Cycling: Roglic close to fourth Vuelta triumph

The Slovenian Primoz Roglic is on the verge of his fourth overall victory at the Vuelta a Espana. The queen stage on the penultimate day, with the finish at Picón Blanco, was won by the Irishman Eddie Dunbar, who had also won the eleventh stage. In the eight-kilometer final climb of the 20th stage, unlike in previous days, Felix Gall was also up front as a helper to second-placed Ben O'Connor. The East Tyrolean finished eleventh on the stage, 39 seconds behind.

Roglic reached the finish line after 172 km and almost 5.000 meters of climbing, a few seconds behind Dunbar (Jayco) and Enric Mas (Movistar), who is third in the general classification. O'Connor arrived in seventh place, seven seconds behind Mas, thus defending his narrow lead over the Spaniard.

Everything points to Roglic triumph Before the final day, Roglic continues to lead by around two minutes ahead of O'Connor. The only thing separating the Red Bull captain from his next triumph after 24,6, 2019 and 2020 is the individual time trial in Madrid (2021 km). Several of Roglic's teammates had a black day after their gala performance on Friday. The Tyrolean Patrick Gamper, Dani Martinez and Nico Denz had to give up weakened. Rumors of a rampant illness or food poisoning in the team initially remained unconfirmed. Spanish media also reported cases of illness in the support staff of the German-Austrian racing team.

If Roglic stays healthy, the 2021 Olympic champion has clearly the better cards in the fight against the clock compared to his pursuers. If he wins the tour as expected, he would achieve the second Grand Tour triumph for Ralph Denk's racing team, which has been majority-owned by Red Bull for several months. Jai Hindley achieved the premiere at the Giro in 2022.

With his next victory, Roglic would be equal to Roberto Hera's Vuelta record holder; the Spaniard triumphed in the tour four times in the early 2000s. With Roglic, the last Grand Tour of the year would also go to a Slovenian. Tadej Pogacar won the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. The last time all the major tours of a year went to one nation was in 2018, when the Britons Chris Froome (Giro), Geraint Thomas (Tour) and Simon Yates (Vuelta) were successful.

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Cycling: Roglic close to fourth Vuelta triumph

The penultimate stage of the 2024 Vuelta took place on Saturday. Although the victory went to an Irishman, Slovenian Primoz Roglic is close to his fourth triumph in the Tour of Spain. He can make everything clear on Sunday.

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