After three weeks of racing, Primož Roglič was topped victorious in Madrid as he gained the Vuelta a España for a record-equalling fourth time. The Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider safely navigated the streets of the Spanish capital within the last stage time trial to safe the general victory forward of Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Enric Mas (Movistar).
His win places him stage with Roberto Heras for probably the most general victories within the race’s historical past and after Tadej Pogačar’s exploits at each Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, Roglič’s victory additionally marks a clear sweep for Slovenia within the Grand Excursions this season.
When requested in his post-race interview about the opportunity of a record-breaking fifth win, Roglič replied “it’s by no means sufficient, however to begin with it’s loopy to have already got 4, so I simply wish to take pleasure in it”.
In the meantime, after years of being a virtually man, Stefan Küng lastly gained the primary Grand Tour stage of his profession, as he took the victory on the ultimate stage of the race with a dominant efficiency. The Groupama-FDJ rider flew across the 24.6km-long course to high the timing sheets with a time of 26 minutes and 28 seconds, placing half a minute into Roglič in second place.
This win may even give him numerous confidence going into the remainder of the season forward of his dwelling World Championships in Zurich later this month. In his post-race interview, Küng mentioned “there are numerous massive particular person time trials developing and whenever you get the arrogance you simply wish to keep on the wave”.
There was just one change within the top-10 on the final classification on the ultimate day, as Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) leapfrogged David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) to take fifth place after a horrific time trial from the Frenchman.
The 23-year-old Dane additionally gained the youth classification, with Jay Vine (UAE Staff Emirates) and Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) additionally getting across the course unscathed to win the mountains and factors classifications respectively.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
The ultimate Grand Tour stage of the season was a quick time trial across the streets of Madrid, with the riders making their manner into town centre from the north. The course was comparatively flat with a number of sweeping corners, which meant that it lent itself to the pure specialists who have been in a position to produce the very best energy numbers.
Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) was the primary recognised time trialist off the ramp and he set the primary benchmark time of the day, however regarded shaky by means of the corners as he struggled together with his double disc wheel set-up which his teammate Wout van Aert used on the Olympics.
The Italian’s time was shortly surpassed by Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny), who would keep within the scorching seat for someday earlier than Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) dethroned the Belgian with an surprising robust efficiency. In the meantime, Filippo Baroncini (UAE Staff Emirates) was setting fast instances out heading in the right direction and it was not lengthy earlier than he crossed the road to set the brand new quickest time.
When Stefan Küng rolled off the beginning ramp although, it was clear that he was on a mission to win the stage, as he smashed the quickest instances at each intermediate splits and put 44 seconds into Baroncini’s time on the end with a mean pace of 55.8km/h.
Küng completed his run with the riders within the top-15 general nonetheless but to take to the beginning ramp, however his blisteringly fast time meant that he may relaxation pretty simply within the scorching seat.
Although a number of the minor placings within the general standings have been nonetheless considerably up for grabs, it was clear that the stage was extra about getting across the course and making it to the end than taking time or competing for the stage win for most of the fatigued basic classification contenders.
The one rider who even got here remotely near difficult Küng’s time was Primož Roglič, who set the second finest time on the stage at 31 seconds down.
It was nonetheless sufficient for the Slovenian to place but extra time into all of his rivals within the basic classification although, taking his general margin of victory to 2 minutes and 36 seconds over Ben O’Connor in second place.
The 2024 Vuelta a España concluded with the standard podium celebrations, as Roglič added one more maillot rojo to his assortment.
With the final Grand Tour of the yr over, we will now stay up for the rest of the season and the thrilling races nonetheless to return as we close to the top of one more yr of racing.
RESULTS: VUELTA A ESPAÑA 2024, STAGE 21, MADRID > MADRID (24.6KM)
1. Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ, in 26:28
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +31s
3. Matteo Cattaneo (Ita) Soudal Fast-Step, +42s
4. Filippo Baroncini (Ita) UAE Staff Emirates, +43s
5. Mauro Schmid (Swi) Jayco AlUla, +46s
6. Mathias Vacek (Cze) Lidl-Trek, +52s
7. Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Dstny, +56s
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +1:02
9. Harry Sweeny (Aus) EF Training-EasyPost, +1:03
10. Bruno Armirail (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, at similar time
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 21
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, in 81:49:18
2. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, +2:36
3. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, +3:13
4. Richard Carapaz (Eu) EF Training-EasyPost, +4:02
5. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +5:49
6. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, +6:32
7. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +7:05
8. Mikel Landa (Spa) Soudal Fast-Step, +8:48
9. Pavel Sivakov (Fra) UAE-Staff Emirates, +10:04
10. Carlos Rodríguez (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers, +11:19