Primoz Roglic's ability to bounce back from the disappointment of the Tour de France with success in the Vuelta a España showed no signs of waning on Tuesday.

Roglic, who was the fastest of the main contenders with a top-10 finish in the opening time trial in Lisbon, had already shown on the first stage that he was on the road to recovery from the broken back that caused him to abandon the Tour de France.

However, rather than assuming that he would automatically lead the GC pack on the climbs, both he and the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team were cautious after the ITT in Lisbon, as being in good shape in the time trial does not necessarily mean one is in good shape in the mountains.

Just 72 hours later, in the sweltering heat of western Spain, the 34-year-old Roglic quickly put that question mark to rest.

The fastest in a small group of seven, Roglic might have lost the sprint had it not been for a rookie mistake by Renate van Eotveldt (Lotto Doustony), who raised her arms too early. More impressive, however, was the fact that he led the race almost from the bottom to the top on the steepest section of the Ville Elkas.

Indeed, it is too early to say that Roglic has definitively dominated the Vuelta. [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] I was lucky today.

Given that the time difference between rivals like Kuss and Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) was more than a minute, and if Villeherkas was good enough to know who his rivals in the Vuelta were, the Slovenian said, “It is always better to be a little ahead than behind .”, a line that was a staple of the ”School of Roglic.”

“But this is only the beginning of the race. Enjoy the stages, take it one day at a time, and do your best.”

In both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, no one would have realized that the winner of the first big mountain stage (Oropa, Italy, and Galibier two months later) would also be the eventual overall winner, due to his discretion. At least for Roglic's rivals, injuries, of course, must have considerably diminished the Slovenian's ability as a veteran and his ambition to win a record fourth Vuelta title.

Nevertheless, it remains to be seen what they can do, and as Roglic points out, there will be no shortage of opportunities to challenge him, especially with 17 stages of the most mountainous Vuelta of the century coming up.

For now, we return to the same scenario as the 2019, 2020, and 2021 Vuelta, with Roglic leading the pack in Spain. [...] [...] [...]