Two days after he lost La Roja to Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) proved to be the strongest on the mighty slopes of Cazorla, where he powered to the win at the end of stage 8 of La Vuelta 24. The Slovenian 3-time winner of the Spanish Grand Tour took matters in his own hands to gain almost a minute on his Australian rival, while taking his 2nd victory in this edition, his 14th since his debut in the race in 2019 (and even the 15th with the opening TTT of the 2022 edition). A strong breakaway had emerged after a massive battle in the first 70 kilometres of the stage but Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan) was caught inside the last kilometre. And more battles await the riders on Sunday, with one of the queen stages of this edition, towards Granada.
The peloton of La Vuelta 24 face emblematic roads with a stage entirely set in the province of Jaen. They will cover 158.7km and overcome 2,380m of elevation from Ubeda to the summit finish in Cazorla, on the eve of one of the queen stages of La Vuelta, towards Granada.
A huge battle for the break
Such a terrain inspires attackers and leads to an immense battle for the breakaway. Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), Gijs Leemreize (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) and Harold Tejada (Astana Qazastan) are the first riders to make their move stick, after they covered 51km in the first hour.
They are joined 13km further into the race by five more attackers: Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek), Luca Vergallito (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis). The pace eventually drops down in the peloton and the gap goes up to 5’12’’ at km 84.
Roglic unleashes his power
Israel Premier Tech take the reins of the bunch and bring the gap down to 3’20’’ atop the cat-2 ascent of Puerto Mirador de las Palomas (km 105.1). Leemreize is already dropped. His former breakaway companions attack each other but they stick together until the last 15 kilometres, with a lead down to 1’35’’.
Tejada and Lazkano up the ante and only Vergallito can keep up. The Colombian climber attacks again on the final ascent, Sierra de Cazorla (cat. 3): 4.8km at 7.1%, with slopes up to 20%.
In the bunch, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe quickly up the ante and Primoz Roglic attacks several times to drop Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale). Only Enric Mas (Movistar) can keep up with the Slovenian 3-time winner of La Vuelta, who powers to victory at the summit. O’Connor finishes 46’’ behind. His GC lead is down to 3’49’’.
