The Slovenian has warded off his recurring bad luck and won his favourite event, the Tour of Spain, again this Sunday, September 8. A feat that paradoxically reveals the limits of a rider who no longer seems capable of winning the Tour de France.
And in the end, it was Primoz Roglic who won in Spain. At the end of a final time trial in the streets of Madrid, the Slovenian rider of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe won the Vuelta for the fourth time in his career this Sunday, September 8. He had already worn the red jersey in 2019 and 2020 in the Spanish capital and in 2021 during a relocated finish in Santiago de Compostela. The 34-year-old climber also became the joint record holder for the number of victories in the Vuelta a España with Roberto Heras. The Spaniard had lost the benefit of his last title after a positive test the day before the finish, in 2005, but regained it seven years later in court, because that’s how cycling sometimes goes.
Primoz Roglic did not build this latest success quite like the previous times. Less dominant, the Slovenian even left the lead of the race to Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) for a long time, who was very happy to have regained the lead thanks to a river breakaway during the 6th stage. Was it really serious to leave almost five minutes ahead to the Australian, who has already finished 4th in the Tour de France (in 2021) and 4th in the Giro this year? In any case, it allowed Roglic’s team not to bear the weight of the race for most of it, with the Slovenian only recovering his property on Friday, in the middle of the pines of the Alto de Moncalvillo, the day before the finish. And Ben O’Connor finished in 2nd place. The Spaniard Enric Mas (Movistar) completed the podium. The first Frenchman, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), took 6th place in the form of a renaissance, after a very disappointing year.
Performance maousse
Salvador Dali in shorts, Primoz Roglic has once again managed to melt the clocks. And to thwart, for once, his legendary bad luck. Here, no fall like the one that made him leave the Tour de France prematurely again this year and which brought him to Spain surrounded by a halo of uncertainty. No illness either, almost a miracle since Covid once again pointed its swab at the race, knocking out João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), one of the favorites, at the start of the second week. Until the day before the finish, Primoz Roglic seemed like he could be caught up by the evil eye. On Saturday, we saw half of his team disappear (three abandonments) after food poisoning, with Spanish public television even announcing that a member of staff had to be hospitalized urgently for salmonella. But Primoz the Unlucky was still there.
Make no mistake: winning the Vuelta four times is a colossal achievement. But paradoxically, it also tells, in the background, the Slovenian’s limits. Roglic has won almost all the one-week races that count (Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico, Dauphiné, Tour of the Basque Country, Romandie, etc.) and raised his arms in the Giro last year – despite an improbable chain drop during the final time trial. But he has never managed to win the Tour de France. The closest he came, in 2020, he was knocked off his feet on the penultimate day by a young compatriot named Tadej Pogacar. A few weeks later, Roglic went on to win his second Vuelta. His victories in the Tour of Spain tell a bit of that story: a sort of eternal consolation prize, when the others are not there (last year, Vingegaard showed up, Roglic finished third behind the Dane and their teammate Kuss). At almost 35 years old and given the adversity on the Grande Boucle, the yellow jersey risks remaining the former ski jumper’s greatest regret. Fortunately, he still has the quest for an unprecedented quintuple on the Vuelta.
