• The stages that remain in LaVuelta
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Primoz Roglic wants to betray him with a pin to see if he feels and suffers or is really the insensitive robot that appears during this Tour. Off the podium, the closest thing to a smile that has been seen in Slovenian appeared on Tuesday in the video prepared by his team, the Jumbo-Visma, to announce its renewal until 2023. He still had a year left on his contract, but the Tom Dumoulin's arrival to the Dutch team recommended a clear message of full confidence towards him. Well, for those reasons, the undisputed leader of La Vuelta, who reaches the last week of the race with 2:48 of advantage over Valverde (a world) and 3:42 over Pogacar (world and a half), unleashes his happiness.

Between his tyrannical dominance over the bicycle and his arisco character, Roglic begins to carry the sambenito as an obnoxious leader. «I see him as a phenomenal person», Valverde, his great rival in this Tour, defends him during the rest day in Burgos. «At no time has he had any problem with any partner and is very polite. What happens is that sometimes you reach the limit and that is why you can be serious and distant ”, deepens the world champion, more than satisfied with his second momentary position in the general, but without giving up anything.

Although Roglic has not offered symptoms of weakness in these initial two weeks, La Vuelta still offers ground for surprises. This Thursday, four first-class ports in the mountains of Madrid and on Saturday, as a climax, a day with the appearance of a Belgian classic, without a single level meter, which ends at the Gredos Platform. It is difficult to think that Roglic can lose three minutes in these stages through the Central System, but not impossible. His weakness in the last leg of the last Turn serves as a warning.

The risks of Madrid

"And Madrid has buried many people," warns Eusebio Unzué , the head of Movistar. And he brings up the most recent case, that of Tom Dumoulin in 2015. The Dutchman reached the penultimate day as a leader with six seconds of advantage over Fabio Aru and, victim of an ambush of the Astana, was finally sixth in Madrid, 3 : 46 from Italian. The debacle ensued in a stage traced to Thursday, a round trip with two steps through Navacerrada - the second as Puerto de Cotos -, two others through La Morcuera, one for each slope, and final descent to the line of goal.

That Dumoulin and this Roglic have in common that both had shown a seamless solidity throughout the Tour. The difference is that the Dutchman lacked gregarious entity - something that happened to Roglic himself in the Giro this year - and the Slovenian is left over. Although Kruijswijk is no longer in the race and Bennett is starting to weigh his legs, he retains the young Kuss - winner in El Holly - and Powless to keep his back. In summary, no matter how much Movistar, Astana and UAE can carry out a perfect career approach, Roglic will only lose this Tour of Spain if his forces fail in a resounding way.

"I'm not afraid," warned the leader on Monday after successfully overcoming the stage of La Cubilla, a priori the one that harmed him most in front of pure climbers like Lopez and Pogacar, with whom he reached the goal of the hand and ahead of Valverde, confirming that the great - and perhaps only - rival of Roglic in this Tour is Roglic himself.

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