Primoz Roglic Blitzes Time Trial to take Over La Vuelta Race Lead

Quintana, López and Valverde vow to attack Roglic after losing time in Vuelta a España time trial 

After a well-deserved rest day, it was time to get back to racing with an Individual time trial of 36 hilly kilometres. The start was in Jurancon and took the riders past the vineyards in southern France to the finish in Pau, which already saw this year’s Tour de France TT finish.

The Jumbo-Visma rider won the 36-kilometer 10th stage in the French city Pau with a time that was 25 seconds faster than second-place Patrick Bevin (CCC). Frenchman Remi Cavagna of team Deceuninck-Quick-Step was third, 27 seconds off the lead.

”I’m happy with the performance, for sure,” said Roglic. ”The goal was to try to go as fast as possible all the time and, yeah, it was enough in the end.”

Roglic, only the second Slovenian to take the Vuelta lead, opened a gap of nearly two minutes over second-place Alejandro Valverde.

”It was everything as expected,” Valverde said. ”Roglic was the favorite for this time trial and he showed why. I had a decent time trial. There is a long way to go and we are still in it.”

Third-place Miguel Angel Lopez fell more than 2 minutes behind Roglic.

”We will have a lot of opportunities,” the Colombian rider said. ”Hopefully we will still be in the fight in the end.”

Valverde’s teammate Nairo Quintana, who was wearing the leader’s red jersey entering Tuesday’s stage, dropped to fourth place, three minutes off the lead.

”Three minutes is a lot,” the Colombian said. ”In this situation we have lost races and we have won races. We have nothing to lose. We are at least going to try.”

On Wednesday, riders return to Spain in a mid-mountain 11th stage of 180 kilometers from Saint-Palais to Urdax which could see a breakawat of a bunch sprint. 

Friday's Stage 13 is the one not to miss, an extremely challenging stage, dishing up seven mountain passes: four 3rd category climbs, two 2nd category, and an HC finale at the top of Los Machucos. The teams will find it hard to control the race, with its very demanding finish providing the first true test to reveal those riders with a real chance of becoming the overall winner of La Vuelta 19.

VIDEO: La Vuelta Stage 10 Highlights

2019 La Vuelta Stage 10 Top 10

Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma    0:47:06
Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team    0:47:30
Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep    0:47:32
Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First    0:47:53
Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team    0:48:07
Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale    0:48:19
Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal    0:48:26
Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team    0:48:27
Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Merida    0:48:33
Daniel Martinez (Col) EF Education First    0:48:33

2019 La Vuelta GC after Stage 10

1 Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 36:05:29
2 Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) +01’52”
3 Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) +02’11”
4 Nairo Quintana (Movistar) +03’00”
5 Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +03’05”
6 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Lotto Soudal) +04’59”
7 Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) +05’42”
8 Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) +05’49”
9 Dylan Teuns (Bahrian-erida) +06’07”
10 Wilco Kelderman (Team Suweb) +06’25”