Remco Evenepoel, beware! Primoz Roglic will 'only settle for first' in La Vuelta red jersey battle
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Updated 06/09/2022 at 14:52 GMT
Primoz Roglic has six more chances to unseat Remco Evenepoel in the red jersey at La Vuelta – although realistically, his best hopes to claw back time will come on Thursday’s Stage 18 and Saturday’s Stage 20. Ahead of the final week, Roglic is 1’34” adrift of Evenepoel in the general classification, with Enric Mas in third at 2’01”. Stream La Vuelta live and on-demand on discovery+.
Roglic 'will only settle for first' in red jersey battle
Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) has no interest in settling for second place at La Vuelta and will risk everything to unravel Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) in the final week, according to Eurosport expert Dan Lloyd.
Roglic clawed back time on leader Evenepoel on a blistering weekend of action, which saw the Slovenian close to within 1’34” of his rival in the general classification.
The Vuelta appeared to be turning into a procession when Evenepoel blew apart the individual time trial on Stage 10 to open up a gap approaching three minutes, but the Belgian’s crash on Stage 12 and a sub-par showing in the mountains at the weekend have injected fresh life into the red jersey battle.
The setbacks have fuelled further questions about his ability to last the full three weeks at a Grand Tour.
“He’s never been in this situation before in a race of this level,” said Lloyd.
“He’ll be well aware that Roglic will only settle for first, he won’t settle in second place and be happy with it. He’ll also be well aware that Roglic’s team is still pretty strong here.”
Just one week stands between Evenepoel and a maiden Grand Tour title, with the fate of the red jersey likely resting on Thursday’s Stage 18 and Saturday’s Stage 20.
“This is getting closer and closer, the more this race goes on. So hopefully with a couple of days to go the top three will be within 10 seconds. Fingers crossed,” said Adam Blythe on The Breakaway ahead of Stage 16.
“It’s so evenly matched at the minute. Mas is taking time, Roglic is taking time and day by day Remco is losing little bit by little bit. I can’t wait for this week, it’s going to be cracking.”
Saturday’s stage in particular has been earmarked by Evenepoel, who said he will need his “best legs” to survive the see-saw terrain.
On that penultimate stage, Lloyd said: “I think Remco described it perfectly: it’s up, then it’s down, then it’s up, then it’s down, then it’s up, then it’s down, then it’s up again.
“But that is not what we’ve seen in a lot of this Vuelta. It’s been a lot of summit finishes but without too much that comes before.
“You might look at the climbs on that day and say they are not hard on their own, maybe the percentages are not as high as they could be.
“But it’s them [the climbs] coming back to back, and also the terrain in between, that’s going to be a really important day for Quick-Step - that they don’t let any Jumbo-Visma riders go up the road.
"And if they do, then [they make sure] they’ve got their own riders there as well. Because it’s a perfect place for an ambush.”
Not that the 2022 Vuelta is just a two-horse race. Enric Mas (Movistar) is still in contention for the top prize despite slipping under the radar amid the Remco v Roglic hype.
“Mas is benefitting from us and everyone concentrating on those two, but he’s slowly creeping his way back,” said Blythe.
“The only thing with Mas I would say is that he doesn’t have that punch like Remco and Primoz. So every time it comes down to a finish he’ll probably be third out of those three riders. So for him, he has to take time and he needs to go long.”
Mas finished second on Sunday’s queen stage behind Thymen Arensman (DSM) to cement his position on the podium. Now the Spaniard has a decision: stick or twist?
“I think he’ll be looking at the other day, on the Sierra-Nevada, and thinking ‘well, I went there and nobody followed me so who knows, maybe I’ll get the same opportunity again this week,’ said Lloyd.
“It just might give him more confidence to lay it all on the line and try to win this race, as opposed to finishing on the podium which he’s done a few times before.”
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