The road to overall victory for Primoš Roglic in this Vuelta a España became as narrow and steep as the road from the Asturian cidre town of Nava to the summit of Les Praires. Given the brilliance of Lemco Evenpoel, the stage 9 finale was likely to be an exercise in damage minimization for Roglic.

The climb up to Les Pères is less than 4 km long, but the steep gradient is sure to pack a dizzying punch. The now-famous Evenpoel launched a strong attack just 500 meters into the climb, and although Roglic withstood the first blow, he had to surrender with just over 3 km to go.

The Asturian had previously soloed the road to Lagos de Covadonga a year earlier for his third overall win. On Sunday afternoon, Roglic's solitude was atrocious. He fought the gradient alone as not only Evenpoel but also younger riders such as Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) and Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos) left him.

With a mile of strenuous slopes still to come, Roglic was already 40 seconds ahead of Evenpoel, but he stemmed the tide somewhat on the final slope of Les Preurs. Rodriguez and Enric Mas (Movistar) reached the summit as far as they could see, but they had a 52-second gap on Evenpoel. On the second rest day of the Vuelta, Roglic remains in third place overall, but the gap to Evenpoel has increased to 1:53

Roglic has always been a man of his word, both in victory and in defeat. Perhaps the road had already said enough.

"Primosch is not 100% yet, but he's almost ready to fight," said Grischa Niermann, Jumbo-Visma's sports director. 'We had hoped Primosh would stay in Evenpoel, but no one could keep up with Lemko. He is not a leader for nothing. This was another fair climb. The best separated the rest."

The best separated the rest.

Roglic, who broke two vertebrae on an ill-fated trip to the Tour de France, came to this Vuelta with a question mark over his form. After winning stage 4 in La Guardia, Roglic briefly took the red jersey, but two days later, he lost more than a minute to Evenpoel on the climb to Pico Jano.

Meanwhile, on Saturday's first stage of the Asturian double-header, Colau Funkuaya, Roglic raced to the summit with Evenpoel to steady his challenge.

"I didn't expect him to get away from Lemko. I wanted to limit the damage today. The hole is huge." But Primosch did a great job of limiting the damage, and we still have two weeks to go."

Still, Roglic will have to hope that Evenpoel's momentum begins to stall sooner rather than later. The Belgian may be a youngster in the Grand Tour, but his lead has already stretched to the point where he could prevent him from winning in Madrid. Under normal circumstances, Tuesday's time trial in Alicante would be hailed as a chance for the underdog, but this time he has a rival eager to test him over the 30.9km.

"I don't think there will be a big gap between Primoz and Lemko on Tuesday, but there are other riders who want to get a time. We'll keep fighting, but of course we wanted to get closer."

The battle is complicated by the loss of Zep Kus, an important mountain domestique for Roglic. The American was surprisingly quiet in Colau Funkuaya, and Jumbo Visma did not have to wait long for an explanation. Cus had a fever on Saturday evening and abandoned the race before the start of stage 9.

In an interview with Eurosport before the start in Villaviciosa, Adi Engels admitted that Cus, who finished eighth overall the year before, was an irreplaceable support for Roglic in Spain.

"Nobody," Engels replied. 'It would be unfair to say that Robert Gesink, Sam Omen, or whoever has to take his place. We must make the best plan we can now to support Primosch, but we must be realistic. Without Sepp, Primozh will have to ride a bit more alone on the final climb."

That was certainly the case in Les Preurs. On Tuesday's road to Alicante, another personal effort will reveal the full extent of the task ahead.