Slovenia's Primoz Roglic wins third straight Vuelta a Espana title

Slovenia's Primoz Roglic sealed a third successive Vuelta a Espana title after wrapping up the final time-trial stage on Sunday

The Slovenian becomes the third rider to have won the Spanish Grand Tour three times joining Tony Rominger of Switzerland (1992, 1993, 1994) and Spain's Roberto Heras (2003, 2004, 2005).

The Jumbo-Visma rider finished 14 seconds ahead of his closest rival, Magnus Cort Nielsen, in the 33km time-trial at Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, the 21st and final stage.

That gifted Roglic the biggest overall winning margin, of 4min 42sec, since 1997.

Spain's Movistar rider Enric Mas, whom Roglic lapped on the time trial -- a discipline in which he is Olympic champion, finished second, with Australian Jack Haig of Bahrain Victorious rounding out the podium. 

Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick Step) won the Green sprinters Jersey.

Gino Mäder (Bahrain Victorious) won the best young riders White Jersey 

Bahrain Victorious won the team competition,

Michael Storer (Team DSM) won the King of the Mountains Blue Polka Dot Jersey

Magnus Cort Nielsen was awarded the most combative rider of La Vuelta 21, he took three amazing stage wins and came a close second behind Roglic too.

Primoz Roglic said to the media, "Sometimes you win by a big difference, sometimes by a little, but any way of winning is fantastic, we watched it day by day. I did my best and enjoyed it. It was a tough last stage," the 31-year-old added. "I just tried to focus on the stage today and do my very best. It's unbelievable, it's crazy."

Jumbo-Visma sports director Grischa Niermann said it was "great to finish the Vuelta in this way".

"We knew that Primoz would be the big favourite for today's time trial. He still had to go deep, but he managed to win the time trial. A great day."

Niermann added: "When I look back at the last three Vueltas, this is the first edition where we had everything under control the entire race.

"I think we played it well. I realise how special it is to win for the third time in a row."

Primoz Roglic continued "I'm honoured to be in this place."

VIDEO: 2021 La Vuelta Stage 21 Highlights

2021 La Vuelta Stage 21 Top 10

1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma 0:44:02
2 Magnus Cort (Den) EF Edcuation-Nippo 0:00:14
3 Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team DSM 0:00:51
4 Josef Cerny (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:01:16
5 Chad Haga (USA) Team DSM 0:01:43
6 Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:01:49
7 Felix Großschartner (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:52
8 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:01:52
9 Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar 0:02:04
10 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:02:06

2021 La Vuelta Final Over General Classification

1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma 83:55:29
2 Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team 0:04:42
3 Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious 0:07:39
4 Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:09:06
5 Gino Mäder (Swi) Bahrain Victorious 0:11:33
6 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:13:37
7 David de la Cruz (Spa) UAE Team Emirates 0:18:32
8 Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma 0:18:54
9 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:20:26
10 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:22:21