It's all in the eye of the beholder. By his own standards, Primož Roglič has looked relatively subdued on the last two summit finishes at the Vuelta a España, but perhaps the home excitement sparked by Enric Mas' accelerations has had a distorting effect on how one views this race.
Roglič ultimately lost no time on the Movistar man at Cuitu Negru and at Lagos de Covadonga, drawing inexorably closer to Ben O'Connor's red jersey in the process. With four stages remaining, including a final time trial that clearly favours him, Roglič is just five seconds behind O'Connor and 1:20 ahead of Mas. He is, in many respects, the de facto race leader and, for most observers, still the most likely winner in Madrid.
Unlike his last Vuelta victory three years ago, when Roglič consistently demonstrated his superiority to his rivals every time the road climbed, the Slovenian has cut his cloth a little more carefully this time out. That is understandable, perhaps, in light of the fractured vertebra that forced him out of the Tour de France in July.
There were stage wins at Pico Villuercas and Cazorla, of course, and a possibly decisive exhibition on the Puerto de Ancares on stage 13, but there have also been days where Roglič has been content – and on occasion perhaps even compelled – simply to follow his rivals.
By Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe directeur sportif Patxi Vila's telling, Roglič is simply managing the race as best he can. In Arnuero on Wednesday morning, Vila dismissed the idea that Roglič has in recent days been nursing the back injury sustained at the Tour, insisting that his conservative approach was simply a function of the current race situation.
"No, there's nothing. I would say we are almost in the lead, so we don't have to drop anyone, actually. That's the main point," Vila told Cyclingnews. "If someone wants to go, we have to try to follow, that's the main point right now. At Lagos de Covadonga, that's what we did – the idea was to follow, be there and then see if someone has a not very good day."
Roglič reached the summit of Lagos de Covadonga on Tuesday in the company of Mas, Richard Carapaz and David Gaudu. He was a little slow to track Mas' most determined acceleration with 5.5km or so of the climb remaining, but once he caught back up, Roglič never again looked in any distress, and he would gain just under a minute on O'Connor.
"The goal was to get to the top with Enric and the main favourites and see if we could have some gap on O'Connor without getting too crazy," Vila said. "It was already a hard stage. I think now is a moment where we are trying to avoid big efforts and pace it as much as we can. I think it's a moment to hold back our horses and just ride to the finish with the best."
Vila rejoined Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe this season after a four-year stint at Movistar, where Mas was among his charges. "I think Enric's riding amazingly well, probably the best we have ever seen from him," Vila said. "So far he's the biggest contender."
O'Connor
While O'Connor has now worn the red jersey for twelve days, Roglič has remained the favourite to win this Vuelta throughout, particularly once the Australian's initial lead of almost five minutes began to shrink during the second week. Yet despite that status, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have only occasionally been called upon to control the race, with Decathlon-AG2R, Movistar and Soudal-QuickStep all performing a policing role at various points thus far.
"That's the positive side of a negative situation, I would say," Vila said. "For different reasons, there was always somebody with an interest in controlling or doing an action or whatever. We have an advantage in this situation and hopefully, in the last week we will have a fresher team than some other contenders, but it's still been a super hard Vuelta for everyone."
From the outset of this Vuelta, Vila has stressed the rigours of the race's grand finale, and the need to keep something in reserve for the late summit finishes at the Alto de Moncalvillo and Picón Blanco.
The man currently wearing the red jersey, meanwhile, has seen firsthand how Roglič has been picking and choosing his moments across the race. There are days, O'Connor noted approvingly, when Roglič understands his sole task is to grind out a draw.
"I guess his demeanour in general comes off as laid back, but I think he's pretty ruthless in how he goes about things," O'Connor said on Wednesday. "He's very well aware of what his strengths are, and I think he does a really good job of limiting the days where it's not exactly in his ballpark."
The stage to Lagos de Covadonga was a case in point, with Roglič seemingly short of his best. "But he was at his strongest for some of the other stages and he made it count," O'Connor said - the art of riding Grand Tours, in other words.
