A fourth stage win and La Roja! Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) made the most of the individual time-trial of La Vuelta 2020, a 33.7km challenge from Muros to the uphill finish at Mirador de Ézaro. The Slovenian champion edged Will Barta (CCC Team) for 1’’ and put some distance between him and his rivals for the overall victory of the Spanish Grand Tour. Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), who was wearing La Roja on these demanding roads, is now second overall, with a gap of 39’’. Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) impressed again two days after his stage victory on L’Angliru: 4th of the stage (+25’’). Roglic already won the individual time-trial last year and kept La Roja until the finish in Madrid.
Mickaël Delage (Groupama-FDJ) is the first rider to start from Muros but Harry Tanfield (AG2R La Mondiale) is the first rider to reach the Mirador de Ézaro, atop a brutal final climb: 1.8km at 14.8% with a maximum gradient of almost 30%. The young British rider sets an interesting time of 48’52’’ but he is quickly beaten by a strong performance from the Australian rouleur Alex Edmondson (Mitchelton-Scott): 48’24’’, with an average speed of 41.777km/h over 33.7km.
Barta upsets Oliveira and Cavagna
Both of them are beaten by a flying Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick Step). The “TGV (high-speed train) from Clermont-Ferrand” makes his way through the wind to take the provisional lead at the second intermediate split, at km 24.5 (30’42’’, 8’’ ahead of Tanfield and 18’’ better than Edmondson). He then powers to the hot seat on the final climb, with a time of 47’37’’ (42.464km/h).
Cavagna comfortably stays on the hot seat for almost one hour, until Nelson Oliveira consistently dominates him in the intermediate splits. The Portuguese pushes his advantage on the final climb and clocks a time of 46’49’’ (43.190km/h). But Will Barta (CCC Team) quickly threatens this performance. The Portuguese and the American are tied at the intermediate splits. Barta eventually takes the lead with a 9’’ advantage on the line and an average speed of 43.329km/h.
Strong start for Carthy, great finish for Roglic
Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) is the last rider off the ramp with La Roja, at 16:36. Among the GC contenders, Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) has the best start, gaining 2’’ on Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and 6’’ on Richard Carapaz after 12km. Roglic takes the helm at km 24.5. Barta still leads by 17’’ but the Slovenian star is now 1’’ ahead of Carthy while Carapaz loses 19’’.
Roglic eventually powers to victory on the mighty slopes of Mirador de Ézaro with a time of 46’39’’ (43.344km/h), only 1’’ ahead of Barta! Carthy sets the fourth best time, 25’’ behind Roglic. Carapaz finishes 7th, with a gap of 49’’.
