Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) delivered a dominant performance in the individual time-trial from Jurançon to Pau (36.2km) to claim both the stage win and the leader’s red jersey after 10 days of racing in La Vuelta 19. The Slovenian opened significant gaps to his rivals for the overall victory in Madrid. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) is second on GC, trailing by 1’52”. Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team), who was leading the race before this time-trial, is now 3’ down. Roglic is only the second Slovenian rider to wear La Roja in La Vuelta history.
Lennard Hofstede (Jumbo-Visma) is the first of the 166 participants to start, at 13:41. He rides conservatively while Pawel Bernas (CCC Team) sets a first reference with a time of 50’52”. His teammate William Barta is the first to break the 50’ bar: 49’17”.
The French national champion Benjamin Thomas (Groupama-FDJ) is 6” faster and holds on to the hot seat for about 10 minutes, only to be edged by his compatriot Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick Step) with a smashing performance and a time of 47’32”. Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) limits his losses in the climbs and powers to the best time in the final run in to Pau, 2” ahead of Cavagna.
Majors losses for Quintana
Tadej Pogacar (UAE TEam Emirates) has a strong start, 11” faster than Cavagna at the first intermediate point. But Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) comes in flying, 21” ahead of his compatriot. After 11.9km, he already opens big differences: Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) drops 38”, Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team) is at 1’03” and Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team), with La Roja on his shoulders, already loses 1’26”.
Primoz Roglic kept pushing until the finish and overcame Miguel Angel Lopez in the last 500m. With a time of 47’05”, he takes both the stage win, 25” ahead of Patrick Bevin, and La Roja, 1’52” ahead of Alejandro Valverde. Nairo Quintana drops 3’06” on the finish line.
