Daniel Martinez still backing Primoz Roglic to win the 2024 Vuelta a Espana: "There are still the hardest stages"
CyclingFriday, 23 August 2024 at 22:00
In the seventh stage of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana, Daniel Martínez crossed the finish line in 44th position, in a secondary group that came 17 seconds behind the race leader. In the general classification, the Colombian Red Bull - BORA -hansgrohe rider is now 9:44 behind, although he is less than 5 minutes behind his team's leader Primoz Roglic.
After crossing the finish line, the 28-year-old Colombian climber was taking a cold water bath to loosen up his muscles. In an interview for the TVE microphones, he explained why he was doing that and talked about the team's tactics both during stage 7, during the race as a whole and how they can cut into Ben O'Connor's 4:45 lead in at the top of the general classification standings.
"Yes, on days like today that are too hot, it's best to come here to recover to lower the body temperature a bit in these bathtubs," he said, getting into the water. "Let's just say the intention has been to be there, move the chips around a bit and do the best I can today," he said of Red Bull - BORA's idea on stage 7. "I don't know, there are still the hardest stages left so well, we'll see," he finished talking about the chances of taking time off the red jersey.
Although Dani was second in the last Giro d'Italia, being the first of the mortals after an absolutely huge and inhuman Tadej Pogacar, it seems that in La Vuelta the goal is to be Roglic's luxury gregario and he will not fight for the overall. Even his BORA teammates Aleksandr Vlasov and Florian Lipowitz are better placed than him. The Russian is 13th at 5:51 and just over 1 minute behind the Slovenian, while the German is 8th at 5:35 and 50 seconds behind his leader.
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- You were doing so well up until the last paragraph :-). So Almeida did not win a single stage race with UAE and now because of contract uplift he can win prestigious races? Come on. The man was being shaped to get to this level and took 2 years. After leaving QS he had lost his punch, he is not a sprinter of course but he had a good kick, he also lost a bit his TT performance, was a disaster going downhill. All this time he was improving his climbing and now he is recovering all the aforementioned qualities he had before. He is not putting on a show because of contract negotiations, he simply evolved also due to changing trainer. I think he will do a hat-trick in Tour de Suisse and then go with no pressure to the Tour. Depending on how well Jonas or Remco recover and how tired Roglic is from the Giro, a podium might fall on his lap. Then Vuelta maybe UAE can compensate his performance by making him the solo leader if Pogacar is doubting. However, where I am really interested to see Almeida is the World Championships. I am hoping the race is split early and then we see Almeida picking up corpses along the Rwanda streets up until he reaches an empty Pogacar and then tips him over the line. Then I wake up and life continues.Indioshak06-05-2025
- Jonas had also had a speed wobble on that same descent. They have both improved their descending skills since then, and in 2024 took scary risks on downhills.Hill3306-05-2025
- Should be a good one! It's been since 2022 since we have seen peak Pogi vs peak Vingo. 2023 Pogi had injuries and a suboptimal preparation. 2024 Vingo had even worse injuries and a poor runup to the Tour. UAE team has gotten stronger since 2022, while Visma maybe less strong.mobk06-05-2025
- You'd have to be an amoral prick to work for this team.Matt06-05-2025
- Jonas is a very solid descender. Remember him waiting for Pog when Pog crashed on a descent in 2022mobk05-05-2025
- For Pogi's first win against Jonas, he had a very subpar team relative to Jumbo. I don't think Jonas would have stood a chance if he had Pogi's team that year.Veganpotter05-05-2025
- He descended very well at the TdF last year after the first couple stages with technical descents.Veganpotter05-05-2025
- The funny thing about all of this is that Pogi can(that doesn't mean he definitely will) win the TdF while it's only one of many goals. Jonas is fully focused on the TdF. Yes, he does other races but they're solely in preparation for the TdF. Jonas is great, but much of the reason he has a fighters chance is that Pogi isn't a rider that's fully focused on stage races.Veganpotter05-05-2025
- Yates- when he is on - is pretty awesome to watch.
ScottG05-05-2025 - Jonas is afraid of crashing. That's not easy to shake. I think that fear has only gotten worse over the years.ScottG05-05-2025
O'Connor always has one or two bad days in a grand tour so we can expect that in the last two weeks at some point.
And Primoz always crashes. What's your point? Just because someone has been unlucky in the past, doesn't mean they'll always be unlucky.
The same can be said about the reverse: everyone said Vingegard would improve in the last week of the TDF and really give Pog a run for the yellow, but it never eventuated. Everyone is claiming Roglic will "easily" catch Ben in the high mountains, but Ben is renowned for his climbing ability. Don't forget all GC riders in the tours must be the best climbers in order to be chosen by their team for GC support.
Ben is renowned for cracking in a GT 🤣 … book it !
Primoz has a history of winning GTs…3 Vueltas and 1 Giro so I’ll put my money on that horse !
Ben also crashes !!
If no major mishaps occur, I think Roglic can easily (with a bit of sweat) take back those 5 minutes.