“Sí, se puede! Sí, se puede!” Yes, we will. Beyond the end line on Madrid’s Gran Via, merry teams of Ecuadorian followers on both aspect of the road had been operating by way of their repertoire of chants and songs in assist of Richard Carapaz, fortunately carried out by a filming tv reporter.
After a hearty rendition of “Carapaz y nada más,” somebody advised singing the nationwide anthem, however the songbook was torn up right into a thunderous roar as their hero wheeled to a halt proper in entrance of them, his Vuelta a España at an finish.
A handful of tv crews clustered round Carapaz as he composed himself after his time trial, whereas the rider’s spouse Tania and his youngsters stood simply outdoors the scrum and noticed the scene. Beyond the obstacles, the chants began up yet again, drowning out Carapaz’s tender voice as he talked reporters by way of his time trial.
“Olé, olé, olé, olé – Richard, Richard!” they repeated over and once more, scarcely noticing when Enric Mas and Ben O’Connor rolled into the end space quickly afterwards. Their shows ensured Carapaz needed to accept fourth general, however that truth did nothing to decrease the outpouring of pleasure in a small pocket of Madrid that had been reworked into Carchi for the night.
But whereas the Gran Via belonged to Carapaz, the Vuelta itself once more belonged to Primož Roglič, who sealed a record-equalling fourth general victory with a businesslike second place within the last time trial.
Roglič would later reveal that he had been stricken by the identical sickness that had beset his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe squad on the street to Picón Blanco yesterday, nevertheless it was scarcely noticeable from his efficiency right here.
Then once more, Roglič has all the time had a knack for hiding struggling, the livid paddling normally happening out of sight beneath the waterline. That’s what made his late collapse at La Planche des Belles Filles on the 2020 Tour de France so stunning, after all, however Roglič’s response was sometimes composed on that traumatic night within the Vosges. He embraced his compatriot Tadej Pogacar after which merely resumed his job of profitable bike races, claiming one other Vuelta – his second – that autumn.
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Roglič has identified solely heartbreak on the Tour within the years since, whereas the Vuelta has repeatedly provided itself as a salve to these wounds. This 12 months, as in 2021, his Vuelta victory got here after he had crashed out of the Tour, and this 12 months, as in 2021, Roglič remained as understated as ever on sealing victory in Spain.
After crossing the end line on the Gran Via, Roglič smiled and raised a finger in acknowledgement of the victory, earlier than he was ushered again down the boulevard in direction of the rostrum on the Plaza de Cibeles.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe riders and employees, carrying crimson polo shirts for the event, had been already spilling into the rostrum space in anticipation of the ceremony, together with riders who had been compelled out by sickness the earlier afternoon.
“The extra you go to the top, the extra you simply wish to end it off,” Roglič mentioned as he waited to mount the rostrum. “It was powerful, however all the pieces went wonderful. It was a quick one, so I’m completely satisfied.”
Illness
After a flamenco show and an look from indie band Miss Caffeina, the prizegiving ultimately bought underway amid the marble fountains of Plaza de Cibeles, the scene of so many footballing victory celebrations through the years.
For the third time at a Grand Tour this season, the Slovenian anthem ‘Zdravljica’ was performed to fete the general winner, although the Vuelta organisers appeared to go for a extra prolonged model than the one performed for Tadej Pogačar on the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France. Roglič raised a hand when he thought the anthem had come to an finish, just for the music to begin up yet again.
When the music was turned down, a microphone was provided to Roglič. Like the Tour, the Vuelta has launched a winner’s speech into its end-of-race formalities, however Roglič was all the time more likely to be concise in his closing remarks.
“Yeah, what can I say? What a Vuelta, eh?” Roglič mentioned, earlier than thanking his household and his workforce. “I’m actually completely satisfied and I hope you all loved it as a lot as we did, thanks.”
After Red Bull riders and employees had joined Roglič on the rostrum for a protracted succession of pictures, the winner was directed in direction of the blended zone, the place he revealed that he had additionally been stricken by the sickness that had laid so many teammates low yesterday. Red Bull mentioned they’d be “investigating” if meals poisoning was the trigger.
“I additionally went to the bathroom twenty instances already immediately, however in the long run, I used to be approach too far, I needed to end it off,” mentioned Roglič, although he was reluctant to debate the matter in any element. “These issues are for later. Now is time to take pleasure in a bit the victory.”
The future
Red Bull supervisor Ralph Denk, in the meantime, was diplomatically batting away questions of a unique variety, specifically on the persistent hearsay that Remco Evenepoel will go away Soudal-QuickStep to guide his workforce on the Tour de France subsequent season.
“I hear and browse the rumours day-after-day in Italian, English and Belgian newspapers, however I’ve nothing to say about it,” Denk instructed Het Laatste Nieuws. “They are gossip and I’ll not, can’t and won’t reply to them – irrespective of how annoying that’s for you journalists.”
It should be annoying for Roglič, too, provided that he left Jumbo-Visma final winter with the purpose of profitable the Tour for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. Roglič will flip 35 subsequent month, and it stays to be seen if his fourth Vuelta win – and fifth Grand Tour victory in whole – marks the summit of his achievements or a step in direction of a loftier objective.
In his press convention late on Sunday evening within the Mandarin Ritz resort, Roglič was requested if he would end his profession with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, the place he has a contract till at the very least the top of 2025.
“I’m on this workforce,” Roglič mentioned. “You don’t know, it’s approach too laborious to make certain what the longer term will carry. At the second, sure, I’m using. I simply received this Vuelta with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and it’s actually lovely to be part of it. I hope we will take pleasure in it and have a pleasant celebration.”
Roglič’s fourth Vuelta victory got here after he suffered a fractured vertebra within the crash that compelled him out of the Tour, and regardless that he received at Pico Villuercas and Cazorla within the opening week, it was clear that his again remained a trigger for concern deep into the race.
“It’s rather a lot higher undoubtedly now,” mentioned Roglič, whose ill-starred Tour bid was adopted nearly instantly by his Vuelta build-up. “After the Tour, I used to be three or 4 days at dwelling, after which I used to be doing energy work. I used to be solely at dwelling for a few days since May 6, it takes fairly some effort.”
The Vuelta itself additionally took fairly some effort for the grasp of understatement. Although Roglič was a number of rungs above all rivals on the Puerto de Ancares and the Alto de Moncalvillo, he endured some difficult moments too, not least when O’Connor stormed right into a lead of just about 5 minutes within the opening week.
“I simply went daily, the very best I may,” Roglič mentioned. “It was fairly a problem to be fairly some minutes behind, that modified the best way race was going. I’m very completely satisfied, as a result of this was not simple, and the season was not simple.”
Roglič by no means appeared more likely to panic. He chipped away at O’Connor’s lead for greater than two weeks, lastly overhauling the Australian at Montcalvillo with two days to spare. This time nothing, not even a late sickness, may knock him off track.
“It’s regular you have got ups and downs, we’re human beings,” Roglič mentioned. “The most essential factor is that you just all the time concentrate on the duty that you’ve got, it’s the one factor you may management. If meaning it’s sufficient for the win, we win. If we end in another place, it means another guys had been simply higher.”