Madrid (AFP)
Today Spain, tomorrow France? Primoz Roglic became the first Slovenian to win a big cycling Tour by winning the Vuelta 2019 on Sunday, already planning with his team Jumbo-Visma towards the ultimate goal: to compete with the all-powerful Ineos formation on the Tour de France.
Presented as the favorite of the 74th edition of the Tour of Spain three weeks ago, Roglic (29 years old) has lived up to the expectations to advance on the final podium the Spanish veteran Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), second, and his young compatriot Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Emirates), third. He succeeds Briton Simon Yates, absent this year.
"Rogla", a red jersey that has not stopped since his triumph in the only individual time trial of this Tour of Spain (10th stage), was unquestionably the strongest throughout the three weeks of the race.
Sunday, at the end of the traditional parade punctuated by a sprint on the Paseo del Prado in Madrid, the Slovenian crossed the line arm in arm with his teammates, while the Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick Step) was awarded the 21st and last step.
He then climbed onto the podium at Place de Cybele with a Slovenian flag and a beautiful smile, far from his usual impassive face that makes it so difficult to pin down.
- Growing ambition -
This Vuelta is for the former ski jumper the culmination of a successful moult to road cycling, where his driving skills and resistance in the mountains make it a natural favorite for great tours. Symbol of his progress, he took the 4th place in the Tour de France in 2018, then the 3rd of the Tour of Italy in the spring after wearing the pink leader's jersey.
The Vuelta will have tested his mind but the impassive Slovenian has recovered from everything, including several falls, the first of them in the inaugural team time trial.
And Roglic has perfectly mastered his opponents, knocking out the competition in the "chrono" individual before managing his lead, surrounded by a well-honed collective.
Because if this rewarded reward reward the talent of the Slovenian, it also materializes the growing ambition of the Dutch team Jumbo-Visma, who had not won a big Tour of three weeks since the Giro 2009 with the Russian Denis Menchov (to the time under the label Rabobank).
In July, on the Tour de France, the yellow armada of the "Jumbo" was one of the few teams to compete with Ineos, the former Sky team, placing the Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk on the third step of the podium.
In 2020, the Dutch should be even more ambitious since they recruited Tom Dumoulin, winner of the Giro 2017. They also extended the contract of Roglic until 2023 and have a workforce likely to compete with the "black train" from Ineos in the passes.
- The Pogacar revelation -
It remains to be seen if the team will align all its best elements on the Great Loop. Asked on Saturday whether he was planning to run for the yellow jersey next year, Roglic smiled: "Yes, why not?"
Also winner of the green jersey of this Vuelta, the Trbovlje native gave pride of place to Slovenian cycling for three weeks, well supported by the revelation of the event: Tadej Pogacar, who is almost twenty years younger than Valverde ( 39 years old), present on the podium of the Vuelta for the seventh time of his long career.
At the age of 20, Pogacar won three high mountain stages, the best junior white jersey and third overall. The young Slovenian promises to be a rival of the future for the Colombian Egan Bernal (22 years old), recent winner of the Tour de France.
As for the blue jersey white polka dot best climber, it was won by an unexpected winner: the French Geoffrey Bouchard (Ag2r-La Mondiale), which was 27 years the first participation in a grand tour.
© 2019 AFP