Mirador de Ezaro (Spain) (AFP)

For his first time trial since the failure of the Tour de France, Slovenian Primoz Roglic won the Vuelta "time trial" on Tuesday and took over the leader's red jersey on Tuesday at the Mirador de Ezaro (north-west ).

Despite his fourth success since the start, the Slovenian could not widen any final differences in the standings.

The Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, the previous leader, conceded 49 seconds and the Briton Hugh Carthy only 25 seconds.

This victory, gained one second ahead of the unexpected American Will Barta (24), however, gives him a margin five days from the finish in Madrid: 39 seconds over Carapaz and 47 seconds over Carthy.

"It's very good", satisfied the leader of the Jumbo team who had to leave the red jersey in Carapaz on Sunday at the top of Angliru where Carthy had won.

"I haven't won a time for a while," added Roglic (31).

Precisely, since his success on September 3, 2019 in the time trial of the last Vuelta, in Pau, where he had donned the red jersey to keep it until the end of the event.

In the Tour de France, in September, the Slovenian sank on the slopes of La Planche des Belles Filles and lost the yellow jersey on the eve of the finish, to the benefit of his compatriot Tadej Pogacar.

- Carapaz "still in the game" -

This time, Roglic made the difference in the short but severe climb (1800m at almost 15%) leading to the Mirador de Ezaro, a Galician pass very close to the Atlantic.

After having, like most runners, changed bikes at the foot of the climb to use a lighter bike without a solid wheel.

In this final climb, the new leader distanced himself from Carthy (24 sec) and Carapaz (30 sec).

"I thought I was suffering a little more, it went rather well", he admitted then.

His opponents have declared themselves satisfied.

With a touch of disappointment for Carthy ("I thought I was doing a little better"), who nevertheless surpassed himself to take fourth place on the stage.

"I'm pretty happy with the result, I'm still in the game," said Carapaz, who came to conquer his first Vuelta.

"There are still possibilities".

Behind the leading trio, the Irishman Dan Martin dropped some ballast despite his good climb from Ezaro (17 sec conceded on Roglic), to now find himself at 1 min 42 sec in the standings, while the first Spaniard, Enric Mas (5th), points to more than three minutes.

For the French, the stopwatch gave grounds for hope.

Two riders, Bruno Armirail (5th) and Rémi Cavagna (8th), took place at the top of the ranking.

As for the young climber Clément Champoussin (22 years old), he finished 17th, 1 min 44 sec from Roglic, for his first time in a grand tour.

On Wednesday, the 14th stage programs 204.7 kilometers between Lugo and Orense, the Galician city where Laurent Jalabert had won during the last two finishes (1993, 1995).

The hilly course includes three climbs classified in the third category and ends with a small ramp of 1100 meters at 6.5%.

© 2020 AFP