Primož Roglič’s injuries have yet to be assessed in full, but Jumbo-Visma directeur sportif Addy Engels believes their impact outweighs the eight seconds gained on Remco Evenepoel in the dramatic denouement to stage 16 of the Vuelta a España.
Roglič attacked forcefully at 2.6km from the finish in Tomares, taking advantage of the gentle climb towards the finish to pull a five-rider group clear. The quintet, led by stage winner Mads Pedersen, came home eight seconds ahead of the peloton, but Roglič crashed heavily inside the final 100 metres.
Although he remounted and crossed the line, a bloodied Roglič appeared in some distress as he sat against a roadside barrier past the finish. The race doctor’s medical bulletin listed his injuries as “polycontusions and superficial wounds to his right elbow, hip, knee and ribs,” though the full impact of the injuries on his Vuelta challenge remains to be seen.
Roglič remains second overall after narrowing his deficit on Evenepoel to 1:26, though for Jumbo-Visma, the focus on Tuesday evening was on the effects of his crash on the remainder of the race.
“Of course, we have to see now how bad the injuries are,” Engels said. “Obviously, he’s injured. He’s in the bus now trying to clean everything and then we have to see how bad it is. To me, it looks like more than eight seconds, these injuries.”
After taking back time on the hitherto unassailable Evenepoel on the weekend’s back-to-back summit finishes at La Pandera and Sierra Nevada, Roglič availed of the punchy finale in Tomares to test the maillot rojo once more.
Only four riders could follow Roglič’s stinging effort. Evenepoel, already poorly placed at the time of the acceleration, was forced to stop and change bikes following a rear wheel puncture. He rolled in three minutes down but was awarded the same time as the peloton as his puncture took place inside the last 3km.
Out in front, Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) won the five-up sprint for stage victory after Roglič had led all the way to the finishing straight. The Slovenian’s day took on a different hue, however, when his wheels slipped from under him inside the final 100 metres.
“Bizarre, I think it’s a good word,” Engels said of the oscillating emotions of the finale in Tomares. “We had the plan to try to go for a stage result and, of course, also to take back time on GC with the suitable final. I think that plan went really well.
“Primoz got in front with a small group to the finish, but what happened there, we didn’t even know. We had television [in the team car], but we missed the crash itself, so we just thought he finished in the group ahead of the first bunch.
“Then suddenly we hear that he crashed in the last straight. The plan had a very small chance of succeeding on a final like this, but we succeeded. And then it goes all wrong in the last few hundred metres, which is bizarre.”
A decision on Roglič's continued participation in the Vuelta will be made on Wednesday morning before the start of stage 17. The Slovenian, who is chasing a fourth straight overall win, abandoned this year's Tour de France after dislocating his shoulder and fracturing two vertebrae in a crash in the opening week.
“All investigations for today have been carried out. Tomorrow morning, the team will decide in consultation with the medical doctor whether Primoz will continue his fight this @lavuelta,” Jumbo-Visma said in an update on social media late on Tuesday evening.
