Primo? Rogli? ‘chips away’ at Remco Evenepoel’s lead at Vuelta a Espa?a
This article originally appeared on Velo News
JAEN, Spain (VN) -- Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) clawed back some time to reduce his deficit to Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) to pump new life into the Vuelta a Espana.
The three-time defending champion surged clear with 4km to go on La Pandera, and reduced Evenepoel’s lead from 2:41 to 1:49 going into Sunday’s big clash at Sierra Nevada.
“It was a nice day. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Hopefully this can keep going. I am feeling better. It’s the race, huh?” Roglic said at the summit.
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Evenepoel couldn’t react when Roglic jumped, and Enric Mas (Movistar) and Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana-Qasaqstan) hitched a ride.
Roglic remained in second place overall, but is now a little bit closer with still a week to race.
“It’s still quite far, and the race is not over,” he said. “The guys did a great job on the team. Every one of them raced hard, and we can look forward to the next days. Today was hard, and tomorrow is tomorrow.”
Chris Harper: ‘We’re chipping away at Remco’s lead’
Robert Gesink and Chris Harper both put in big digs at the front to create a selection in the GC group and set up Roglic for his move at about 4km to go.
“Primoz told us he was feeling good and to take over and make it hard, also with the idea to go for the stage,” Harper said. “It’s motivating to see Primoz getting stronger and stronger, and we believed from the start that he could win this race, and that is getting confirmed.”
Jumbo-Visma isn’t throwing in the towel after losing Sepp Kuss and Edoardo Affini to illness, and Roglic is showing new signs of life after struggling to match Evenepoel in the steep climbs of northern Spain last week.
“It was a really good day. We are seeing Primoz is progressively getting better and better, and we’re chipping away at Remco’s lead,” Harper said. “I am glad I could contribute something and hopefully set up Primoz.”
DS Niermann: ‘It’s nice for us’
Jumbo-Visma sport director Grischa Niermann said they didn’t expect Evenepoel to be unable to follow the wheel when Roglic and others piled on.
“I didn’t expect Evenepoel to cede time today, but it’s nice for us,” Niermann said. “It’s the first time we see that he is vulnerable, and there are more days to come.”
“Primoz said this morning he’d like to go for the stage. It was a very hard start for 70km, and we asked Robert to pull to make the race hard. We knew it was hard with 4.5km to go, and he went immediately,” he said. “We are in a good place with Primoz.
“Tomorrow is the queen stage with the altitude finish, and it will be the hardest stage of the Vuelta,” Niermann said. “We will make a good plan and see how we attack the race tomorrow.”
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