Vuelta a España (st. 10)
World Champion from Movistar Team limits losses against Roglic (TJV), sits now 1'51" behind Slovenian in charge of La Roja; Nairo loses more than 3' at Pau ITT, down to 4th overall behind López (AST).
Primoz Roglic (TJV) inflicted the expected blow to his competition in the 2019 La Vuelta at the demanding ITT -36km with lots of ups and downs from Jurançon to Pau- held in southern France on Tuesday. The Slovenian now dons ‘La Roja’ as first-placed overall with nearly two minutes of advantage over Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team), who defended himself strongly and now sits in 2nd overall.
‘Bala’, propelled by good early references from Nelson Oliveira (5th today) and Marc Soler (8th), made a very consistent effort and posted the 13th quickest time of the day, 1’38” behind the new race leader. It wasn’t, though, the best day for Nairo Quintana, whose 27th place left him 3’06” behind Roglic and dropped him from first to fourth overall, exactly 3′ behind the red jersey; 49″ away from Miguel Ángel López’s (AST) third spot; and just 5″ ahead of Tadej Pogacar (UAD), now fully into contention after an 11th spot on Tuesday.
La Vuelta will return on Wednesday to Spanish soil with a lumpy stage 11, 180km from Saint-Palais to Urdax, that will feature two rated climbs in the finale -Ispéguy (Cat-2) and Otxondo (Cat-3)- plus a small ascent just under 10km from the end. A good terrain for a breakaway before two demanding mountain stages in Bilbao (Thu) and Los Machucos (Fri).
REACTIONS:
Alejandro Valverde: “1’38” against Roglic? Well’, it’s not too bad. It’s within what we expected. He was the strongest favourite for this TT. I felt well, maybe a bit emptier near the end, but it’s normal, it was a long course. I think we made a very decent effort. I took some time yesterday to look thoroughly at what’s left in this Vuelta, and it’s incredible – so many hard mountains still remaining. We’re still in contention, though – we still feel alright and anything can happen. As well as Roglic -who has already shown how strong he also is uphill- and López, Pogacar will also be a rival to take into account. Hadn’t he crashed at the opening TTT, he would be even closer to us. Let’s go day by day, there’s still a lot to happen in this race. It will be another tricky finish tomorrow. A minute ahead or behind Nairo doesn’t mean anything for our plans, to be honest. We’re actually a bit tired about everything the press says about our leadership plans – we’re both here to do our best and seek for a common goal, which is winning a Grand Tour for Movistar, no matter who claims it.”
Nairo Quintana: “It’s clear that while we worked to obtain a better result, it wasn’t my best time trial ever. I hoped to be around two minutes behind Roglic; three is more than I expected. Still, though, we’re into the overall fight. The fact that I didn’t do a good time trial doesn’t mean I’m not feeling strong. There will be chances to attack in the upcoming stages, to seek some good strategies with the team and take advantage from the race situations to make up time against Roglic. We’ve been in similar situations to this in the past and, even though some did go as expected, others turned into massive success. Let’s see how we can do in the next few days. Alejandro is still close in the GC, and with him and myself we’ve got two strong chances. I’ve got nothing to lose. Let’s take advantage and enjoy the race.”
Cover picture (c): BettiniPhoto