The winner of the Tour of Spain: Primoz Roglic. © ANSA / JAVIER LIZON

Vuelta: Roglic triumphs for the fourth time

Primoz Roglic has not let anyone take away his triumph at the Vuelta a Espana.

September 08, 2024

From: apa

The Slovenian only had to admit defeat to the Swiss Stefan Küng in the time trial of the final 21st stage on Sunday over 24,6 km in Madrid and celebrated again after 2019, 2020 and 2021. In the overall ranking, he extended his lead over the long-time leader Ben O'Connor (Decathlon) and was 2:36 minutes ahead of the Australian at the end. Third overall was the Spaniard Enric Mas (+3:13).

On Friday, Roglic from the Red Bull team took back the red jersey of the overall leader from O'Connor. With a strong team performance, the cycling star triumphed at the Alto de Moncalvillo and started the time trial on Sunday with a lead of almost two minutes over O'Connor.

No horror time trial

This time, he did not make a similar mistake as in 2020. Back then, he had to admit defeat to his compatriot Tadej Pogacar on the penultimate stage of the Tour de France and lost the Tour in the process. He thus lived up to his status as favorite in the absence of Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel.

For his German team, Roglic's next coup in Spain brought a conciliatory end to a more than mixed summer. Red Bull suffered several setbacks at the Tour de France after the energy drink manufacturer got involved. First, Roglic, one of four Tour victory favorites, suffered defeats against strong competition from eventual winner Tadej Pogacar. The captain had to end the Tour after twelve stages due to the consequences of a fall. The ambitious team finished the Tour de France without a single stage win of their own.

Ben O'Connor defended his second place. © APA/afp / OSCAR DEL POZO

For Felix Gall, the Vuelta premiere ended with a deficit of 1:42 hours in 29th place. For a long time, Austria's Sportsman of the Year 2023 made a decisive contribution to O'Connor heading for a surprise victory. In the last third of the three-week race, however, the East Tyrolean could no longer help his teammate.

A late jersey change

Last Sunday he dropped out of the top ten in the overall rankings, and on Friday O'Connor finally had to give up his place at the top to Roglic after twelve days. The fact that Gall finished eleventh on Saturday, unlike in the days before, didn't help. On Sunday he was 125th in the time trial, missing 4:28 minutes.