CYCLING: Roglic survives crashes, attacks and win La Vuelta a Espana by 2:16

La Vuelta a Espana winner Primoz Roglic (SLO)

After he won the UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico and Tour de Romandie, Slovenia’s 29-year-old star Primoz Roglic was the clear favorite for the Giro d’Italia, the first of the three annual Grand Tours of cycling. And through the first 13 stages, he was in a position to win, but fell short, finishing in third place.

Other than a perfunctory fourth in his national road race, he was out of competitive racing for almost three months, pointing for the third Grand Tour, the 74th La Vuelta a Espana, with the goal to win it; nothing less.

With good help from his Jumbo-Visma team and brilliant climbing on the difficult 2019 route, he survived a tactical mistake in stage 18, overcame an early crash in stage 19 and repulsed multiple breakaway attacks in Saturday’s stage 20 to ride to Madrid on Sunday as the race winner. He’s the first Slovenian to win any of the Grand Tours.

Friday’s crash came on a rain-slicked course about 100 km into the 165.2 km ride from Avila to Toledo. Roglic and fellow contender Miguel Angel Lopez (COL) both crashed on a descent. At that moment, the Movistar team of second-place Alejandro Valverde attacked – not normally done after the crash of a race leader – but Roglic was able to catch up thanks to drafting behind the support cars on the race course – also not normally allowed. Valverde finished fifth on the stage and Roglic was 10th, but lost no time.

On Saturday, in the final climbing stage, it was Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, still just 20, who broke away with 39 km remaining to secure his third stage win in this year’s La Vuelta and secure the overall bronze medal.

Despite intermittent rain, Spain’s Valverde attacked from his second position in the overall race standings, but he each time he was retrieved by Roglic and his Jumbo-Visma team. Valverde finished second in the stage, 1:32 behind Pogacar, but made up only nine seconds on Roglic and the title was all but decided.

Sunday’s processional into Madrid was won by Fabio Jakobsen (DEN) for his second stage win this year, just ahead of two-time winner Sam Bennett of Ireland, who also had four second-place finishes as well.

Roglic is hardly talkative, but said after Saturday’s stage, “For sure I was smiling in secret places. It’s a nice feeling not to have any really big mountain stages left to handle. But in any case, there’s just one day to go and then hopefully I will smile even more.” It’s an amazing turn of events for Roglic, who was a ski jumper as late as 2013 before turning to cycling.

Summaries:

UCI World Tour/La Vuelta a Espana
Spain ~ 24 August-15 September 2019
(Full results here)

Stage 1 (13.4 km Team Time Trial): 1. Astana (KAZ), 14:51; 2. Deceuninck-Quick Step (BEL), 14.53; 3. Team Sunweb (GER), 14:56; 4. EF Education First (USA), 14:58; 5. Bora-hansgrohe (GER), 15:04.

Stage 2 (199.6 km): 1. Nairo Quintana (COL), 5:11:17; 2. Nicholas Roche (IRL), 5:11:22; 3. Primoz Roglic (SLO), 5:11:22; 4. Rigoberto Uran (COL), 5:11:22; 5. Fabio Aru (ITA), 5:11:22.

Stage 3 (188.0 km): 1. Sam Bennett (IRL), 4:25:02; 2. Edward Theuns (BEL), 4:25:02; 3. Luka Mezgec (SLO), 4:25:02; 4. Jon Aberasturi (ESP), 4:25:02; 5. Phil Bauhaus (GER), 4:25:02.

Stage 4 (175.5 km): 1. Fabio Jakobsen (NED), 4:04:16; 2. Bennett (IRL), 4:04;16; 3. Fernando Gaviria (COL), 4:04:16; 4. Mezgec (SLO), 4:04:16; 5. Marc Sarreau (FRA), 4:04:16.

Stage 5 (170.7 km): 1. Jose Madrazo (ESP), 4:58:31; 2. Jetse Bol (NED), 4:58:41; 3. Jose Herrada (ESP), 4:58:53; 4. Miguel Angel Lopez (COL), 4:59:18; 5. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), 4:59:30.

Stage 6 (198.9 km): 1. Jesus Herrada (ESP), 4:43:55; 2. Dylan Teuns (BEL), 4:44:02; 3. Dorian Godon (FRA), 4:44:16; 4. Robert Gesink (NED), 4:44:16; 5. Bruno Armirail (FRA), 4:44:32.

Stage 7 (183.2 km): 1. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), 4:34:11; 2. Roglic (SLO), 4:34:11; 3. Lopez (COL), 4:34:17; 4. Quintana (COL), 4:34:17; 5. Rafal Majka (POL), 4:34:53. Also in the top 25: 21. Sepp Kuss (USA), 4:37:39; … 25. Peter Stetina (USA), 4:39:11.

Stage 8 (166.9 km): 1. Niklas Arndt (GER), 3:50:48; 2. Alex Aranburu (ESP), 3:50:48; 3. Tosh van der Sande (BEL), 3:50:48; 4. Ruben Guerreiro (POR), 3:50:48; 5. Jonas Koch (GER), 3:50:48. Also in the top 25: 12. Stetina (USA), 3:50:48.

