The aesthetics of cycling are rarely so obvious, but one thing that struck me over the first 17 stages of the spectacular Vuelta a Espana is how great Primoz Roglič looks on a bike. Churned out ridiculous slopes Pico Villuercas, originally a paved goat path Dimensions of a long KoppenbergEveryone was pedaling square, yet Roglich was the epitome of calm, his chest never heaving, his posture less rigid than coiled, his balance unquestionable. When Lennart van Eetvelt began the sprint, he shook violently on his bike, his right elbow jutting out every time he lifted his right leg, while Roglich’s head stayed in the same place as he timed his jump just right and sprinted around an already celebrating Van Eetvelt to take the stage and the leader’s jersey.
Unfortunately, another highlight of Roglich’s career, no matter how great it has been, has been a humiliating run of bad timing and worse luck. Two days after his stunning victory, Roglich’s team put his potential Vuelta in jeopardy by conceding six and a half minutes to Ben O’Connor. It was well worth giving up the red jersey in the first week of the Vuelta, as the task of defending it seemed even more difficult than usual due to the relentless heat. Several leading riders had to abandon due to heatstrokeHe did not want to tire out his entire team, which was quite strong, by putting out fires without any danger, and did not want to leave his leader exposed during the third rigorous week.
The problem was that they let the wrong fire burn. O’Connor is a serious rider, a guy who finished fourth in the Tour de France and has finished in the top-10 in every Grand Tour. Roglich’s Red Bull team made the marginally forgivable mistake of letting O’Connor go in a powerful breakaway, but they compounded their mistake by failing to chase, since their own Florian Lipowitz was part of the move. Lipowitz is a brilliant rider who can do spectacular things – he’s running ninth after Stage 17 – he’s not capable of a Sepp Kussian Grand Tour run. Speaking of Kuss, how could Roglich of all people A strong climber doesn’t see an existential threat in letting go Eating too many minutes on a seemingly innocent breakaway day? “Things got out of hand,” Red Bull director Patxi Vila admitted, while Roglich reiterated his point“Today was a very bad day, a situation we could not control. But we hope we can change it,” he said.
Thankfully for racing fans, Red Bull’s strategic blunder set up the fascinating dynamic of O’Connor trying to endure twice the pressure of a charging Roglich through the toughest mountain stages. O’Connor’s Decathlon team, despite being French, showed itself ready for a fight, pushing high speeds to fend off attacks on some days, trying to make work of a pair of incredibly strong teams whose GC options have faded (Jumbo and UAE), and controlling the road with such gusto that they Richard Carapaz kicked out of boxing completely,
It worked to an extent, but Roglich has been a little too good. This is especially impressive, as he had a nightmare Tour de France, where he spoiled high expectations by riding timidly, then falling (again!) and breaking a spinal cord. The best Vuelta racer of his generation, and perhaps of all time, has put the pressure on every steep stage and bested O’Connor every time, and he caught up a lot of time even before the race reached the high mountains. Roglich won Stage 8 and finished 46 seconds ahead of O’Connor on the Category 3 closing climb. Red Bull put the screws to O’Connor three stages later and Roglich had 37 seconds more despite a flat finish. A friend said
Then the race hit the real mountains and Roglich beat O’Connor. Across Tejedo de Ancares, Quitu Negru and Lagos de Covadonga, Roglich had a 15-second lead over O’Connor – but currently it’s a five-second gap, because the Slovenian got a 20-second penalty for drafting (this was fair in my opinion, because he got a penalty Free travel in your team car Not due to mechanical failure but due to a planned bike change). Enric Mas, Richard Carapaz and Mikel Landa have also overtaken O’Connor, although Roglic has also overtaken them. O’Connor finally lost his grip on the mist-covered slopes of Lagos de Covadonga. You can recognise Roglic by the perfect form of his silhouette.
Five seconds is nothing at this point in the race, considering how much better Roglich has run than O’Connor over the two weeks, how much work Decathlon has had to do already, and most importantly, the terrain to come. There are two summit finishes before the final time trial, though the last one is quite tough. Six categorized climbs set the stage for the Picon Blanco, a ridiculous 8.3-kilometer pain zone with an average gradient of 9.2 percent and a maximum ramp of 18 percent. The laps to come that day should be decisive, and even if they aren’t, Roglich can expect to win at least a minute in the final time trial: O’Connor is a poor time-trialist, Best time-trialist He won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, beating the fastest sprinter of his generation by more than a minute.
Rogalix The infamous final day time trial defeat The 2020 Tour should give no one pause, as there is no Tadej Pogacar here to destroy him, and his decisive Giro win was a Very extensive cleansing of demonsO’Connor isn’t out of the race, but he knows he’ll have to fight hard. quotes about knowing He’s probably going to leave the jersey soon, though I was more surprised by what he said about the race against Roglich. “He usually has a calm demeanor,” he said after stage 17“But I think he’s very ruthless in the way he operates, and he’s very well aware of his strengths. “This is a guy who knows he’s close to execution, which is also what I would expect if I was up against someone as closed-minded as Roglich.