“Roglic is a very smart rider who, certainly in the beginning will try to play a bit with Evenepoel" - Could early bonus seconds be key at the Vuelta a Espana?
Cycling
The stacked Vuelta a Espana startlist means this year's edition of the Spanish Grand Tour is one of the hardest to predict in many years. Primoz Roglic will be one half of a two-pronged Jumbo-Visma team that will hope to dethrone Remco Evenepoel.
On the Vuelta course this year, bonus second sprints are spread out throughout stages. Jan Hermsen of Eurosport on their pre-Vuelta podcast, Kop over kop, can see the Slovenian making things incredibly difficult for Evenepoel thanks to these bonus sprints.
“Roglic is a very smart rider who, certainly in the beginning will try to play a bit with Evenepoel," Hermsen predicts. "He will try to make Evenepoel eager. Roglic is very good at that. Because of those bonuses, that is the game that will be played.”
The duo went to head-to-head at last year's Vuelta when Roglic had to abandon with Evenepoel victorious and the Giro d'Italia earlier this year where the roles were reversed. “Roglic will use those seconds to put Evenepoel under a bit of pressure, without really taking that time. He continues to stir up trouble. To sprint or not to sprint? And will Evenepoel take some time? Then the next day it's the other way around. A psychological game. It will be very interesting to see how that develops.”
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
Loading
GC results over the last 10 stage races they finished. Roglič: 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 8th, 1st, 1st, 1st, 15th (3 DNFs, all GTs) Vingegaard: 1st, 1st, 1st, 3rd, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 6th, 2nd (no DNFs) Pogačar: 2nd, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 3rd (no DNFs)
2 Comments