"It’s far from done" - Primoz Roglic set for 4th Vuelta a Espana win after solo stage 19 domination but Slovenian is far from complacent

Slowly but surely chipping away at Ben O'Connor's advantage since stage 6, Primoz Roglic has finally moved back into the overall lead at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana thanks to a scintillating solo stage 19 success atop Alto de Moncalvillo.

With Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe controlling the front of the bunch, the infernal pace was beginning to cause difficulties for those in the wheels behind. In fact BORA were so strong that Daniel Martinez, Aleksandr Vlasov and Primoz Roglic were getting a clear gap ahead of all the rest. Although Martinez pulled over soon after, with 5km to go, Roglic and Vlasov had already built up a 26 second advantage, putting the Slovenian in the Red Jersey before he'd even made a move himself. After making his own move, there was no stopping Roglic from taking the stage win and the Red Jersey.

“I had some really nice memories from this climb and I didn’t miss this opportunity, I’m happy!" Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe's leader reflected in his post-stage interview afterwards. "It was not really the plan, I said I don’t need the stage, but some guys in the team told me: ‘We don’t listen to you, we pull anyway!’ We have to be on the same page so we went for it."

Whilst it's not officially all over, Roglic now has a commanding 1:54 lead in the general classification heading into the final two stages. "Tomorrow is the last big stage and it will be super hard. And we don’t do the usual circuit in Madrid, we have another decisive stage with the time trial so it’s far from done," Roglic assesses with a level head. "I’m definitely impressed with the gaps… It’s better than being five minutes behind! So I’m happy with the way I’m functioning and definitely happy with the guys.”