Roglic cuts into O’Connor’s Vuelta lead with stage 8 win | Vuelta a España

Primoz Roglic attacked on the climb to the finish on Saturday to win the eighth stage of the Vuelta a España, taking valuable time off Ben O’Connor’s lead.

Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) had to work hard to shake off the Australian in the red jersey, but the Slovenian eventually paid off and took his second stage win of the race.

Spaniard Enric Mas (Movistar) was beaten at the finish by Roglic and had to settle for second place, while his compatriot Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) finished in third.
O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) finished 17th, 46 seconds behind Roglic who also earned a 10-second bonus. The gap to the leader is now three minutes and 49 seconds.

Roglic was expected to attempt to make up time on O’Connor during the 159-kilometre stage from Ubeda to Cazorla. It was a medium-difficult mountain stage, but with a steep uphill finish. The Slovenian showed his strength when it mattered.

“The opportunity was there and I took it. It was tough, hot. I was lucky, I had the legs to do it today,” Roglic said.

In the final kilometres, three riders rode ahead, and behind them Roglic set the tone for the peloton, with several riders falling.

Roglic made a few attempts to get away and O’Connor initially tried to dig deep to stay on his rival’s wheel, but in the final two kilometres Roglic took off, with Mas the only one to follow him.

They overtook the riders ahead of them and Mas took the lead 400 metres from the finish, but Roglic had the strongest pace and took the win and the all-important bonus.

Mas climbed from fourth to third in the general classification, while João Almeida dropped in the general classification, after finishing almost five minutes behind the winner.

Sunday’s stage ninth takes the riders over 178.5 kilometres from Motril to Granada. With tougher climbs along the way, O’Connor could see his lead shrink even further if Roglic attacks again before Monday’s rest day.

“I’m going to race every day at full speed, just see how I react to all this input to my body after a tough period with my injury. I still feel it, so we’ll see,” Roglic said.