photo credits @ La Vuelta
Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) sealed a record-equalling fourth Vuelta a Espana, after a strong second-place finish in today’s stage 21 time trial.
The only rider who was faster against the clock was Swiss time trial specialist Stefan Kung (Groupama–FDJ), who claimed a first Grand Tour stage victory with an almighty ride at the end of his 12th appearance in a three-week race.
A strong ride from second-placed Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R) was more than enough to secure his first Grand Tour podium, while improving his margin over Enric Mas (Movistar) from nine seconds to 37.
The first time trial finish in the Spanish Grand Tour in three years took place on a technical Madrid course of a modest 24km distance.
Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) did enough to briefly take the lead but was bettered by Mauro Schmid (Jayco Alula) before he was able to make it into the hot seat.
Schmid was soon overhauled by Filippo Baroncini (UAE Team Emirates) who showed he had managed his fatigue well over the 2000 miles and 60,000 meters of climbing.
It was another Swiss rider, Kung, who rolled down the ramp and showed immediately that he meant business. Fastest at the first split by 18 seconds, he was able to more than double that margin by the second.
He stopped the clock with a time of 26’28”, putting him 43 seconds up on any rider who had preceded him. With fewer than 40 riders to follow, it looked as if only the overall favorites could challenge him for the stage.
As the top 10 riders took to the course a few minor battles began. The white jersey of best young rider Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) could move up to fifth if he could ride to form and beat David Gaudu (Groupama FDJ) who had a miserable afternoon in Madrid for 44th. He did more than enough to swap places with the Frenchman, while nabbing a third consecutive top 10 stage finish.
Meanwhile, O’Connor held just nine seconds over Enric Mas (Movistar) and was thought to possibly be vulnerable. From the moment he rolled down the ramp behind the Spaniard he was ahead, and by the finish had more than quadrupled the gap between them.
Roglic’s red jersey was never in doubt, but he was nevertheless a threat to Kung’s hopes if he was to go all out. He went well, and went hard, but not that well, or that hard. Second place was sufficient to add to his overall lead, and deliver a fourth Vuelta title by 2’36”.
As Roglic passed each checkpoint a few more seconds behind, the double European champion Kung was able to relax in the hotseat. For his part, Roglic cruised across the finish in second place on the stage, to cheers from the Madrid crowd.
“It was tough,” he said, “but everything went fine. I tried to motivate myself to go for it, so I pushed but I want to congratulate Kung. He was strong today.”
To be the third Slovenian Grand Tour winner of the season was, he said, “incredible. I’m just happy I can do it.”
“It’s been a long time in the making,” said a delighted stage winner Kung.
As well as the outcome, Kung expressed his satisfaction at the manner of the victory.
“It’s always nice if you win with more than half a minute,” he said. “It shows that you were the best, there was no coincidence. It’s really nice and it finally repays the work that we do as a team, that we do together, developing the new bike.
“We were just working so hard, especially myself. I always try to be professional, and get the maximum out of me. It feels good.”
At the finish O’Connor reflected on a strong final stage at the end of a hard three weeks.
“I’ve done some good TTs but this was much better,” he said. “It was nice to put it down like I believed I could.”
Despite spending 13 stages in the red jersey the Australian rider was more than satisfied with second place.
“I expected to be good,” he said, “because I knew I was, but not second overall.”
The mountains and green jersey competitions had been resolved before the stage, going to Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) and Kaden Groves (Alpecin Deceuninck) respectively, making it one of the most successful Vueltas for Australian riders in history.
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