BarcelonaPrimoz Roglic will win the Vuelta Ciclista in Spain, Superman Lopez will always be remembered as the first to crown the Gamoniteiru and David de la Cruz will return home with his head held high. The main stage of the Vuelta Ciclista in Spain, with more than 162 km between Salas and the top of the Gamoniteiru, had been designed with the aim of offering cycling enthusiasts a show like those of other eras. A journey through the fog of an Asturian peak where the Vuelta had never climbed that served to confirm the dominance of a Primoz Roglic that almost does not double, after having won on Wednesday in the lakes of Covadonga.
The 31-year-old Slovenian, on his way to winning the Vuelta for the third time in a row, has always controlled the stage from behind. And only a brave attack by Colombian Movistar Miguel Ángel López five kilometers from the end surprised him a little. Superman Lopez took 14 seconds off Roglic when he reached a cold peak, covered in fog, after climbing a narrow road that doesn’t scare a Colombian who seems to give his best, when the road is hard. López took 20 of his teammate, the Mallorcan Enric Mas, who has defended the second position in the general with three stages to go. López is still third, while another Colombian, Egan Bernal, could not scratch the second to get close to the podium despite trying one after the other with his attacks.
In cycling, only one runner wins, but others can walk with their heads held high, such as Bernal and the Sabadell UAE’s David de la Cruz, who attacked 30 km from the finish line at the top of the Segá, and reached dreaming of what would have been an epic triumph after catching another cyclist with a giant heart, the Australian Michael Storer, who was having a good time alone, against everything. In the end, the Vallès native was caught by López 3 km from the end and is now eleventh in the general, with options to get his head in the top 10 of the general.
Neither was able to stop the passage of López, who has given Movistar an important stage victory, just on the day it was confirmed that they were losing Carlos Verona. Without triumphs and with the feeling that they had not been able to respond to Roglic on Wednesday, the Movistar have celebrated the victory of a cyclist born in the cradle of so many Colombian climbers, the Boyacá. López, who already won the Loze pass of the 2020 Tour, as well as in two mountain stages of the Vuelta a 2017, is confirmed as one of the best climbers in the group today, on the way to what will be his third podium in a Great turn. He has been to the Vuelta and the Giro before. He is missing the Tour.
In the general classification Roglic takes 2.30 to Mas and 2.53 to López. The 19th stage, half mountain, will be between Tapia de Casariegos and Monforte de Lemos, 191.2 km.
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