'A situation we didn't expect' - Roglic hangs tough in first Vuelta mountain test

There was precious little Roglič or anyone else could do when Pogačar stormed clear on the Collada de Beixalis with 50km to go. But once the maillot rojo disappeared around the corner, Roglič et al could get on with the race within a race for second place.

Roglič’s preparation for this Vuelta was disrupted by a heavy training crash in late July, and his participation in the race was not confirmed until the week before the start in Monaco. This short but arduous mountain stage in Andorra was the first real test of his recovery, and Roglič held up well over the Beixalis, Coll d’Ordino and Alto de Comella, finishing in the chasing group that came in 2:39 behind Pogačar. He moves up to second overall, 3:21 off his unassailable compatriot.

Speaking to reporters outside the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe bus at the finish, sports director Sven Vanthourenhout acknowledged that he would gladly have signed for the outcome before the start.

“Yes, I can confirm that: that’s also what we said in the car when we entered the last descent, that we always should sign for this situation,” said Vanthourenhout. “We are really happy with the situation like it is now today.”

Pogačar, as has been the case all season, was in a league entirely of his own here, even if Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) managed to track his winning acceleration for 300m or so on the Collada de Beixalis before sagely tapping out. Roglič and the other podium contenders, by contrast, already knew there was nothing to be done.

“Today you have also Felix Gall that was trying to follow him, but then on a certain point you have to make a decision as a team that you are riding for place two,” said Vanthourenhout, who expressed some surprise at Decathlon’s aggression in the early part of the stage. Gall’s squad was aggressive on the first ascent of the Envalira, an effort that stripped Pogacar of some teammates without ever troubling the man himself.

“Was I surprised? Actually, yes, because in this way of racing you are just helping UAE, I think. You make the race harder and so you make it easier for someone like Pogacar. But anyway, they have a strong team here. They took it on with six guys. They delivered actually a really nice performance. Would I do it? No. But if these are the opportunities or the days that they pointed out before the Vuelta, then it is what it is…”

Roglič’s ambition, in any case, was to survive the first GC shake-up alongside the best of the rest, and he succeeded in that endeavour. In the Red Bull car, Vanthourenhout confessed that he had breathed a quiet sigh of relief atop each ascent, heartened by Roglič’s ability to last the pace.

“To be honest, there was never a sign that he was struggling or that he had a hard moment. After every climb, we thought, ‘Another one done, another one done with good signs,’” Vanthourenhout said. “And the moment when he bridged over to Gall and [Oscar] Onley was quite impressive, he was quite strong. We were actually never in trouble today.”

A troubled build-up to the Vuelta is nothing new for Roglič, who crashed out of the Tour before his victories in 2021 and 2024, and that experience looks to have stood him in good stead in the weeks since the training crash that disrupted his preparation this time around. 

“I think the only positive thing was that it happened with a rider that has a lot of experience,” Vanthourenhout said. “In his previous years, he also had to handle crashes and bad moments and so on, so that for sure helped him towards this Vuelta, it helped him not to get in panic and so on.”

Pogačar is already out of sight at this Vuelta, but that was always something of an inevitability. The suspense at this Vuelta was always likely to be generated by the race for second place, and Roglič is currently in pole position. 

“We are in a really good situation and a situation that we didn’t expect, to be honest,” Vanthourenhout said. “We knew this was the first stage where everyone put all the cards on the table, and we are happy like it is now.”