Primoz Roglic successfully defended La Vuelta title, holding off Ineos’ Richard Carapaz in the last stage of this prestigious contest.
In another interesting finish, the Slovenian cyclist managed to rebuff Carapaz’s push in the penultimate stage, which took place in the mountains, at the Alto de la Covatilla.
As promised, our #LFRSeasonRider for 2020 season, picked by LFR staff
He started his season on 21/6, winning – and ended it on 8/11. Winning.
12 victories in 2020 season, achieving the incredible double GT+Monument in the same season.
Primoz Roglic is the best rider of 2020 pic.twitter.com/ZcVYEbv2ab
— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) November 8, 2020
That would prevent him from seeing another devastating defeat, following a tragic Tour de France failure, once he lost the whole race to his countryman, Tadej Pogacar, in an unreal fashion. Roglic was ahead of Pogacar but somehow dropped what seemed to be a sure victory, allowing a massive sensation. He managed to lose two minutes of advantage, something not seen in the near past of this prominent event.
This time, Roglic had more power and, more importantly, mental strength, which would allow them to hold off Carapaz’s attack. The distance between the two rivals was 24 seconds.
Hugh Carthy from Britain won third place appearing for EF Pro Cycling, having a 75-second gap between him and the winner. Dan Martin from the Republic of Ireland ended fourth riding Israel Start-Up Nation, with 2 minutes and 43 seconds behind.
The 18th stage from Zarzuela to Madrid marked the ending of this year’s edition, the 75th overall. Pascal Ackerman won it, finishing the 139.6 kilometers long track in 3hr 28min and 13sec. Sam Bennet was behind, as well as Mac Kanter.
This might not be the replacement for Tour de France, but will most definitely improve the Slovenian’s impression about the current season. He won Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Milan – San Remo monument races, adding the second Vuelta to his resume.
It seems that the Jumbo-Visma team is a good environment for Roglic, who evolved into a fantastic rider, and apparently, the cooperation between the two sides would continue throughout the upcoming season as well.
The entire season in cycling was pretty chaotic, with the COVID-19 pandemic putting all sorts of problems before the teams, fans, and especially the organizers. All the races were rescheduled, and the riders had to encounter some pretty unusual factors during their contests.
Rain, wind, cold, especially in the mountains, were something usual, and it seems that such situations had a massive impact on the results throughout the campaign.
After Pogacar at Tour, and Tao Geoghegan Hart at Giro, the cycling world saw Roglic completing the list of winners of all three majors, putting an end to an unusual couple of months.