BarcelonaThe reigning champion of the Vuelta a España, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) has been forced to withdraw because of the injuries he sustained when he fell yesterday a few meters from the arrival of the stage. Roglic, second overall and winner of the last three editions of the race, was getting closer little by little to the leader of the general classification, the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, who he had cut two minutes to in 1 minute and 26 seconds. In yesterday’s stage, however, he fell when he was contesting the sprint to win it. He was able to finish it, but with injuries that have caused him to retire today.
His loss means that Majorcan Enric Mas (Movistar) moves up to second position, two minutes behind Evenepoel. Mas has already finished second in the Vuelta twice in his career, and will now try to take advantage of Evenepoel’s fatigue to dream of winning. And the Barcelona resident in the Valencian Country Juan Ayuso climbs up to third place, in a new step forward for the young runner of his team, the UAE Team Emirates. Ayuso is 4.49 from Evenepoel.
Roglic has not started this Wednesday’s stage of the 2022 Tour between Aracena (Huelva) and the monastery of Tentudia (Badajoz), of 162.3 kilometers, as he suffers from “polycontusions, superficial wounds to the elbow, hip and knee on the right side that required local care.”
