Vuelta a Espana 2019 news - Bradley Wiggins praises 'phenomenal' Primoz Roglic

Grand Tour winner Wiggins praised Roglic for maturing over the course of the last few years in order to fulfill his potential and win the Vuelta.

The 29-year-old Slovenian Jumbo-Visma rider was, Wiggins said: "No longer a talent in my eyes. He’s no living up to his expectation, he’s fulfilling his potential as a cyclist.

"He’s now a grand tour winner and that’s a very small club to be in. And he’s done it within six years of riding a bike – it's phenomenal really.

"We’ve been speaking this race about the twenty-year-olds, Pogacar winning three stages, cycling is full of them at the moment: Remco Evenepoel, Mathieu van de Poel, Egan Bernal of course winning the Tour de France."

Wiggins picked out the fact that Roglic has been riding professionally for just six years, saying: "This guy has only been riding a bike for six years and it’s phenomenal what he’s done and let’s not forget Tour de France fourth place last year and his stage win of course there.

Speaking on Eurosport's coverage of the third and final Grand Tour of the year, Wiggins looked back at Roglic's path to victory after he lost focus as Jumbo-Visma.

"I think there were some things we questioned... particularly the stopping for a wee at the time that they did! At such a crucial moment of the race when he needed some neutral support," Wiggins explained.

"Whether it cost him the Giro or not we’ll never know but what that did do is make them think a bit. Sometimes you can take this sport for granted, you can take your position for granted, and maybe his dominance up to that point in that Giro, in that season, arguably could have been taken for granted. But what they’ve done since then they’ve turned it around - look at the TDF they had.

"And he’s come here and they’ve rectified it. They’ve not dwelt on the past, he’s come here and not complained, and they’ve won, and they can rival or even topple Ineos next season.