Vuelta a España: Primoz Roglic wins stage 10

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Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) claimed his third victory of the 2020 Vuelta a España, surging clear of the rest of the field in an uphill bunch sprint in Suances on stage 10, and surging back into the red jersey he claimed last year.

Winner in Arrate on the opening day and on the Alto de Moncalvillo on Wednesday, the 2019 Vuelta champion took 10 more bonus seconds, which coupled with a three-second gap declared to former leader Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) in 14th place, saw the pair level on time atop the overall standings.

With time trials to refer to for fractions of seconds – as happened recently in the Giro d’Italia – Roglič  takes the race leader’s jersey by virtue of his superior placings on the 10 stages so far.

He was certainly in a league of his own in Suances, where a 4.5 per cent gradient in the final kilometre made for a wide range of candidates, ranging from pure sprinters to the overall contenders. The Slovenian made the most of his turn of speed to finish, with daylight ahead of Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) in second and Andrea Bagioli (Deceuninck-QuickStep) in third.

“It’s beautiful again. What can I say? I’m super happy. It’s never easy to win but I had the legs, and it’s really, really nice,” Roglič  said. “Now I’m one year older and stronger, like a wine – the older the better.”

Despite Roglič’s dominance, Grossschartner and Bagioli were given the same time as the Slovenian, along with five other riders which included Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation), who’s third overall. A three-second gap was then declared back to the next group of 20 riders, containing Carapaz and most of the other GC contenders, apart from Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling), fourth overall, who finished just the wrong side of the split and conceded a further seven seconds.

After a largely quiet 185km stage along the Cantabrian coast, in which a breakaway gained 12 minutes but were still comfortably wound back, the final kilometre kicked up the waves ahead of a big weekend in the Asturian mountains.

Carapaz initially looked poised when he emerged at the front of the bunch behind Guillaume Martin (Cofidis Credits Solutions), who launched a long-range move with 750 metres to go. However, the red jersey slipped back, while Roglič, who remained patient, confidently moved up and then kicked clear in the final 150 metres.

When that dust settled, he was in red, tied for time with Carapaz, 25 seconds ahead of Dan Martin in third, and 51 seconds ahead of Carthy in fourth, and fifth-placed Enric Mas (Movistar) nearly two minutes down.

“I’m again in red, but it doesn’t really change much for our team,” Roglič said. “We need to keep the momentum and the focus. A weekend in the mountains is coming, so we will do our best.”

How it unfolded

The 185km stage started out with a couple of small hills and it was there that the day’s breakaway was formed. Brent Van Moer (Lotto Soudal), Pim Ligthart (Total Direct Energie) and Alexander Molenaar (Burgos-BH) moved clear, and were joined a little later by Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). Michal Paluta (CCC Team) was also part of the original move but suffered an untimely puncture, just as his companions were still trying to force the move clear, and despite a long solo chase, had to slot back into the peloton.

Carapaz’s Ineos Grenadiers team came to the front in the early stages, but there was a game of poker in the bunch to see who would commit resources to a chase. Amid the questions being asked and responsibility being shirked, by kilometre 50 the break carved out a mammoth 13 minutes – the sort of gap that’s increasingly rare in modern cycling.

Eventually, it was Mitchelton-Scott, Deceuninck-QuickStep, and Astana who came through to set the pace, and they worked well together for the remainder of the stage. However, having given so much rope, a fast pace was required all the way from 120km out. 

Those three teams continued to combine to cut the gap to eight minutes with 100km to go, and down to 5:30 by the time they hit the only categorised climb of the day, the category 3 Alto de San Cipriano, which topped out 60km from the line.

Van Moer beat Molenaar to the mountains points at the top, but back in the peloton there was a significant shift in the complexion of the stage as Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) drifted to the back of the bunch. Although he just about managed to cling on, he was rocking and rolling, and it didn’t bode well. With his teammates all still near the front of the bunch, it was soon clear he wouldn’t be their chosen man. He dangled off the back of the peloton until he was definitely dropped with 30km to go.

By that point, with Van Moer having taken the intermediate sprint in Cabezon de la Sal, the gap was down to 1:30. The break were forced to ride full gas but were powerless to stop the rapidly advancing peloton, and the catch was made with 16km remaining.

From there, it was a hectic battle for position, although when things calmed slightly with 11.5km to go, Willem Smit (Burgos-BH) took his cue to launch an attack. When he was brought back, Remi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep) accelerated on a false flat with 9km to go and was joined by Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates).

The Portuguese rider seemed to suffer a mechanical problem, and Cavagna was alone with 5km to go, though with only a few seconds in hand. Ineos Grenadiers hit the front of the bunch, with Andrey Amador in front of Carapaz, and they pulled Cavagna back with 3.6km to go.

It was a fast, frantic downhill run to the last 2km, where the road would kick up all the way to the line. With 2.5km to go, Bora hit the front, ahead of Lotto Soudal, although a QuickStep rider was first through a technical right-hand bend. Once out of it, Jumbo-Visma hit the front as the road tilted uphill, with Roglič second wheel. 

Astana and Caja Rural then moved to the front around the left-hand bend into the final kilometre. Astana took it up with Omar Fraile, before Zdenek Stybar moved to the front for QuickStep. 

With just over 500m to go, Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) launched the first big acceleration. The Frenchman got a small gap, and although it looked like Carapaz was on the verge of shutting it down, the Ecuadorian suddenly started to struggle. At that point, Roglič did the opposite, sailing clear to claim the 10th Grand Tour stage win of his career.