +50s
5. Mikel Landa (Spa) Soudal Fast-Step, +57s
6. Carlos Rodríguez (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers, at s.t.
7. Eddy Dunbar (Irl) Jayco-AlUla, +1:01
8. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, at s.t.
9. Richard Carapaz (Eu) EF Training-EasyPost, +1:03
10. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:23
Normal Classification after Stage 19
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, in 76:43:46
2. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, +1:54
3. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, +2:20
4. Richard Carapaz (Eu) EF Training-EasyPost, +2:54
5. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, +4:33
6. Matthias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +4:47
7. Carlos Rodríguez (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers, +4:55
8. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +5:55
9. Mikel Landa (Spa) Soudal Fast-Step, +6:40
10. Pavel Sivakov (Fra) UAE-Staff Emirates, +7:39
