Roglic reclaims La Vuelta race lead with Sprinting to Stage 10 Victory
Primoz Roglic produced a brilliant finish to claim an unlikely victory on stage 10 at the Vuelta a Espana on Friday and move back into the race leader’s jersey
The 185km flat route from Castro Urdiales to Suances had been earmarked as one for the sprinters. However, the Slovenian showed fantastic timing to launch away from the main group inside the final 100 metres of the uphill finish in Cantabria on Spain’s northern coast.
From there on in teams fought to protect their general classification contenders and it was a strategy that worked perfectly for Roglic and his Jumbo-Visma team mates.
Roglic’s strong finish meant he pulled away from a group containing red jersey wearer Richard Carapaz, whom he started the day 13 seconds behind, finishing three seconds ahead of the Ecuadorian.
His 10-second stage win bonus moved him back into the race lead, level on time with the Ineos rider.
The race returns to the mountains on Saturday, with a punishing 170km stage that takes in five categorised climbs – four of which are first category – from Villaviciosa, finishing at the summit of the Alto de la Farrapona.
VIDEO: 2020 La Vuelta Stage 10 Highlights
2020 La Vuelta Stage 10 Top 10
1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 4:14:11
2 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep
4 Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Astana Pro Team
5 Robert Stannard (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
6 Julien Simon (Fra) Total Direct Energie
7 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation
8 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis
9 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:03
10 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) EF Pro Cycling
2020 La Vuelta GC after Stage 10
1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 40:25:15
2 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers
3 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:00:25
4 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Pro Cycling 0:00:51
5 Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:54
6 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:19
7 Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:28
8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:35
9 Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain McLaren 0:03:47
10 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:52