THE Tour of Spain 2024 appeared with Primoz Roglic headliner and main favorite to win. And he made it clear that, without Pogacar, Vingegaard or Evenepoel, he is well above the rest of the peloton. The Slovenian certified the achievement of his fourth Vuelta, with which he equals Roberto Heras as the rider who has won it the most times. He did not achieve it with a new stage victory in the final time trial, in which he finished second, overtaken by the Swiss. Stefan Küng.
The Red Bull-Bora player was accompanied on the podium at Cibeles by the Australian Ben O’Connor, that even though he failed to keep the red, after having a five-minute lead, he managed to climb to the second step, and also Enric Mas. The Spaniard had the difficult task of making up nine seconds to overtake the Decathlon-AG2R rider, but he did not manage to do so. Despite this, a very good Vuelta for the Majorcan, in which he tried to be the protagonist, responding very well on the important days.
Roglic knew it was very difficult to win the stage, after Stefan Kung set the best time at the finish of the Gran Vía. The Swiss set a time of 26:28, which was unattainable for a historic Roglic. The Slovenian missed the victory by 31″, on a fast 24-kilometer course through the streets of Madrid.
After completing the race these last two days, Roglic He was already known as the virtual champion of the race, in the absence of confirmation in the last stage. Although it was not an online stage, as usual, and we found ourselves without the triumphant march of the champion through the streets of Madrid, Roglic took the time to celebrate his victory as he entered the finish line, sticking out four fingers, one for each edition. of the Return that he has won.
That of Red Bull Bora proved intractable. Only an oversight like the one in the first week, with the disastrous stage in which O’Connor was able to take the lead in the general classification with a five-minute advantage, could have compromised his victory in the Spanish round, with the one who maintains a clear romance. He won it in 2019, in 2020, in 2021 and, three years later, he won it again, becoming the cyclist who has won it the most times, with Heras.
Küng wins time trial
Stefan Kung He clearly dominated the final stage, setting a time at the finish that we knew from the first moment would be very difficult to beat. No one could do it. In fact, only he and Roglic – who lost half a minute – were the only ones to go under the 27-minute mark.
Even though there was no battle for the general classification, where Roglic reigned for more than two minutes, there was a battle for second place. Only nine seconds separated O’Connor And Further away. However, the Australian proved to be much superior in the time trial and gave no option to the Movistar rider, who had to settle for third position. Behind, Carapaz He also couldn’t overcome the minute lost against the Majorcan that separated him from the podium.
