It was morning air for Primoz Roglic, who has won the three-week race three times, and when he pulled away from O’Connor with a couple of kilometers to go, the hunt for the leader’s jersey began – he took 38 seconds.
– I guess I have proved that those people wrongly thought I would lose the jersey, says the Australian O’Connor, who caught the speculation ahead of perhaps the toughest stage, the 15th, in this year’s Vuelta.
Roglic started the stage 1.21 behind leader O’Connor and after the rest day on Monday, the Slovenian will be 43 seconds behind as the race reaches its third and final week with a restart on Tuesday.
Finish in Madrid next Sunday
Today’s stage was not particularly long, 143 kilometers, but a jagged track profile with four heavy climbs made the challenge great. The final hill up to the finish in fog-shrouded Cuiu Negru at an altitude of 1,847 meters was 19 kilometers long with an average gradient of 7.4 percent.
Pablo Castrillo won the stage after putting in a powerful push with three kilometers to go. It was the Spaniard’s second stage win in this year’s Vuelta.
The race finishes in Madrid next Sunday and is the third Grand Tour of the year after the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France.