Primoz Roglic is on fire. The Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe rider is one of the few riders who seems to be thriving in the heat at this Vuelta as he captured his second stage win, and has made significant improvements when it comes to his chances of winning the race.
"It was tough today, but at the end the chance for the stage victory was there and then you have to go for it," Roglic said in a post-race interview. Nico Denz of the German team confirmed that after they gave away the red jersey not to have to work, they would not do it today. But Israel - Premier Tech's rather mysterious stint in the front of the peloton for a long time brought back the breakaway pretty much, whilst Roglic himself then did the work on the final climb.
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"It was good for me. In the final it was up and down and it was very hot, but I was especially happy that I had the legs to win today." Roglic attacked three times on the final climb and on the third occasion Ben O'Connor cracked, completely... Adding time on the road and bonus seconds, Roglic removed almost a minute to the lead of the Australian on a climb with only 4 kilometers in distance. He also saw João Almeida get dropped out of victory contention.
"I am certainly satisfied with that, but that is today. Maybe I will lose time tomorrow, we will see," he adds, open as always. The Slovenian certainly had a boost of motivation today and might have placed himself back as the main favourite to win this race.
But things can change overnight very quickly, as Almeida will know. Tomorrow's incredibly hard stage will feature three brutal climbs in the heat and Roglic will be trying to take more time on O'Connor. "We will do our best tomorrow, but we do that every day. We mainly have to see how my body reacts to the efforts of these days. But we will see, for now we have to enjoy this!"
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