Primoz Roglic proved he has fully recovered from his Tour de France-ending crash with stage four victory in the Vuelta a Espana on Tuesday.
The three-time Vuelta winner triumphed atop the daunting closing climb to Pico Villuercas to stake his claim for a record-equalling fourth success in one of cycling’s three Grand Tours.
The Slovenia veteran, ably supported by his Red Bull-Hansgrohe teammates, reeled in a two-man breakaway up the gruelling 14.6km long ascent with a gradient of 16 percent over the final 5km.
Roglic was rewarded for his endeavour by taking over the race leader’s red jersey.
He leads the UAE team’s Joao Almeida by eight seconds in the general classification.
In a desperate scramble for the line Lennert Van Eetvelt had his arm raised in victory only for Roglic to pip him to the post, with Almeida in third.
Plenty of title contenders were left scattered down the mountainside in their wake as Roglic made a clear statement of intent about his chances of adding to his Vuelta wins in 2019, 2020 and 2021 to equal Roberto Heras as the race’s most successful rider.
Wednesday’s stage five will be easier on the legs with a less demanding 170km ride, tailormade for the sprinters, from Fuente del Maestre to Sevilla as the race heads into Andalusia.
