In the end, it was a useful reminder and nothing more. The Vuelta a España is never as straightforward as it seems, even for Primož Roglič. The Slovenian has won this race three times, but each of those victories had its fraught moments. A day after placing a hefty deposit on the red jersey on the Puerto de Ancares, Roglič endured another late scare on stage 14 to Villablino.
The peloton had just crested the Puerto de Leitariegos and crossed from Asturias back into Léon when Roglič realised something was awry with his bike. He braked to a halt together with teammate Daniel Martínez, who swiftly handed over his machine and pushed his leader on his way once again.
There were barely more than 10km – fast and downhill – to the finish line, but Roglič radiated his usual beatific calm as he set about chasing back on. Indeed, the television cameras of the host broadcaster seemed altogether more flustered by the incident than he did, mistakenly stopping to focus on Martínez's waiting for a replacement bike rather than following Roglič's pursuit.
By the time Kaden Groves had outsprinted Wout van Aert to win in Villablino, Roglič was safely back in the main body of the peloton. At the finish, he picked his way serenely through the soigneurs and television crews on Avendia Gancedo before drifting off towards his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team bus a kilometre or so away. One day less.
After his exhibition on the Puerto de Ancares on stage 13, Roglič looks increasingly like the man to beat on this Vuelta. That effort slashed red jersey Ben O'Connor's once-daunting lead to a more manageable 1:21, while Roglič also extended his buffer over third-placed Enric Mas, who is now 1:40 behind the Slovenian.
In Villafranco del Bierzo on Saturday morning, however, directeur sportif Patxi Vila wasn't convinced that the new configuration of the general classification would necessarily hand Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe a greater responsibility for the policing of the peloton. That sentiment was borne out on stage 14, where Visma-Lease a Bike spent the bulk of the day setting the tempo on behalf of Van Aert.
"At the end we just focus on our race," Vila told Cyclingnews. "We have a plan, we're executing it and we're keeping focused on that. We want to make it to Madrid in as little time as possible, which is what we are focusing on, so we're not really looking to other people."
Vila will surely have been heartened, however, by Red Bull's collective strength on the Puerto de Ancares. Despite Roglič's brace of stage wins in the opening week, Red Bull haven't always imposed themselves on this Vuelta, but their display on Friday was their most complete to this point, with Florian Lipowitz, Aleksandr Vlasov and Martínez all firing on the lower slopes of the final climb in the service of Roglič.
"We knew that from Friday until to the end of the race would be the hardest part, so we tried to really maximise the recovery and the shape of the riders towards the final part of the Vuelta," Vila said.
"Hopefully we will see that we were right to do that. It's been super hard. The first nine days were very hard and very hot, so we weren't sure how that would impact the riders. I'm pretty sure that somewhere that will pop up, but we've been looking at taking care of each of the eight riders we have here, to make sure they reach their full potential."
Cuitu Negru
Roglič's ability to hit his own high notes had been in doubt before the Vuelta a España after he suffered a fractured vertebra in the crash that ended his Tour de France challenge. The lingering effects of that injury remained a concern even after Roglič's stage wins in the first week, and on Friday, he confessed that Red Bull hadn't chased down the day's early break because he "didn't feel completely confident yet."
His self-belief will surely have been bolstered by his imperious display at Os Ancares, where he steadily and remorselessly burnt Mas off his wheel on the climb's harshest 15% slopes. The two minutes lopped off O'Connor's lead was the headline news on Friday, but Roglič's gains of a minute on Mas and Richard Carapaz might be just as significant in the overall narrative of this race.
"Still, I would like to have something more," Vila smiled. "It's good, I would say, it gives confidence. We took some time back from O'Connor but we also put some time into the third and fourth on GC. It was a good day for us, but there's still a lot of work to come. The hardest is still to come."
While the steady, shallow slopes of the Puerto de Leitariegos were never likely to produce pyrotechnics among the overall contenders, the Vuelta a España route for stage 15 might well be the most demanding leg of the race to date. After twin ascents of the category 1 Alto de la Colladiella, the Vuelta returns to the special category summit finish at Cuitu Negru (18.9km at 7.4%), last tackled in 2012.
"A deficit of 1:21 on the red jersey seems like nothing, but it's still a lot. What I mean is, there's still a lot of work to do and the hardest part of the Vuelta is still to come," Vila said. "Sunday is really hard. I raced the climb as far as Pajares a lot of times, but not the last part to Cuitu Negru. I spent some time there for a recon… That's a climb. That's a proper, proper climb."
Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the 2024 Vuelta a España - including breaking news and analysis reported by our journalists on the ground from every stage as it happens and more. Find out more.
