After days and weeks of edging ever closer, Primož Roglič finally lifted the red GC leader's jersey from the shoulders of Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), on stage 19 of the Vuelta a España.
He made an impressive solo escape on the final climb to take a stage win that had not been in the plan, he said afterwards.
"I said I don't need the stage," he said with a shake of the head afterwards. "I will not say their names, but some guys decided 'we don't listen to anybody, we pull,'
"So, we had nothing else to do, in the end we had to make a call," he added. "We had to be all on the same side, so yeah, then we go for it."
Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe rider Roglič and his team alike looked to be on imperious form as they swept up the day's early break on the foot of the final climb to Alto de Moncalvillo in northern Spain, before unleashing a race-winning attack halfway up.
It saw Roglič win solo by 51 seconds over runner-up, and 1:49 ahead of O'Connor, who simply could not find an answer to the Slovenian's push.
O'Connor now sits in second place, 1:54 behind Roglič, with Mas third at 2:20.
However, it was far from 'job done', Roglič added afterwards, pointing to two hard days to come: "We say all the time, 'Queen stage to come'... It will be super hard. And still we don't do the normal laps in Madrid, it's again a decisive day for the GC time trial, so it's far from done."
Of the considerable GC time gap to O'Connor, Roglič said: "[I'm] definitely amazed. It's better than five minutes behind [a reference to his deficit after stage six]. I'm happy with the way I'm functioning and happy with the guys."
If he does go on to win on Sunday, it would be Roglič's fourth victory in the race, which he last won in 2021.
Speaking afterwards, the Aussie said he had not been able to perform as well as he'd hoped on the Moncalvillo, but that he and his team would do their best to keep hold of second place over the next two days.
"I was a bit broken at the end. I actually felt pretty good until halfway," he said. Of Red Bull's attack, he added: "I wasn't really surprised, but I didn't expect myself to be so bad at the end. I was a bit average to be honest. But that's just the reality."
Asked what was on his mind, having worn red since winning stage six, he said: "Monday, having beers, sitting on the terrace and relaxing."
How it happened
Friday's 19th stage of the Vuelta revolved around two climbs – the category-three Puerto de Pradilla, which came 93km into the 168.5km parcours, and the first-category summit finish to Alto de Moncalvillo.
Described as the most challenging climb in the Rioja region, the Montcalvillo's 8.6km slopes register a hefty average gradient of 8.9%, with 15% ramps around halfway up.
The peloton fielded and brought back numerous attacks in the opening 25km, before the five-man group of Isaac Del Toro (UAE-Team Emirates), Simone Petillo and Vito Braet (both Intermarché-Wanty), Fran Miholjević (Bahrain Victorious) and Eddy Plankaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
The gap rose quickly to more than five minutes, but did not stay there for long, and began to fall well before the race reached the first climb of the Pradilla.
With 50km to go, Braet had returned to the peloton and the gap to the break was below two minutes.
Roglic's Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team were already riding hard on the front, apparently with a purposeful eye on the finish.
The break was still out front come the bottom of the climb of the Montcalvillo and began attacking each other as they reached it. However, with Red-Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe drilling it on the front, the catch was inevitable, and it was made within 2km of the bottom of the climb.
The German team, amassed on the front, continued to set a very high pace. With 5.8km to go, the hammer went down and, still seated, Roglič was towed off the front by two team-mates, dropping everyone else behind. Ben O'Connor and the rest of Roglič's top-10 rivals, could only look on.
Five hundred metres later, having opened a 30-second gap on the rest and taken virtual red, Roglič was ready to fly solo.
Both Enric Mas (Movistar) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) sensed weakness in O'Connor, gapping the Australian with attacks of their own.
But Roglič, impassive and pushing his trademark high cadence, never looked in trouble, riding on ahead to take a GC lead that will be difficult to overturn.
Results
Vuelta a España 2024, Stage 19: Logroño > Alto de Montcalvillo, 168.5km
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, in 3:54:55
2. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, +46s
3. Matthias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, at s.t.
4. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, +50s
5. Mikel Landa (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step, +57s
6. Carlos Rodríguez (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers, at s.t.
7. Eddy Dunbar (Irl) Jayco-AlUla, +1:01
8. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, at s.t.
9. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +1:03
10. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:23
General Classification after Stage 19
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, in 76:43:46
2. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, +1:54
3. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, +2:20
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +2:54
5. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, +4:33
6. Matthias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +4:47
7. Carlos Rodríguez (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers, +4:55
8. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +5:55
9. Mikel Landa (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step, +6:40
10. Pavel Sivakov (Fra) UAE-Team Emirates, +7:39
