Roglic and his team, Jumbo Visma, were in control at all times in what was quite an entertaining stage, as the Euskaltel team wanted to celebrate that the Vuelta was coming to the Basque Country to attack again and again. Valencia’s Joan Bou, in fact, gave the Basque team the first position when passing through the port of Opakua, with the roads full of local fans, especially encouraging the son of the land Mikel Landa.
The Dutch team, however, has simmered the stage to allow Roglic to reach the group of big favorites on the final ramp. Two rebels like the Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and the Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) have waged war, but with the support of Sepp Kuss, Roglic always had the script under control. Thus, on the final ramp the Slovenian looked like an adult competing against children, imposing an electric pace that allowed him to win with a time of 3.31.05, with an average of 43.3 km/h. The Danish Mads Pedersen (Trek) was second and the Mallorcan Enric Mas (Movistar) came third, thus leaving a positive message after a year of hardships.
Now Roglic leads the general classification followed by the American resident in Catalonia Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma), 13 seconds behind. The British Ethan Hayter (Ineos) is third at 26 seconds. In the first four stages of the Vuelta, four different cyclists of the Jumbo Visma have dressed in red, passing each other the red jersey as if it were a game. First it was Robert Gesink, then Mike Teunissen and Edoardo Affini and finally Roglic. The Jumbo Visma won the first stage of this edition, a team time trial in Utrecht, in the Netherlands, the country that has hosted the first three stages this year. In the first one on the Peninsula, in Basque lands, he continued his dominance with the step forward of a Roglic who aspires to match Roberto Heras, so far the only champion cyclist in four editions of the test. At 32 years old, the Slovenian wants to do it by stringing together four consecutive triumphs, a milestone never achieved by anyone.
This Wednesday, the fifth stage will be contested between Irun and Bilbao, with a route of 187.2 km through the middle of the mountain.
