Vuelta a España: Primož Roglič claims fourth GC title as Stefan Küng wins stage 21 time trial

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Primož Roglič won a fourth Vuelta a España title on Sunday evening, sealing his fifth Grand Tour title in six years with a second-place finish in the final stage time trial in Madrid.

After claiming victory in Stage 4 at Pico Villuerca and taking the leader’s jersey, Roglič and his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team nearly lost their grip on the Vuelta when Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) broke away solo, gaining an almost five-minute lead to take over the top of the GC standings. 

Roglič steadily reduced the gap, picking up seconds along the way, and by his third stage win on Stage 19, he had regained the overall lead. Roglič’s victory offered once again a sense of redemption after a major disappointment earlier in the season, coming after he withdrew from the Tour de France due to injuries sustained in a crash.

One of only two riders to break the 27-minute barrier, Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) won the final time trial with a blistering time of 26:28 on the 24.6km course. It marked the Swiss rider's first-ever stage victory in a Grand Tour after a string of second places in recent years.  

Second on the stage, Roglič was 31 seconds off the fastest time while Mattia Cattaneo (T-Rex QuickStep) claimed third, 42 seconds down. 

In the fiercely contested fight for the podium, Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) came out strong, defending his second-place position and realising his dream of a Grand Tour podium. Enric Mas (Movistar) secured third place, adding to his record of three runner-up finishes at the Vuelta.

“It's amazing, finally, I’ve been fighting for it for a very long time, and I really wanted that win today. I knew with the parcours you had to go out hard and just keep it together until the end, and that’s what I did," Küng said. 

“I suffered a lot today, but I think everyone at the end of this hard Vuelta and I'm just so happy that I got this win here at the Vuelta. My first grand tour stage win and it's been a long time in the making.

“It's always nice if you win with more than half a minute. It shows that you were absolutely the best, there was no coincidence today.”

How it unfolded

The final time trial, held on a fast and flat 24.6 course in Madrid, concluded with an up and down the Castellana before turning at the Plaza de Cibeles and heading up towards the finish line on the Gran Vía. Two intermediate checkpoints, at 7.9km and 16.8km, roughly divided the course into thirds.

As the last rider on GC, Tim Naberman (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) was the first rider down the start ramp but the Dutch rider was caught by Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) who went straight into a hot seat with an opening time of 27:43.

The next fast time of 27:34 was set by Italian TT specialist Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike), who chose to use a double-disc setup and though he was buffeted by wind on the course, he managed to hold his speed but was soon replaced on top of the leaderboard by former hour record holder and future teammate Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) who finished with a time of 27:22.

In the final Grand Tour stages of their career, Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Dstny) kept his head down keeping his speed up until the finish while Robert Gesink (Visma-Lease A Bike) waved at his team car and the fans that lined the course.

The fastest so far at the checkpoints, as the time edged closer to the 27-minute mark, Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) unseated the Belgian from the hot seat with a time of 27:14 but not for long, as Filippo Baroncini (UAE Team Emirates) flew in, two seconds faster than the Swiss rider.

Winner on the opening time trial three weeks ago, American time trial champion Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) was over a minute down at the second checkpoint and slipped out of contention, seemingly due to a crash.

All eyes were on the 97th rider to start and he did not disappoint as Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) scorched the course, catching his minute-man, and increasing his 18-second advantage on the first check to 41 seconds by the second check, to 43 seconds at the finish line.

After losing some speed on a corner, Mattia Cattaneo (T-Rex QuickStep) slotted into second place, 42 seconds from Küng, and one second faster than Baroncini with the GC contenders still to come.

While Küng's blazing time was tough to beat, the fight for the remaining podium spots was still wide open. Only nine seconds separated second-placed Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) from Enric Mas (Movistar). Meanwhile, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-Easy Post), sitting in fourth, gave everything to close his 49-second gap and secure a podium finish.

In the battle for top 10 placings, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) took 1:13 out of David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and moved up to fifth place overall, as well as winning the best young rider classification.

Race leader Roglič posted the fastest time of all GC contenders at the first checkpoint, 13 seconds off of Küng’s time, and three seconds faster than O’Connor. Though O’Connor faded in the final half of the stage, he held on to his second place overall with a time of 27:33, 28 seconds faster than Mas. Carapaz finished with a solid time of 28:01 to seal fourth place.

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