Primoz Roglic wins the 2024 Vuelta a Espana! Slovenian secures record equalling 4th Red Jersey as Stefan Küng takes first ever Grand Tour stage win in final ITT

For the fourth time in his illustrious career, Primoz Roglic has taken overall victory at the Vuelta a Espana. The Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe leader couldn't cap it with another stage win however as Stefan Kung powered to victory on stage 21 in Madrid.

First man down the start ramp was Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL's Tim Naberman. At the finish though, it was Thibault Guernalec of Arkéa - B&B Hotels that crossed the finish line first, setting an early benchmark of 27:43. Out on the course however, Edoardo Affini had opted for a dual disc setup and was seemingly regretting his decision as the Visma rider struggled to keep himself upright due to the wind.

Nevertheless, when Affini made it to the finish line, he did narrowly set the fastest time. He wasn't in the hotseat long however, before Victor Campenaerts, soon to be a Visma rider once more, went 12 seconds faster and into the hotseat. After a rather lengthy spell in the lead for the Belgian, Campenaerts was then unseated by Team Jayco AlUla's Mauro Schmid. In turn though, Schmid was then beaten by UAE Team Emirates' Filippo Baroncini.

Away from the fight for the stage win, there were touching moments for the likes of Thomas De Gendt and Robert Gesink, whose Grand Tour careers are coming to an end. All previous times were absolutely blown out of the water by an incredible performance from Stefan Küng. Clocking 26:28, the Swiss was 43 seconds quicker than Baroncini and averaging 55.7 kilometres an hour.

By the time the likes of Ben O'Connor and Primoz Roglic took to the course, Kung was still a comfortable leader. Whilst the Red Jersey was seemingly already wrapped up, the fight for the podium was still very open. On the road though, O'Connor was starting strongly, actually gaining time on Enric Mas and Richard Carapaz, boosting his hopes of 2nd overall.

Mattias Skjelmose secured himself a White Jersey with a strong ride, actually moving up to 5th overall and overtaking David Gaudu in the process. In the fight for the podium, Mas held on for 3rd overall, as mentioned O'Connor defended 2nd, but victory was unquestionably Roglic's although the Slovenian could not end things with another stage win, Kung taking the spoils in that regard instead.

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