When three times Vuelta a España winner Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) failed to respond to Remco Evenepoel’s surging series of accelerations on the Pico Jano on Thursday and ultimately lost almost 90 seconds to the young Belgian, the sense that the race was suddenly and unexpectedly entering seriously unfamiliar terrain was inescapable.
Up to now, after all, the 2022 race had been a new variation of recent Vuelta business as usual, with Jumbo-Visma dominating the opening team time trial, then swapping the leader’s jersey between various domestiques before Roglič claimed his tenth stage and moved back into la Roja on Tuesday.
Even losing the lead to Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) on Wednesday formed part of a longer-term strategic plan, In fact, after three straight wins in the Vuelta overall, with the strongest team to support him and a tried-and-tested track record of bouncing back from adversity in the Tour de France, pre Thursday’s stage it looked as if we were in for a largely predictable two-and-a-half weeks prior to Roglič’s fourth coronation as outright winner.
But no. Instead the emergence of QuickStep-AlphaVinyl’s Evenepoel as race leader represents a huge change of direction for the Vuelta. At the same time, Enric Mas (Movistar), runner-up to Roglič in last year’s Vuelta, but never in a position to give the Slovenian a run for his money, has also moved ahead of the defending champion. And if that were not enough, on Thursday, the youngest rider in the Vuelta, Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), was also able to outgun Roglič as well.
It will be scant consolation to Roglič that another GC challenger of the calibre of Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) lost even more time on Pico Jano and is now at nearly three minutes on Evenepoel. Or indeed, that of all the GC contenders bar Mas, with a fourth place on GC and 1:01 disadvantage on Evenepoel, Roglič is still the ‘best of the rest’. After such a stunning start for himself and Jumbo-Visma on home soil in Holland and then even as recently as Tuesday at Laguardia, the yellow-and-black clad squad and their leader are now on the back foot.
Yet as former Vuelta podium finisher Joaquim Rodriguez turned TV pundit pointed out on Thursday evening, just because Roglič has suffered one, very striking, defeat, the chances of him turning the tables again and fighting for a fourth GC title are still pretty much intact.
It’s not just that Roglič has proved that overcoming setbacks is an…
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