Primoz Roglic was ambitious that his Vuelta dawned in red, that the skill of his squad in team counter-clocks would allow him to start as leader. And he elucidated, perhaps, with being for 21 consecutive days, until his coronation in Madrid. But everything went backwards to the Slovenian, who found pain and defeat where he planned to find glory. His balance of the time trial of Torrevieja was gloomy: 40 seconds lost compared to Miguel Ángel López (first leader), a fall in a curve with three other teammates and multiple scratches on his left side. [Narration and classifications]

Everything went wrong for Roglic, the only major injured from an initial day to forget the Jumbo. In the first kilometer he already lost Sepp Kuss, apparently with mechanical problems. And when there were five left to complete the 13.4 of the route, everything was finished going to the badge. The first of his riders lost control of his bike in a sharp curve and went to the ground. The three who followed him on the train fell with him. And in such a situation, everything ends, because between the pain of the accident, the time lost in it, the cyclists who are off the hook to give relief and the loss of cruising speed is already impossible to compete.

Amazing win

Roglic's sadness - and that of Kruijswijk - was the happiness of Miguel Ángel López, whom Astana chose to wear red if he won the stage, as was the case. An amazing victory of the Kazakh team, much more climber than a scooter. They did it with just two seconds of advantage over the Deceuninck, who lamented the bad traces he made in two of the final turns, one by mistake and another because a Jumbo car thought it was a good idea to stop just after a blind curve.

The Movistar, meanwhile, more than fulfilled, yielding just 16 seconds with the Astana and finishing in seventh place the stage. Excellent work also that of Education First of Urán, fourth to seven seconds. In fact, with the exception of the Jumbo, the Ineos -which was left 25 seconds- and the disastrous UAE -1: 07, second worst record-, almost all the squads fulfilled the role they had assigned for a time trial whose result - that of Roglic, rather, completely alters the stage of this Tour.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • cycling
  • Back to Spain

Tour of Spain Esteban Chaves' bicycle appears after being lost by Vueling

CiclismoEnric Mas, the new bet for the future of Movistar

Tour de France 2019The tyranny of Sky-Ineos: won seven of the last eight Tours of France