'I couldn't imagine even to ride a bike': Roglic sits top 10 before Andorra test

Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) said he never expected to start the Andorra stage inside the top 10 on general classification, having spent the weeks ahead of Vuelta unable to ride following a collision with a car.

The Slovenian was hit by a car during a training ride in late July, an incident that cost him the Clásica San Sebastián and the Vuelta a Burgos and left his participation here in doubt until Red Bull confirmed him days before the start in Monaco.

"Quite crazy, I didn't imagine before the start to already be in this kind of position," Roglič said to the media, including Domestique. "But on the other hand, it was not really mountains, so we will see today how I will react and how I will do in the mountains."

He is right that the climbing has been minimal. After the Monaco prologue and the reduced sprint in Manosque, Monday's stage to Font Romeu was cancelled on the Col de Mont-Louis when a hailstorm forced the peloton off the road, leaving the first summit finish undecided and every classification unchanged.

That makes Tuesday the first proper read on where his condition is.

"Like I told a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't imagine even to ride a bike, so now I'm here and I'm here to do my best," he said.

Red Bull have been careful about what they expect. Lead sport director Sven Vanthourenhout has said the team's first objective is stage wins, with the general classification a secondary target given how Roglič's preparation went after the crash.

The stage ahead offers nowhere to hide. It runs 104.8 kilometres with over 3,000 metres of climbing, starting and finishing in Andorra la Vella, and packs in three category one climbs. 

The Port d'Envalira comes almost immediately, 23.2 kilometres at 4.9 per cent to the highest paved pass in the Pyrenees, before the Collada de Beixalis at 6.5 kilometres and 8.5 per cent and the Coll d'Ordino at 9.9 kilometres and 7 per cent. The category three Alto de la Comella tops out 4.8 kilometres from the line.

Roglič was in good spirits at the start, and credited the change in weather for some of it. "I'm just happy, it's a nice day, you know, everyone has a lot nicer weather compared to yesterday, so we will see how we finish and we go on."

A fifth Vuelta title would take him past Roberto Heras, whose four wins he currently equals, and make him the outright record holder at 36. 

Pogačar leads the race by nine seconds from Wout van Aert and ten from Matthew Brennan, with Léo Bisiaux and Jay Vine the only other climbers alongside Roglič in the top 10.

With the gaps still small and a short, explosive stage ahead, Roglič knows there will be little room to recover.

"A lot of suffering, but it will be a short stage, full gas until the finish," he said.