Primoz Roglič strikes back hard at Vuelta a España with second summit stage win

Primož Roglič’s (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) relentless campaign to regain the red jersey at the Vuelta a España stepped up several notches at Cazorla as the Slovenian powered away from leader Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) to regain almost a minute, and perhaps even more importantly, major momentum prior to Sunday’s key high mountain stage through Sierra Nevada.

Roglič had already fired off a warning shot when he put his team to work on Friday’s lone and relatively straightforward ascent of the Alto del 14% and snatched some bonus seconds late on the stage. But the collective pressure that his squad used on O’Connor was nothing like as effective as the blizzard of attacks that the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe racer launched on the viciously-irregular final ascent at Cazorla.