Alto de la Cubilla (Spain) (AFP)
Unshakeable Primoz Roglic: The Slovenian defended his red jersey and still clutched time Monday at the 16th stage of the Tour of Spain arriving at the pass of La Cubilla (Asturias), despite the Astana team's offensive and the victory of the Danish Jakob Fuglsang.
Before the second day of rest scheduled Tuesday, it is hard to see what could prevent "Rogla" to wear the red jersey until Sunday in the streets of Madrid, since the rider of the team Jumbo-Visma did not flinch when of the most mountainous sequence of this Vuelta, with three stages of mountains condensed in four days.
Monday, his opponents believed for a moment that the long final climb of 20 km to the Alto de la Cubilla could hurt the Slovenian: author of a sharp attack, the Colombian Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) has finally succeeded Roglic, but the latter is still returned to the train and even dug a small gap of about twenty seconds on his Spanish dolphin Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).
Here is the former ski jumper with 2'48 "overall advantage over the Valverde vetaran and over three minutes over another Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (3rd) and Lopez (4th). And the Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar), winner of the Vuelta in 2016, lost his footing and dropped more than two minutes in the red jersey ...
In short, Roglic has something to come in the five remaining stages, two of which should end with a sprint.
- The revenge of Fuglsang -
If Lopez and Astana failed to unbolt the Slovenian, they will console themselves with the stage victory obtained by Fuglsang - his first in a big tour of three weeks.
With the blessing of the pack, the Dane slipped into the breakaway of the day. He broke away in the final ascent and went solo under heavy fog, ahead of Britain's Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos) and his Spanish team-mate Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana), who had lit the first match. .
"When we came back to (Sanchez), I could see that the others were short of energy," said Fuglsang. "I left, full throttle, and luckily I was able to get rid of (the Italian Gianluca) Brambilla, then it was to reach the finish line."
It is a nice revenge for the Dane after having to abandon the Tour de France on fall in July. Fuglsang (34) also confirms his very good season, with prestigious successes in spring on Liège-Bastogne-Liège and in the final classification of Critérium du Dauphiné.
Also present in the breakaway and 10th in the stage, the Frenchman Geoffrey Bouchard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) crossed the first two difficulties of the day and endorsed the white jersey with blue poles of best climber.
After the day of rest scheduled Tuesday in Burgos, in the north of Spain, the last straight of this Vuelta is waiting for the peloton: two stages for sprinters Wednesday and Sunday, a day for punchers Friday and especially two mountain stages Thursday and Saturday in the reliefs around Madrid.
© 2019 AFP