Primoz Roglic on Thursday moved closer to clinching his third consecutive Vuelta a Espana title after increasing his lead on the final test in the high mountains, while Miguel Angel Lopez won the demanding 18th stage.
Lopez held off a late attack by Roglic to claim the 162km route that crested three mountain passes before a finish atop the beyond-category Altu d’El Gamoniteiru.
It is the first time the Spanish Grand Tour has included the grueling ascent with an average gradient of nearly 10 percent over 14.6km.
Photo: EPA-EFE / Tim De Waele / Getty
Lopez broke away from the group of the hardiest riders, including Roglic, with about 5km to go and overtook David de la Cruz in the fog that obscured the vision of the valleys below.
Michael Storer was eyeing a third win at this year’s Vuelta when he started the final ascent with a 2 minute advantage, but he soon saw that crumble as the top riders picked up the pace on the grueling upward haul.
Lopez gave Movistar their first win at this year’s race, finishing in 4 hours, 41 minutes, 21 seconds.
“It has been four years since I won in the Vuelta,” Lopez said. “To do it today in the ‘queen’ stage makes me proud.”
Roglic dropped Lopez’s teammate Enric Mas and Egan Bernal of Ineos over the final meters to finish second, 14 seconds behind Lopez.
Roglic, the Team Jumbo-Visma leader, added a few seconds to his lead in the general classification.
Mas is his nearest chaser at 2 minutes, 30 seconds behind with three stages to go. Lopez is third, 2:53 behind.
“It’s nice [to be out of the mountains]. We are all feeling the efforts from the last two days and the weeks before,” Roglic said. “I still think there are some super hard stages to come. Hopefully, we can do our best and finish it off.”
Stage 19 yesterday took the riders over 191km from Tapia to Monforte de Lemos. After another hilly ride today, the race concludes with an individual time trial in Santiago de Compostela tomorrow.
Roglic won the race’s time trial on its opening stage, so Mas and Lopez would likely have to try to finally break Roglic in the hills if they hope to win.
Additional reporting by AFP
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