Extremely tough stages at the Vuelta
Roglic rides against the pain, ex-noble helper and a gem
After the painful end of the Tour de France, it's time for the Vuelta: Primoz Roglic, captain of Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, is aiming for a record on “his” Tour of Spain. However, the competition also sends extremely strong teams into the race.
Primoz Roglic is back in his comfort zone. “It's beautiful here, I'm enjoying it,” said the Slovenian before the start of the Vuelta a Espana in Lisbon. By this he primarily meant the Portuguese capital with its picturesque old town – but certainly also a bit of a return to his favorite tour. The three-week hellish tour through Spain's mountains, which Roglic has already won three times.
A little more than a month after the dramatic exit from the Tour de France, when the captain of Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe fell several times and the yellow mission ultimately failed, Roglic is supposed to be fighting for the overall victory there again. Even if the aftermath of his fractured vertebra haunts the 34-year-old.
“I still feel it, especially in my back,” admitted Roglic. “Every week it gets a little better, but these things really take time.” As a precaution, Roglic does not want to set a clear goal for the Vuelta. He said he was just trying to “enjoy” his participation for now – “we have to be realistic.”
Offensively compete for the overall standings
And yet: Roglic's Raubling racing team is at least “ambitious” going into the third and last major national tour of the year, as sports director Rolf Aldag noted: “We have nominated eight drivers with whom we will not hide, but want to aggressively compete for the overall ranking. ” With his fourth triumph, Roglic would draw level with the Spanish record winner Roberto Heras.
Aldag also knows that there is a big question mark behind Roglic's form, despite his optimism that “it will get better every day”. Nevertheless, Red Bull is sending a powerful team to the 79th Vuelta. In addition to Roglic, Alexander Vlasow, who also had to pull out of the Tour of France after a serious fall, and the Giro runner-up Daniel Felipe Martinez, there are also two Germans at the start in Nico Denz and the ex-biathlete Florian Lipowitz.
But when the Vuelta begins with an individual time trial in Lisbon on Saturday, the biggest names will be missing. The Giro and Tour winner Tadej Pogacar, the Tour runner-up Jonas Vingegaard and the double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel are foregoing the tour. Roglic is likely to be the most dangerous man from the second row.
Duel with former noble helpers?
The UAE team in particular impresses with its enormous breadth. With Marc Soler, Joao Almeida, Adam Yates and the top talent Isaac del Toro, the team can do anything even without Pogacar. Visma-Lease a bike, which secured the entire podium in the overall ranking last year, is sending last year's winner Sepp Kuss into the race as captain alongside the all-rounder Wout van Aert.
So will the former Visma driver Roglic have a duel with his former noble helper? Quite possible and a “cool challenge” for the Slovenian, as he emphasized: “Even if it feels a little strange after so many years of driving together.” Either way: the total of 3,304.6 kilometers from Lisbon to Madrid is tough. Nine of the 21 sections end with final climbs. The highlight is the 20th stage with two mountains in the third category, two in the second and three in the first, before the Vuelta ends with an individual time trial.
