Primoz Roglic played superb poker in Madrid to win La Vuelta for the fourth time

He waved to himself before exiting and immediately directed Primoz Roglic (34 years old) to complete the 26.4 kilometer route through the streets of Madrid that closed the dispute 79th edition of La Vueltawhere the Slovenian runner was the best. Hehead of the Bul-Bora-hansgrohe Network He has been the most consistent, the smartest, the strongest when he needs to be and the one best supported by his team to sit back on the throne of La Vuelta and reign for the fourth time on Spanish territory, after the victories that achieved in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and thus equal to Bejarano Roberto Heras at the top of the La Vuelta victories table with four winners.

Since landing in the Spanish round in 2019, Roglic He found in La Vuelta a race tailored to him. Add to the five participations this year. He won the first three, with the fourth he had to abandon in the 18th stage when he was having an exciting one-on-one with the Belgian. Remco Evenepoel and last year he had to settle for a 3rd back finish Jonas Vingegaard and Sepp Kuss, in a great team hat Jumbo-Visma which gave a lot to talk about and will not repeat again because ‘Rogla’ He left the team at the end of the year.

Winner of 2023 Giro d’Italia and the goblins treat them badly Tour de Francefrom painful abandonment, to see how his countryman Tadej Pogaar took the victory from him in the penultimate stage of La Planche from Belles Filles, Roglic found a career that suited him at La Vuelta, where he achieved 15 partial victories and where he was the leader for a total of 39 days.

Küng, no rival in the final time trial

Before a real specialist like the Swiss Stepan KüngRoglic planned the streets of Madrid in the ITT but did not spread his wings, which Küng did to complete the 24.6 kilometers in 26’28.” “I hope this time is enough to win. Maybe only Roglic can match me, but he doesn’t have to find the limit and I have to.” Victory in the final stage of a grand tour is the most anonymous of all, because all eyes are on how there is sure to be La Vuelta podium.

Roglic crossed himself before the start of his time trial and completed it without a problem in the afternoon of Madrid, embracing a Vuelta that he did not reach in full condition after the fractured vertebrae he suffered in Tour de France before. The cyclist is given to misfortune, ‘Rogla’ He didn’t claim victory until he crossed the finish line. It is enough to remember that again everything happened to him in the last three weeks: he lost a tooth the day before La Vuelta, he arrived late for the presentation of the teams in Lisbon, was sanctioned by the UCI after tagging the stage of Lakes of Covadonga and he saw how the virus attacked his team in the penultimate stage which fortunately did not affect him.

The battle for the other two podium places

‘Superman’ Roglic he put on the shield. He overcame all adversity and regained the throne of La Vuelta, after winning two stages and wearing the leader’s red jersey for five days. Behind him, one of the sensations of the race, the Australian Ben O’Connor. The jumping quality runner of Decathlon AG2R This is indisputable. To date, his best results in a great cycling tour have been 4th in the 2021 Tour and 4th in this year’s Giro. He wore the leader’s jersey for 13 days and a fierce rivalry. He faced the final time trial with nine seconds ahead of Balearic Enric Mas and rescued him without any trouble.

He Head of the Movistar Team is not rushed Richard Carapaz (4th) and in fact he clocked the same time as the Ecuadorian to finish third. Mas showed his most offensive side, at some stage he was familiar with Roglic in the mountains, but this exhibition only served him to be 3rd, after being 2nd in 2018, 2021 and 2022.

Finish line completed Roglic smiling under the helmet. Applauded by a fan who enjoyed an edition of The Return that he extended his resolution almost to the end and remained true to his proposition. Now is the time for celebrations, rest and think about the upcoming calendar, including European, the World Cup or the autumn classics.