Primoz Roglic's (Red Bull-Borla-Hansgrohe) roller-coaster Vuelta a España showed no signs of letting up on Sunday as the Slovenian star failed to mount a widely anticipated attack in the toughest mountain stage to date He showed no signs of letting up on Sunday.

Just 24 hours earlier, Roglic had attacked on a blizzard-like climb in Cazorla on stage 8, winning his second summit finish victory and nearly a minute ahead of race leader Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale).

But on the challenging Granada terrain, Roglic not only failed to drop O'Connor, but also failed to react when GC threat Enric Mas (Movistar) charged up the Alto de Hazarillanas climb.

Mas' move was reeled in on the long, fast descent back to Granada and the finish, but the Slovenian later explained that he had back problems from a crash in the Tour de France and, most importantly, “no legs.”

When I pointed out to three-time Vuelta a España winner Roglic that his unexpectedly passive role in Hazaranas was a sign that he was struggling and that he was staying near the back of the breakaway group Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), more than half of the chase group. Rich quickly agreed. [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...]