When Primož Roglič, on the wheel of his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammate Florian Lipowitz, rode away from the small group of favourites on the ultra-steep slopes towards the top of the Cuitu Negru climb today at the Vuelta a España, there was a sense that he was about to land a killer blow in the race for the red jersey.
The Slovenian went into the stage placed second on GC, already with a sizable lead of 1:40 over the next highest placed rider behind, and was fast eating into the lead of Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), which had plummeted from 4:51 ten days ago to just 1:21. Momentum in the GC race had swung firmly towards him, especially on Thursday’s finishing climb of Puerto de Ancares, where he was head and shoulders above the other GC contenders, reaching the top over half a minute before all of them. So when, on Cuitu Negru, he emerged from Lipowitz’s wheel 2km from the top, it seemed that the only question left to ask was how much time would he gain.
However, as has often been the case throughout this unpredictable Vuelta, such a conclusion proved to be premature. Despite spinning the pedals with apparent ease and not showing any signs of struggling even on such steep gradients, Roglič did not simply ride away from everyone. Instead, emerging out of this mist behind him came a shape, and before long that shape had latched onto Roglič’s wheel.
Once he’d bridged up to and had come into focus, it became clear that that shape was Enric Mas (Movistar). The Spaniard had jumped out of the small chasing group of favourites that formed behind Roglič, and, in contrast to his struggles two days ago, this time, had the legs to match the Slovenian. Not only that, Mas even managed to drop him inside the final kilometre. For the first time in a while, Roglič was under pressure, and the Vuelta was suddenly very much in play.
To his credit, Roglič never panicked or went into the red, and paced himself up the rest of the especially brutal gradients so that he clawed his Spanish rival back by the top, conceding no time. But that couldn’t obscure the fact that Roglič was not the outright strongest today, and had for once been placed on the back foot.
Mas’ performance today raises the question: can he win the red jersey? In terms of his current GC standing, he has a lot of ground to make up. He ends the second week in third overall, but a considerable 1:20 behind Roglič. With another time trial to come on the final day, twice as long as the opening stage against the clock, he can still expect to lose perhaps up to a minute, leaving him with even more ground to make up in the mountains. And Roglič aside, Mas still has 2:23 on Ben O’Connor if he is to leapfrog him on GC after the Australian dug deep to impressively limit his losses to the minimum today and stay in the red jersey. Perhaps Mas should be worrying more about moving up from third place to second, before setting his sights on first.
Image by SWPix.com
But as someone who has finished second on GC at this race on less than three occasions already, surely Mas won’t be content with being the bridesmaid yet again? He is, arguably, the best GC rider in the peloton never to have won a Grand Tour, boasting an exceptionally consistent record, with four more top six finishes at Grand Tours on top of those the three runner-up finishes, but has always lacked the killer instinct required to take the top step.
While Mas might have a big deficit to make up on Roglič, he has shown flashes of form during this Vuelta to suggest that it is not insurmountable — and that he is indeed riding ambitiously in search of overall victory rather than another podium finish. After all, today was not the only time he has put him under pressure with an attack. On stage nine, he launched a bold long-range move on the Alto de Hazallanas to go solo away from Roglič and the rest of the peloton, putting distance between himself and them with a significant gap. Were it not for the following descent, on which he was reeled back in (partly as a result of a technical mishap that almost saw him fall), Mas’ deficit would be considerably smaller already.
The fact Mas succeeded in dropping Roglič that day, and, albeit only temporarily, again today, will give him confidence that he can do so again. And there are still plenty of opportunities to come during the final week of the Vuelta. The famous Lagos de Covadonga climb awaits on Tuesday, while Saturday’s gruelling day in the mountains on the penultimate stage is the toughest of the whole race. Remembering that Roglič has a history of weakening towards the end of Grand Tours, suddenly his lead over Mas doesn’t look quite so secure.
In a Vuelta of seemingly countless twists and turns, there are sure to be more during the final week. Might the final, decisive twist be an Enric Mas coup of overall victory? Don’t count against it.
*Cover image by ASO
