Primoz Roglic wins his fourth Vuelta in Iberian specialist – Libération

And in the end, it was Primoz Roglic who won in Spain. At the end of a final time trial in the streets of Madrid, the Slovenian rider from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe won the Vuelta this Sunday, September 8, for the fourth time in his career. He had already worn the red jersey in 2019 and 2020 in the Spanish capital and in 2021 during a relocated arrival in Santiago de Compostela. The 34-year-old climber also becomes co-record holder for the number of victories in the Tour of Spain with Roberto Heras. The Spaniard had lost the benefit of his last title after a positive test the day before arrival, in 2005, but found it again seven years later in court, because that is how cycling sometimes goes.

Primoz Roglic did not build this latest success quite like the previous times. Less dominant, the Slovenian even left control of the race for a long time to Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), happy to have regained control thanks to a river breakaway during the 6th stage. Was it really serious to leave almost five minutes ahead of the Australian, who has already finished 4th in the Tour de France (in 2021) and 4th in the Giro this year? This in any case allowed Roglic’s team not to take on the weight of the race for most of it, the Slovenian only recovering his property on Friday, in the middle of the pines of the Alto de Moncalvillo, the pre- day before arrival. And Ben O’Connor finished in 2nd place. The Spaniard Enric Mas (Movistar) completes the podium. The first Frenchman, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), signs a 6th place in the form of a renaissance, after a very disappointing year.

Performance maousse

Salvador Dali in shorts, Primoz Roglic has once again managed to melt the clocks. And thwart, once is not customary, his legendary scoumoune. Here is no stopping place like the one which made him leave the Tour de France prematurely again this year and which brought him to Spain shrouded in a halo of uncertainty. No illness either, almost a miracle as Covid once again pointed its swab at the race, knocking out João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), one of the favorites, at the start of the second week. Until the day before the finish, Primoz Roglic seemed like he could be overtaken by the evil eye. On Saturday, we saw half of his team disappear (three abandonments) after food poisoning, with Spanish public television even announcing that a member of the staff had to be urgently hospitalized for salmonellosis. But Primoz Bad luck was still there.

Make no mistake: winning the Vuelta four times is a huge achievement. But paradoxically, it also tells, implicitly, the limits of the Slovenian. Roglic has won almost all the one-week races that count (Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico, Dauphiné, Tour du Pays Basque, Romandie…) and raised his arms at the Giro last year – despite an improbable jump from chain during the last timer. But he never managed to win the Tour de France. The closest he came, in 2020, was when he was knocked down on the penultimate day by a young compatriot named Tadej Pogacar. A few weeks later, Roglic went on to win his second Vuelta. His victories in the Tour of Spain tell a bit of that: a sort of eternal consolation prize, when the others are not there (last year, Vingegaard showed up, Roglic finished third behind the Dane and their teammate Kuss). Almost 35 years old and given the adversity on the Grande Boucle, the yellow jersey risks remaining the former ski jumper’s biggest regret. Fortunately, he still has the quest for an unprecedented quintuple in the Vuelta.