Stage 9 (94.4 km): 1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO), 2:58:09; 2. Quintana (COL), 2:58:32; 3. Roglic (SLO), 2:58:57; 4. Valverde (ESP), 2:58:57; 5. Marc Soler (ESP), 2:59:06. Also in the top 25: 16. Kuss (USA), 3:00:57.

Stage 10 (36.2 km (Time Trial): 1. Roglic (SLO), 47:05; 2. Patrick Bevin (AUS), 47:30; 3. Remi Cavagna (FRA), 47:32; 4. Lawson Craddock (USA), 47:53; 5. Nelson Oliveira (POR), 48:07.

Stage 11 (180.0 km): 1. Mikel Iturria (ESP), 4:36:44; 2. Jonathan Lastra (ESP), 4:36:50; 3. Craddock (USA), 4:36:50; 4. Damien Howson (AUS), 4:36:50; 5. Francois Bidard (FRA), 4:36:50. Also in the top 25: 17. Nathan Powless (USA), 4:55:19; … 21. Sepp Kuss (USA), 4:55:19.

Stage 12 (171.4 km): 1. Philippe Gilbert (BEL), 3:48:18; 2. Alex Aranburu (ESP), 3:48:21; 3. Fernando Barcelo (ESP), 3:48:21; 4. Jose Joaquin Rojas (ESP), 3:48:40; 5. Niklas Arndt (GER), 3:48:44.

Stage 13 (166.4 km): 1. Pogacar (SLO), 4:28:26; 2. Roglic (SLO), 4:28:26; 3. Pierre Latour (FRA), 4:28:53; 4. Valverde (ESP). 4:28:53; 5. Quintana (COL), 4:28:53. Also in the top 25: 21. Powless (USA), 4:31:25.

Stage 14 (188.0 km): 1. Bennett (IRL), 4:28:26; 2. Maximiliano Richeze (ARG), 4:28:26; 3. Tosh van der Sande (BEL), 4:28:26; 4. Marc Sarreau (FRA), 4:28:26; 5. Clement Venturini (FRA), 4:28:26.

Stage 15 (154.4 km): 1. Kuss (USA), 4:19:04; 2. Ruben Guerreiro (POR), 4:19:43; 3. Tao Geoghagen Hart (GBR), 4:19:44; 4. Oscar Rodiguez (ESP), 4:19:57; 5. Mark Padun (UKR), 4:20:53. Also in the top 25: 7. Craddock (USA), 4:21:15.

Stage 16 (144.4 km): 1. Jakob Fuglsang (DEN), 4:01:22; 2. Geohegan Hart (GBR), 4:01:44; 3. Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP), 4:02:02; 4. James Knox (GBR), 4:02:04; 5. Gianluca Brambila (ITA), 4:02:34.

Stage 17 (219.6 km): 1. Gilbert (BEL), 4:20:15; 2. Bennett (IRL), 4:20:17; 3. Remi Cavagna (FRA), 4:20:17; 4. Dylan Teuns (BEL), 4:20:17; 5. Wilco Kelderman (NED), 4:20:17. Also in the top 25: 7. Craddock (USA), 4:20:17.

Stage 18 (177.5 km): 1. Sergio Higuita (COL), 4:33:09; 2. Roglic (SLO), 4:33:24; 3. Valverde (ESP), 4:33:24; 4. Rafal Majka (POL), 4:33:24; 5. M.A. Lopez (COL), 4:33:26. Also in the top 25: 12. Kuss (USA), 4:36:57; … 22. Powless (USA), 4:37:59.

Stage 19 (165.2 km): 1. Cavanga (FRA), 3:43:34; 2. Bennett (IRL), 3:43:39; 3. Zdenek Stybar (CZE), 3:43:39; 4. Gilbert (BEL), 3:43:39; 5. Valverde (ESP), 3:43:39.

Stage 20 (190.4 km): 1. Pogacar (SLO), 5:16:40; 2. Valverde (ESP), 5:18:12; 3. Majka (POL), 5:18:12; 4. Hermann Pernsteiner (AUT), 5:18:12; 5. Roglic (SLO), 5:19:21.

Stage 21 (106.6 km): 1. Jakobsen (DEN), 2:48:20; 2. Bennett (IRL), 2:48:20; 3. Szymon Sajnok (POL), 2:48:02; 4. Jon Aberasturi (ESP), 2:48:20; 5. Edvald Boasson Hagen (DEN), 2:48:20.

Final Standings: 1. Primoz Roglic (SLO), 83:07:31; 2. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), +2:16; 3. Tadej Pogacar (SLO), +2:38; 4. Nairo Quintana (COL), +3:29; 5. Miguel Angel Lopez (COL), +4:31; 6. Rafal Majka (POL), +7:16; 7. Wilco Kelderman (NED), +9:47; 8. Carl Fredrik Hagen (NOR), +12:54; 9. Marc Soler (ESP), +22:10; 10. Mikel Nieve (ESP), +22:17.