Primoz Roglic is on the verge of his fourth overall victory at the 79th Vuelta. The Slovenian confidently defended the red leader's jersey on the penultimate stage with the mountain finish on the Picon Blanco.
In third place, Roglic gained a few more seconds on his first rival Ben O'Connor at the end of the 172 km long royal stage with almost 5,000 meters of climbing. The Australian finished sixth on the day. Roglic now goes into the final individual time trial over 24.6 kilometers in Madrid with a lead of 2:02 minutes over O'Connor.
The day's victory went to Ireland's Eddie Dunbar, who had already won the eleventh stage - then as a breakaway rider. This time, the 28-year-old Dunbar benefited from the fact that the favorites for the overall victory were all chasing each other on the eight-kilometer final climb. In the end, he saved seven seconds of his lead to the finish.
As the 2021 Olympic champion, Roglic clearly has the better cards than his rivals in the battle against the clock on Sunday. With the expected fourth overall victory (after 2019, 2020 and 2020), the Slovenian would catch up with record winner Roberto Heras. The Spaniard also won his home race four times in the 2000s.
SDA
