Cycling

Primoz Roglic takes red jersey after fourth stage of Vuelta a Espana

Roglic burst past Belgium’s Lennert van Eetvelt who was celebrating a potential maiden Grand Tour win prematurely

Primoz Roglic (right) and Lennert Van Eetvelt sprint to cross the finish line in first and second place respectively at the end of the stage four of the Vuelta a Espana between Plasencia and Pico Villuercas. Photograph: Oscar Del Pozo/AFP via Getty Images)
Primoz Roglic (right) and Lennert Van Eetvelt sprint to cross the finish line in first and second place respectively at the end of the stage four of the Vuelta a Espana between Plasencia and Pico Villuercas. Photograph: Oscar Del Pozo/AFP via Getty Images)
Tue Aug 20 2024 - 18:34

Three-times former champion Primoz Roglic won the first mountain stage of this year’s Vuelta a Espana as he showed his strength at the end of a ferocious climb to Pico Villuercas on Tuesday.

On a baking hot 170km fourth stage in which the peloton crossed from Portugal into Spain for the first time, Roglic burst past Lennert van Eetvelt to snatch the win.

Belgium’s Van Eetvelt paid the price for celebrating what would have been a maiden Grand Tour stage win too early, raising his arm in triumph then banging his handlebars in frustration as Roglic sneaked past on the line.

Slovenian Roglic moved into the overall race lead for the first time, taking the red jersey from Belgium’s Wout Van Aert.

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“It was not the main objective of the day [to win the stage],” Roglic told Eurosport. “But when you see the guys fighting hard in this heat I was happy to finish it off.”

The first day for the general classification contenders to play their cards saw Roglic put down a marker while Portugal’s Joao Almeida finished third on the stage and is second in the overall standings, eight seconds back.

Spaniard Enrique Mas also finished strongly and is third overall 32 seconds back while compatriot Mikel Landa made an impressive late surge to reach the front before being overtaken.

But it was a disappointing day for American defending champion Sepp Kuss, who lost 28 seconds to Roglic and is more than one minute behind overall.

A tough stage featuring four categorised climbs was decided on the last of them as the two remaining members of a breakaway group – Pablo Castrillo and Bruno Armirail – were caught.

The 14km Pico Villuercas climb topped out at 20 per cent gradients in places, shredding the lead group with several big names unable to stay in contact with the front.

Landa launched the first attack inside the kilometre but was unable to sustain it and it was left for Van Eetvelt, Roglic, Mas, Almeida and Felix Gall to fight it out.

Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar finished 41st on the stage and is 38th overall, while Darren Rafferty placed 118th on Tuesday and is 108th on GC.