Cycling: Primoz Roglic has won the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Espana and thus taken over the red jersey. He won the first mountain finish in a sprint from a heavily depleted group of favorites ahead of Lennert van Eetvelt.
Roglic achieves the double blow
This demanding mountain finish simply suits him. Primois Roglic (Bora – hansgrohe) has won the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Espana. The Slovenian also takes over the red jersey. He is now eight seconds ahead of Joao almeida (UAE), who obviously had problems following the attacks today. But the Portuguese proved once again that he can always come back and is difficult to leave behind in the long term. Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto – Dstny). The young Belgian started shortly before the finish line and thought he was already the winner. He cheered – but then Roglic passed him. Austria’s Felix Gall (Decathlon - Ag2r La Mondiale) was among the best. On the 170,5 kilometer long section from Plasencia to Pico Villuercas, four mountain classifications had to be completed. The executioner for the top favorites for the red jersey was the final climb. The Pico Villuercas is only 14,6 kilometers long and has an average gradient of 6,2 percent, but this seemingly endless mountain stretches over a length of 2,9 kilometers with a whopping 13,4 percent gradient.
Moniquet takes over the mountain jersey
For a long time, a five-man breakaway group was able to dominate the race. Bruno Armirail (Decathlon – Ag2r La Mondiale), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto – Dstny), Filippo Zana (Jayco – AlUla), Pablo Castrillo (Kern Pharma) and Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel – Euskadi) were awarded a lead of several minutes. Moniquet won the mountain classifications at Puerto de Cabezabellosa and Alto de Piornal. This means he will start tomorrow in the mountain jersey. However, he was caught up with Zana and Bizkarra just 30 kilometers from the finish. Armirail and Castrillo fought back until the final climb, but had no chance of winning the day against the pace dictated by Bora – hansgrohe in particular.
Van Eetvelt levantó the mano… y le comieron the tostada.
¡Primoz Roglic se lleva la etapa en el Pico Villuercas y es el nuevo líder de #LaVuelta24! #VueltaRTVE20A https://t.co/rVpylF5m6T pic.twitter.com/ZV1nDJSKVt
- Teledeporte (@teledeporte) August 20, 2024