In the top, it was a helpful reminder and nothing extra. The Vuelta a España isn’t as simple because it appears, even for Primož Roglič. The Slovenian has gained this race 3 times, however every of these victories had its fraught moments. A day after inserting a hefty deposit on the purple jersey on the Puerto de Ancares, Roglič endured one other late scare on stage 14 to Villablino.
The peloton had simply crested the Puerto de Leitariegos and crossed from Asturias again into Léon when Roglič realised one thing was awry together with his bike. He braked to a halt along with teammate Daniel Martínez, who swiftly handed over his machine and pushed his chief on his method as soon as once more.
There had been barely greater than 10km – quick and downhill – to the end line, however Roglič radiated his typical beatific calm as he set about chasing again on. Indeed, the tv cameras of the host broadcaster appeared altogether extra flustered by the incident than he did, mistakenly stopping to deal with Martínez’s ready for a substitute bike slightly than following Roglič’s pursuit.
By the time Kaden Groves had outsprinted Wout van Aert to win in Villablino, Roglič was safely again in the principle physique of the peloton. At the end, he picked his method serenely by means of the soigneurs and tv crews on Avendia Gancedo earlier than drifting off in the direction of his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe workforce bus a kilometre or so away. One day much less.
After his exhibition on the Puerto de Ancares on stage 13, Roglič seems more and more like the person to beat on this Vuelta. That effort slashed purple jersey Ben O’Connor’s once-daunting result in a extra manageable 1:21, whereas Roglič additionally prolonged his buffer over third-placed Enric Mas, who’s now 1:40 behind the Slovenian.
In Villafranco del Bierzo on Saturday morning, nevertheless, directeur sportif Patxi Vila wasn’t satisfied that the brand new configuration of the final classification would essentially hand Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe a higher duty for the policing of the peloton. That sentiment was borne out on stage 14, the place Visma-Lease a Bike spent the majority of the day setting the tempo on behalf of Van Aert.
“At the top we simply deal with our race,” Vila instructed Cyclingnews. “We have a plan, we’re executing it and we’re holding targeted on that. We wish to make it to Madrid in as little time as potential, which is what we’re specializing in, so we’re probably not trying to different individuals.”
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Vila will certainly have been heartened, nevertheless, by Red Bull’s collective power on the Puerto de Ancares. Despite Roglič’s brace of stage wins within the opening week, Red Bull have not at all times imposed themselves on this Vuelta, however their show on Friday was their most full thus far, with Florian Lipowitz, Aleksandr Vlasov and Martínez all firing on the decrease slopes of the ultimate climb within the service of Roglič.
“We knew that from Friday till to the top of the race can be the toughest half, so we tried to essentially maximise the restoration and the form of the riders in the direction of the ultimate a part of the Vuelta,” Vila stated.
“Hopefully we are going to see that we had been proper to try this. It’s been tremendous onerous. The first 9 days had been very onerous and very popular, so we weren’t certain how that will affect the riders. I’m fairly certain that someplace that may pop up, however we have been taking a look at caring for every of the eight riders we have now right here, to verify they attain their full potential.”
Cuitu Negru
Roglič’s potential to hit his personal excessive notes had been unsure earlier than the Vuelta a España after he suffered a fractured vertebra within the crash that ended his Tour de France problem. The lingering results of that harm remained a priority even after Roglič’s stage wins within the first week, and on Friday, he confessed that Red Bull hadn’t chased down the day’s early break as a result of he “did not really feel utterly assured but.”
His self-belief will certainly have been bolstered by his imperious show at Os Ancares, the place he steadily and remorselessly burnt Mas off his wheel on the climb’s harshest 15% slopes. The two minutes lopped off O’Connor’s lead was the headline information on Friday, however Roglič’s features of a minute on Mas and Richard Carapaz may be simply as vital within the total narrative of this race.
“Still, I want to have one thing extra,” Vila smiled. “It’s good, I might say, it offers confidence. We took a while again from O’Connor however we additionally put a while into the third and fourth on GC. It was an excellent day for us, however there’s nonetheless quite a lot of work to return. The hardest remains to be to return.”
While the regular, shallow slopes of the Puerto de Leitariegos had been by no means more likely to produce pyrotechnics among the many total contenders, the Vuelta a España route for stage 15 would possibly properly be essentially the most demanding leg of the race up to now. After twin ascents of the class 1 Alto de la Colladiella, the Vuelta returns to the particular class summit end at Cuitu Negru (18.9km at 7.4%), final tackled in 2012.
“A deficit of 1:21 on the purple jersey looks like nothing, nevertheless it’s nonetheless so much. What I imply is, there’s nonetheless quite a lot of work to do and the toughest a part of the Vuelta remains to be to return,” Vila stated. “Sunday is de facto onerous. I raced the climb so far as Pajares quite a lot of occasions, however not the final half to Cuitu Negru. I spent a while there for a recon… That’s a climb. That’s a correct, correct climb.”
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