Primoz Roglic wins Volta a Catalunya after epic battle with Juan Ayuso on Montjuic stage
Cycling
Primoz Roglic and Juan Ayuso have been almost equally matched over the entire week at the Volta a Catalunya, and early on stage 7 they changed provisional lead twice in the two intermediate sprints. However on the final hilly circuit, the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe rider attacked with three laps to go and took a stunning solo win to also conquer the overall classification.
The final stage had an incredible start, early in the day with Primoz Roglic and teammate Nico Denz taking the first seconds in an intermediate sprint, and taking the Slovenian to the provisional race lead 1 second ahead of Juan Ayuso.
But before entering the final Montjuic circuit, the second intermediate sprint saw Ayuso take the win and gather that 1 second back, putting himself back in the provisional lead once again - with the accumulate of finishing positions becoming the deciding factor. As soon as the riders entered the final circuit the attacks began to come but the truth is the pace was very high and no-one managed to go far.
With three laps to go Primoz Roglic hit the front right at the bottom of the climb to Montjuic, pushing the pace to the limit before sprinting over the top, opening a gap to Egan Bernal and Juan Ayuso who followed in the wheel. He began to build a solo lead, then chased by Quinn SImmons and Simon Yates.
The two were caught by a strong attack from Enric Mas in the peloton, but into the final lap there was only a peloton chasing the Slovenian despite Ayuso's struggles. In the final ascent Lennert van Eetvelt and Laurens de Plus moved from the peloton to chase the Slovenian, but had to settle for minor places and Roglic truly showed his top level and took a brilliant stage win, conquering the overall classification in the process.
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Gaio Primus Caesar Roglus, Rome is waiting for you, Imperator :-)).
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- I don't think so, maybe in a different GT, not in the Tour. Last year, to be 3rd, he would have to be better than Remco. And he wasn't, on any terrainvappaxbipmv03-04-2025
- Or sprinting, or against wind. I think by now they’ve optimised the tire tech and pressures to largely smooth out rider weight effects. BUT, I’m going to go through past podiums to see what weight distribution trends are to be spotted coz I’m curious now.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- I also wasn’t too impressed by the final lead out, they’ve got to practice that, Wout had far too long to ride alone but then again it seemed as if the lead-outs had themselves run out of steam too early which is what makes me believe none of them could have won, Powfull looked totally fresh and in the end it was just a case of him being stronger than the others, not much you can do against that, just like you can’t outdo MVDP in the end when he’s in shape.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Exactly, a rider (or sprinter in athletics) can’t even tell themselves when it will happen until it does. Obviously if you have an idea that could happen, you should maybe envisage testing your theory with perhaps an small sharp attack well before race-end.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Yes but 20 minutes as a domestique isn’t 20 minutes as a leader, and you know as well as anybody that Pog winning is in no way a guarantee. Granted, neither Pog nor Remco nor Jinas nor Primoz or some more winning starts to seem far-fetched but a podium would certainly be targetable if he doesn’t have to worry about Jonas.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- The final appeal he lost against his old team for « breaking » his contract.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- How exactly is that a good thing on cobbles or flat? Lower weight is only beneficial on a climbvappaxbipmv03-04-2025
- I said much better, not better. He probably will improve but right now he needs about 20 minutes of free time to win the Tour against Pogacar. And the was offered leadership in Giro and other races but turned it downvappaxbipmv03-04-2025
- If niermann this he can predict cramps, that would be helpful for a lot of people around the world. It was the standard strategy for Benoot and Jorgensen to attack and they should haveabstractengineer03-04-2025
- Wow! People have to understand that being light is absolutely a good thing on cobbles, as bouncing means you have to lift yourself over and over again. Being a lighter cyclist is always a good thing (ceteris paribus), unless you're going downhill.acem8203-04-2025