Roglic wins record-equalling fourth Vuelta title

Primoz Roglic has won a record-equalling fourth consecutive Vuelta a Espana title after safely getting through the final individual time trial stage.

The Slovenian’s triumph means he pulls level with Roberto Heras, who won the event four times between 2000 and 2005.

Roglic, 34, went into stage 21 – a 26.4km time trial – with a two minute and two second lead over Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale’s Ben O’Connor.

And the Bora-Hansgrohe rider finished second on that stage to confirm his victory.

Roglic, who took the overall race lead from Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale’s O’Connor after winning stage 19, clocked a stage time of 26 minutes and 59 seconds. He finished with an overall time of 81 hours 49 minutes 18 seconds.

“I had to go for it or it is even harder so I pushed,” Roglic said. “At the end it was hard.

“We [me and my team] all sacrifice, we all live for it. I feel happy I could do it and I appreciate it.”

Switzerland’s Stefan Kung won the final stage with a time of 26:28 and Italian Mattia Cattaneo came third with 26:70.

“It’s always nice if you win with more than half a minute, it shows you were absolutely the best, there was no coincidence today,” Kung, who won his first Grand Tour stage, said.

“It’s really nice. It finally repays all the work we do as a team. I always try to be professional and to get the maximum out of myself. It feels good.”

The only change to the general classification standings came with Danish rider Mattias Skjelmose moving into fifth after an impressive eighth-place finish in the last stage.

It meant France’s David Gaudu finished overall in sixth.

Stage 21 results

1. Stefan Kung (Sui/Groupama-FDJ) 26mins 28secs

2. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull – Bora-Hansgrohe) +31secs

3. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita/T-Rex Quick-Step) +42secs

4. Filippo Baroncini (Ita/UAE Team Emirates) +43secs

5. Mauro Schmid (Sui/Team Jayco Alula) +46secs

6. Mathias Vacek (Cze/Lidl-Trek) +52secs

7. Victor Campenaerts (Bel/Lotto Dstny) +54secs

8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den/Lidl-Trek) +1min 2secs

9. Harry Sweeny (Aus/EF Education – Easypost) +1min 3secs

10. Bruno Armirail (Fra/Decathlon AG2R Monidale Team) Same time

General classification

1. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull – Bora-Hansgrohe) 81hrs 49mins 18secs

2. Ben O’Connor (Aus/Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale) +2min 36secs

3. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +3mins 13secs

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

5. Mattias Skjelmose (Den/Lidl-Trek) +5mins 49secs

6. David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama – FDJ) +6mins 32secs

7. Florian Lipowitz (Ger/Red Bull – Bora-Hansgrohe) +7mins 5secs

8. Mikel Landa (Spa/Soudal – Quick-Step) +8mins 48secs

9. Pavel Sivakov (Fra/UAE Team Emirates) +10mins 4secs

10. Carlos Rodriguez (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) +11mins 19secs