Roglic wins stage 19 to take Vuelta lead off O’Connor

Primoz Roglic claimed an impressive victory in stage 19 of the Vuelta a Espana to finally jump ahead of Ben O’Connor in the general classification.

Three-time Vuelta champion Roglic started the day five seconds behind the Australian but now leads by 1min 54secs.

Roglic’s team Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe led for most of the stage and the Slovenian pulled ahead with just under 5km to go before closing out a composed ride.

O’Connor took the overall lead from Roglic in stage six and had led after every stage until Friday, but his advantage had been significantly reduced in recent stages.

Spanish rider Enrique Mas remains third in the general classification and – after slipping to fourth in the stage having earlier been second – is now 2min 20secs behind Roglic.

Saturday’s stage 20 is the penultimate stage of the Vuelta, a mountainous 172km ride from Villarcayo to Picon Blanco.

The race finishes with an individual time trial on Sunday.

Stage 19 results

1. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull – Bora-Hansgrohe) 3hrs 54mins 55secs

2. David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama – FDJ) +46secs

3. Mattias Skjelmose (Den/Lidl-Trek) Same time

4. Enrique Mas (Spa/Movistar) +50 secs

5. Mikel Landa (Spa/Soudal – Quick-Step) +57secs

6. Carlos Rodriguez (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) Same time

7. Eddie Dunbar (Irl/Team Jayco Alula) +1min 1sec

8. Sepp Kuss (US/Team Visma – Lease a Bike) Same time

9. Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education-EasyPost) +1min 3secs

10. Florian Lipowitz (Ger/Red Bull – Bora-Hansgrohe) +1min 23secs

General classification after stage 19

1. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull – Bora-Hansgrohe) 76hrs 43mins 36secs

2. Ben O’Connor (Aus/Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale) +1min 54secs

3. Enrique Mas (Spa/Movistar) +2mins 20secs

4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education-EasyPost) +2mins 54secs

5. David Gaudi (Fra/Groupama – FDJ) +4mins 33secs

6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den/Lidl-Trek) +4mins 47secs

7. Carlos Rodriguez (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) +4mins 55secs

8. Florian Lipowitz (Ger/Red Bull – Bora-Hansgrohe) +5mins 55secs

9. Mikel Landa (Spa/Soudal – Quick-Step) +6mins 40secs

10. Pavel Sivakov (Fra/UAE Team Emirates) +7mins 39secs