Evenepoel retains Vuelta lead at as main rival Roglič drops out

Following three days of time loss to his chief rival, Remco Evenepoel’s chances of winning the Vuelta a España took a boost on Wednesday with the news that that rival, Primož Roglič, would no longer be part of the race.

Roglič crashed heavily at the end of Tuesday’s stage and while his Jumbo-Visma team hoped he would be well enough to continue, it announced on Wednesday morning that his Vuelta was over. Enric Mas (Movistar Team), the rider who had been sitting third overall, became Evenepoel’s biggest threat but his two minute and one second deficit meant that the Spaniard has a lot to do in the remaining stages if he is to win the race in Madrid on Sunday.

Mas attacked repeatedly on the final climb of Wednesday’s stage to the Monasterio de Tentudía but was marked each time by Evenepoel. They crossed the line slightly over five minutes behind the day’s winner Rigoberto Úran (EF Education-EasyPost), who was part of a 13-man breakaway.

The Colombian rider unleashed a powerful surge inside the final kilometre and held off the Frenchman Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), completing the prestigious treble of stage wins in the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta.

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Mas remains two minutes and one second behind Evenepoel with four stages remaining. The race leader said prior to Wednesday’s race that he regretted the withdrawal of Roglič.

“I feel sad,” he said. “It’s not nice to lose a big competitor, a big champion and one of the top guys in the race like this. It’s a loss for the race and a pity for him and the team. They’ve worked hard for La Vuelta. I feel sorry for them.

“I think from here on I can only wish the best to him and that he recovers well,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lara Gillespie became the first Irish stage winner in eight years at the Rás na mBan, taking the opening 75.3 kilometre stage of the race in Callan. The Irish national team rider blasted home first in a big sprint to the line, beating British trio Kate Richardson (Alba Development Road Team), Jessica Finney (Cams-Basso) and Madelaine Leech (Cams-Basso). Another Irish rider, Fiona Mangan (IBCT-RDL Team), was sixth.

Former junior European points race champion Gillespie was delighted with the win, not least because the last Irish stage success was Olivia Dillon, in Ballyvaughan, back in 2014.

“I am really, really happy. It’s a bit emotional, that’s how happy I am,” Gillespie said. “I’m really proud to get an Irish girl to the front again. We needed that in the past few years so I am really happy that we did it today and pulled it off. It was a complete team effort, it wasn’t just me.

“We had a really good lead-out, I had Linda [Kelly], Kelly [Murphy], Eve [McCrystal] all leading me out. It was just so perfect. I was into the bend on the third wheel, maybe. Then two girls went and I just went, ‘okay, I need to get in front of them.’ I was really scared that someone was going to come up behind me so I just gave it my all.”

Gillespie will wear the first leader’s jersey on Thursday’s stage two from Kilkenny to Inistioge, and also tops the Sport Ireland points classification and the WomensCycling.ie young rider competitions. Dani Shrosbree (Cams Racing) will wear the IVCA Wicklow 200 Queen of the Mountains jersey due to beating Caoimhe O’Brien (Cycling Leinster) to take the day’s sole categorised climb at Curragawn. O’Brien will wear the best Irish rider jersey.

Meanwhile Matthew Teggart (WiV SunGod) continues to hold the intermediate sprint jersey in the Tour of Britain. He has 18 points, 10 more than his team-mate Ben Perry. Spain’s Gonzalo Serrano (Movistar Team) won stage four and now leads the race with four days to go.

Rás na mBan stage 1, Kilkenny to Callan: 1 Lara Gillespie (Ireland National Team) 75.3km in 1:51.40, 2 K Richardson (Alba Development Road Team), 3 J Finney (Cams-Basso) both same time, 4 M Leech (Cams-Basso) at 1″, 5 T Keep (Team LDN-Brother UK) at 2″, 6 F Mangan (IBCT-RDL Team) same time.

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022