"A wave of illness has swept over us overnight" - Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe investigating rumours of food poisoning after string of abandons on stage 20 of La Vuelta 24
Cycling
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe were uncharacteristically weak on stage 20 of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana. Having done all the hard on the prior stage to get Primoz Roglic back into the Red Jersey, a trio of abandons then threatened to undo all that hard work.
With the INEOS Grenadiers setting a fierce pace on the front of the peloton on third categorised climb of the day, Primoz Roglic was suddenly feeling very alone as the likes of Daniel Martinez, Patrick Gamper and Aleksandr Vlasov were struggling with over 100km still to go. Around 25km later, the sad news was confirmed that Martinez had abandoned the race. A little while later, Nico Denz and the aforementioned Gamper were also announced to have abandoned the 2024 Vuelta a Espana.
"A wave of illness has swept over us overnight. We are currently investigating whether food poisoning is the cause," explains Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe's sports director Patxi Villa in conversation with his team's official website post-stage. "Several staff members have been affected and have had to pull out of today's stage. Also, Nico, Gampi, Dani and Aleks were unwell during the stage. We will gather now and will focus on tomorrow's final stage."
Thankfully, and most importantly, Roglic himself seemed relatively unaffected, maintaining his comfortable overall lead with a strong performance on the final climb. “The team was not at its best but everybody gave it their best, big respect, they just put everything they had," explained Roglic in his own post-stage interview, admitting things were far from ideal for the team on stage 20. "Luckily I’m quite fine for the moment so it was a nice day."
Results | Stage 20 of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana:
| 1 | Dunbar Edward | Team Jayco-AlUla | 180 | 04:38:37 |
| 2 | Mas Enric | Movistar Team | 130 | + 07 |
| 3 | Roglic Primoz | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | 95 | + 10 |
| 4 | Carapaz Richard | EF Education-EasyPost | 80 | + 12 |
| 5 | Berrade Urko | Equipo Kern Pharma | 60 | + 14 |
| 6 | O'Connor Ben | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 45 | + 14 |
| 7 | Gaudu David | Groupama-FDJ | 40 | + 21 |
| 8 | Landa Mikel | Soudal Quick-Step | 35 | + 23 |
| 9 | Lipowitz Florian | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | 30 | + 37 |
| 10 | Skjelmose Mattias | Lidl-Trek | 25 | + 37 |
| 11 | Gall Felix | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 20 | + 39 |
| 12 | Sivakov Pavel | UAE Team Emirates | 15 | + 01:23 |
| 13 | Yates Adam | UAE Team Emirates | 10 | + 02:28 |
| 14 | Rodriguez Cristian | ARKEA-B&B HOTELS | 5 | + 02:34 |
| 15 | Rubio Einer | Movistar Team | 2 | + 02:34 |
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Hmmm, you seem to have a very convenient black and white view of things. Perhaps you haven’t been around much to discover how complex problems can become over time with people who know how to control, manipulate (or worse) others so gradually or subtly that you arrive at an irresolvable situation before you realise. This is how many inconveniences get introduced to the young, naïve, passionate or “desperate”, knowing they are not armed, protected or strong enough to defend themselves once it’s too late. Why do you think omerta culture is so widespread, why do you think so many people continue to go through so many awful things in life that others can’t understand anyone getting into? Life may be far more jolly for you but you would do well to understand (or reflect more on) the real world to refrain from being so quick to criticise those in a hard spot that may have genuine reason for speaking out.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Seriously do you think when somebody gets into a serious accident, the ambulance is called by the hurt person?🤦 there is always a buddy system in place for a risky job. police , firefighters etc so that if someone gets hurt, the other call that in.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I get the point totally. We live in the snowflake society where some riders forget they are getting paid to ride and get results. When they have a few issues they try to look outside of the real issue instead of themselves. It odd so many of the team are making no complaints and getting on with their job. If you do not like what you do find another job simples. Tough love as my mum would say.paultryan200207-11-2026
- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
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🇪🇸 #LaVuelta24 Primož crosses the line in third place on Picón Blanco, defending the red jersey 👊🏼 📸: @sprintcycling
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