Jaws clenched, final pushes on the bike, pedalling with soul rather than legs and, suddenly, the blood that does not reach the brain. That is what happened to Van Eetvelt (Lotto), who, when he was about to cross the finish line, raised his right arm as a symbol of victory, take it. And take it, disappointment. More than anything because in those tenths of a second of useless celebration, perhaps to save the photo, his opportunity probably vanished; Roglic appeared, cannibal that he is, and deprived him of the laurel and the joy, also explaining to him that in sport, as in life, you have to fight until the end. Photo finish for the Slovenian, for the three-time Vuelta champion, for the strongest. In his wake, Mas, Landa and Almeida, the other candidates from the start, while riders like Carapaz, Carlos Rodríguez and Kuss are suddenly blurred, a real slap in the face of reality.
It turns out that on the fourth day, the team looked up. After a short time trial and after two days in which the heat slowed down the race, where the peloton, despite sweating profusely, did not even bother to avoid the breakaways because it was known that everything would end in the end. sprint, sweet far nothing Without any surprises or more joys than those provided by Euskaltel and Kern Pharma as the hosts of the party, the cyclists got into it St. Vitus’s dance for what was to come, through the winding and imperial Pico Villuercas; 14.6 km of port with a cumulative gradient of about 1,000 meters and an average gradient of 6.2%, although with stretches leg breaker 20%, those that make you wonder why you chose the bike. It was the day of cotton, the day that would say who was in the running for the Vuelta. And Roglic made it clear that he has plenty of legs.
It was one of those days in which the teams rejected chance, all concerned with arguing that their leaders were ready to tread the Vuelta. Thus, the peloton no longer allowed the first attempts at escape, riders with divided ambitions, those who suggested that a good escape could end in a happy ending, because the stage was steep, the mountain passes followed one another, the goal was dreamed of. Nanay. There was, in any case, a massive fall in which Ineos came out the worst off, among them its leading sword Carlos Rodríguez. Also, of course, there were five lonely riders who took advantage of the first steep slopes to open up a gap -Armirail (FDJ), Zana (Jayco), Pablo Castrillo (Kern Pharma), Bizkarra (Euskaltel) and Moniquet (Lotto), the new mountain jersey to Maté’s dismay-, to enjoy a three-minute lead. This was made possible by Bora, Roglic’s accomplices. There were still many kilometres of arid land dotted with olive trees and wheat, hunting areas, barns and livestock, heat and more heat. Then, little villages that adorned the road, balconies decorated with almond leaves, traditional bars, ladies and men sheltering in the shade, many of them sitting on plastic chairs to greet with excitement the organisation cars that were the advance guard, to then applaud with joy the hard-working riders.
But it was not a day to comfort oneself with the locals but to look up, already on the slopes of the cliff of horrorsthen with only two escapees (Castrillo and Almirail) less than two minutes away, with Bora pushing the pace so that Roglic could say this is mine. Although there were many who wanted to take part in the party: Movistar working for Mas; EF for Carapaz; UAE for Almeida; and no news from Visma. In any case, it was difficult for them to get into a diabolical rhythm, one that would fray and exhaust the peloton, that would strain the legs, that would burn the lungs. Until the last eight kilometres were reached, when the decibels rose; until the last five were reached, then reigned by UAE, the most powerful team in the peloton, the one that absorbed the escapees, the one that wants to complete the trefoil with Almeida after Pogacar’s epic with the Giro and the Tour; and until there were three left, when Sivakov blew up the race, a fleeting escape but a clear cut, the natural selection of the favourites.
Felix Gall (AG2R) surprised everyone by opening a gap, but Roglic, a leg-grinder, decided to set his pace and there the others will see, enough to catch him and stay with Mas and Van Eetvelt as his only travelling companions. Disfigured faces, bike from one side to the other because the slope, the rough asphalt, was difficult, and the daisy was stripped, since only Almeida and Landa, who arrived last from behind, raised their finger to ask to compete in the Vuelta. Landa even dared to try a sprint In the end, however, he fell short. The same thing happened to Van Eetvelt, perhaps because he celebrated too soon. But the day of cotton, the day of the sieve, the day of here I am, was for Roglic.
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