“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?

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.”