August 23, 2022
Another summit finish and win for the Jumbo-Visma rider… I think I’ve seen this film before
Stage four of the 2022 Vuelta a España: the race’s return to its trademark punchy stages and the first uphill finish on a route that contains nine (yes, nine) summit finishes. Primož Roglič blows away the field. Déjà vu, anyone?
Jumbo-Visma’s Slovenian climbing talent has won the last three editions of the Vuelta a España, and each time, he’s done it by dominating pretty similar stages. In 2019, he won stage ten, a 36 kilometre time trial to Pau and held on to the red jersey for 11 stages until the race concluded with a sprint in Madrid. A year later, in 2020, he won the race’s opening stage which was on a summit finish similar to the one in stage four of the 2022 race, out-sprinting Richard Carapaz on a climb averaging 8.5%. From then on Roglič and Carapaz flip flopped between the race lead, but Roglič took it for good on the 30 kilometre time trial of stage 13, taking it all the way to the end of the race.
In 2021, Roglič, once again, won the time trial to Burgos, taking the red jersey for a couple of stages before handing it over to some non-GC contenders who were never realistically going to take the overall victory. It was on the stage 17’s summit finish to Lagos de Covadonga that the Jumbo-Visma rider took red again, holding on to it until the end of the race to take his third consecutive Vuelta win.
You get the picture: Roglič can time trial incredibly well (he’s the Olympic Champion in the discipline) and he licks his lips when he spots a summit finish. In this year’s Vuelta a España, there’s an important individual time trial and a number of uphill finishes still to come, and Roglič is already in red. How can teams prevent the Jumbo-Visma rider from taking the rojo jersey for the fourth year in a row?
Image: ASO/Photo Gomez Sport
It’s true that beating Roglič in España is muy difícil. His form was in doubt ahead of the race after his crash in the Tour de France where the 32-year-old dislocated his shoulder, but he certainly silenced any naysayers with his dominant win on stage four of the 2022 race. As others rocked and rolled in difficulty behind him, Roglič stormed to his stage victory with what looked like apparent ease. He was floating over the pedals in his signature style, still checking over his shoulder in the final 50…