On Friday, the Vuelta a España finally reclaimed the race leader's red jersey as three-time overall winner and Slovenian veteran Primos Roglic showed his destructive climbing ability with his team. [A GC contender as dangerous as Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) gained a five-minute advantage thanks to a strong first week breakaway and stage win.

Nevertheless, when O'Connor's lead was reduced to just five seconds by Roglic on stage 16 at Lagos de Covadonga, the red takeover this weekend seemed almost a formality. But after Roglic and his two teammates, Aleksandr Vlasov and Dani Martinez, pulled away from the entire field at the halfway point in Moncalvillo, the Slovenian was alone in the pack.

Even Roglic's rival Enric Mas (Movistar), who took his 15th stage win on the summit, had one of the most tenacious chases throughout the Vuelta, and was passed by David Gaudou (Groupama-FDJ) and Matthias Skjelmoes (Lidl-Trek) straight to the finish line O'Connor, on the other hand, was the race leader. [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] Tomorrow's ultra-difficult mountain treks in Burgos and Cantabria will present serious challenges for the German team, including the race's final summit finish in the Picon Blanco.

Despite this victory, Roglic also admitted to suffering from a back injury and a crash in the Tour de France. Finally, Roglic did not mince words about the difficulty of the final mountain stage, one of the toughest Grand Tours to date.

“To be honest, I still feel the pain. Especially on a day like today, when you put in a big effort, you feel the pain in the last kilometer. I've done the Vuelta a Burgos last year and the Vuelta a España a few years ago, and I climbed the last climb tomorrow,”

”I'm still sore, especially after three weeks. It's going to be very hard, especially after three weeks.”

“All the climbs will be hard, and after such a tough race it will feel twice as hard as usual.”

But despite the potential uncertainty on the road to a fourth win, Roglic's latest alpine performance in Montcarvillo has made him a driving force in the Vuelta. The battle for the red may not be over yet, but with O'Connor's convincing win and other rivals upset on the climbs of the Vuelta, this is definitely the race that Roglic will lose from now on (and for the fourth time in six years). [...] [...] [...]