On Saturday, Primoz Roglic took a significant leap towards catching up with Ben O’Connor’s overall lead in the Vuelta a Espana, claiming victory in the eighth stage after a vigorous upward climb. The Slovenian, a thrice champion of this event and representing Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, had to diligently outrun the Australian, who was in the red jersey. By the narrowest of margins, Roglic bagged his second stage win of this competition.
Although Spain’s Enric Mas, from Movistar, put up a splendid performance, Roglic had the upper hand at the finish line, pushing him to second place. Mikel Landa of Soudal Quick-Step, another Spaniard, bagged the bronze.
Meanwhile, O’Connor, racing for Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, managed to secure the 17th position, trailing Roglic by 46 seconds and a bonus of 10 seconds. Consequently, Roglic now lags the leading position by only three minutes and forty-nine seconds.
Roglic fully utilized the 159km ride journey from Ubeda to Cazorla, known for its medium mountain stage and its challenging abrupt uphill finish, to dent O’Connor’s lead.
During the climax of the race, three riders had managed to pull ahead, while Roglic accelerated his pace at the front of the peloton. Unfortunately, several riders got entangled in a mishap. Despite O’Connor’s tenacious attempts to stick with Roglic’s speed, the latter broke ahead in the last two kilometers. Only Mas could match Roglic’s pace.
Upon nearing the finish, Roglic outstripped Mas in the final 400 meters, proving his superior stamina and earning valuable bonus points. Due to this turn of events, Mas moved up the overall rankings from fourth to third while Joao Almeida slid down due to his late arrival―nearly five minutes behind the winner.
Eddie Dunbar, the Irish rider, made significant strides by landing his first top-10 finish of the race, elevating his general classification standing from 26th to 23rd. On the other hand, Darren Rafferty was the 89th finisher of the day and currently holds the 102nd position overall.
The ninth stage set for Sunday covers a distance of 178.5km, stretching from Motril to Granada. This stage offers more challenging ascents and could trim O’Connor’s lead further if Roglic decides to initiate another attack prior to the respite on Monday.
In Roglic’s words, “Every day I am pushing myself to the maximum in the races, waiting to see how my body reacts to this strain following a difficult phase of overcoming an injury. I continue to experience some discomfort, so only time will tell,” he expressed.
© Thomson Reuters 2024