Primož Roglič pulls back time on O’Connor with 14th career Vuelta victory

Three-time Vuelta a España titlist Primož Roglič pulled back almost a minute on red jersey Ben O’Connor by winning on Saturday’s short, steep summit finish. It was the Slovenian’s 14th Vuelta stage triumph. He also took over the KOM lead. It was a bad day for third place João Almeida; the team’s best placed rider on GC is now Isaac del Toro and 17th. By placing 22nd, Michael Woods moved up to 30th.

The Course

At 159 km, Saturday was one of the shortest stages this year. A Cat. 3 summit finish might not sound like a good battleground for GC, but it was 4.8 km of 7.2 percent.

🏁 RACE DETAILS ⤵️

🇪🇸 La Vuelta a España
🔢 Stage 8
⏰ 13:30 CEST
↔️ 158.2km
#⃣ #LaVuelta24 pic.twitter.com/B27LWrrD7k

— GreenEDGE Cycling (@GreenEDGEteam) August 24, 2024

Breakaway attempt after breakaway attempt failed to stick in the first third of the stage. An octet took wing and arrived at the foot of Cat. 2 Puerto Mirador de Las Palomas with a 4:45 advantage back to the peloton. With Israel-Premier Tech working for Woods’s chances on Sierra de Cazorla, the gap was 3:45 when escapee Mauro Schmid tipped over first.

IPT kept toiling to cut the lead. By the start of Sierra de Cazorla, the gap was 1:10. Almeida was at the back of the pack and would plummet 23 places on the day. A crash held up a lot of the peloton. Roglič accelerated with O’Connor on his wheel. Their reduced group grew. With 3 km to climb, fugitives Harold Tejada, Oier Lazkano and Luca Vergallito still had 40 seconds.

Roglič attacked again, drawing Enric Mas and Richard Carapaz.

The Slovenian and Mas caught and dispatched the last of the day’s escapees. O’Connor had Felix Gall labour to bring him back.

Mas and Roglič approached the line together. Mas tried to keep the Red Bull rider outside but he couldn’t prevent the three-time champion from triumphing. Mas is now third on GC.

Sunday might not end with a summit finish, but it shoehorns three Cat. 1 ascents into the latter half of 178.5 km, including a double climb of 9.6 percent Alto de Hazallanas.

2024 Vuelta a España Stage 8
1) Primož Roglič (Red Bull/Slovenia) 4:15:39
2) Enric Mas (Spain/Movistar) s.t.
3) Mikel Landa (Spain/Soudal-Quick Step) s.t.
22) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.

2024 Vuelta a España GC
1) Ben O’Connor (Australian/Decathlon-AG2R) 31:23:27
2) Primož Roglič (Red Bull/Slovenia) +3:49
3) Enric Mas (Spain/Movistar) +4:31
30) Michael…