More than words, Primož Roglič's huge smile as he slowed to a halt at the summit of the Aitana spoke volumes about how he felt after the toughest mountainous stage of the Vuelta a España so far.
The Slovenian veteran lost a little time to race leader Enric Mas (Movistar) and Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) but remains very much in contention for the overall, shedding 12 seconds at the line to finish third.
With the time bonus and a six-second advantage on fourth-placed Felix Gall (Decathlon CGA CMN) at the finish, Roglič remains comfortably in second overall. But more than the result itself, his ability to stay fighting with the best after such a difficult build-up to the Vuelta was the real benefit.
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The four-times Vuelta a España winner's major crash when training had meant he began the race suffering badly. But after a reasonable opening time trial, and staying with the other top contenders when Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) attacked at Andorra, the closing kilometres of stage 9 was the first time he really showed signs of a fuller recovery.
Whilst not attacking, he was the only rider able to close the gap on Onley and Mas when they moved away towards the top. Mas then was sharp enough to attack again just as soon as Roglič closed in, but the Slovenian's limitations of the gaps bode very well for the two weeks to come.
"Like I said, we can always hope, but good, I'm super happy mate," Roglič said afterwards in a brief interview with the media at the summit of the Aitana.
"I didn't do much [but] it's beautiful to ride a bike now, outside in nice weather.
"They were hard climbs and some guys were too fast, but I'm happy."
Roglič recognised that without Pogačar, the Vuelta has taken a very different perspective, but he was equally regretful that the leading pre-race favourite had disappeared from the running in such a sad way.
"For sure it's open definitely, but you know, I don't wish anything bad to anyone, so I wish him a fast recovery," Roglič, who has had more than his own fair share of crashes, concluded.
It remains to be seen whether Roglič can now close the gap even further on his rivals and perhaps even start to gain time on Mas in the mountainous stages to come, with the time trial at the start of week 3 another big opportunity. Historically, too, Roglič has always tended to improve steadily throughout a race, and if there are repeats of the cat-and-mouse game that developed on the upper slopes of the Aitana, that'll also be the kind of scenario in which he thrives.
But regardless of what happens, there can be no doubt that the Slovenian veteran is on the comeback trail, and determined to make an impact on GC in the Vuelta. Ten days ago in Monaco, that he could hit the heights again was anything but certain, but Aitana has shown that he is moving in the right direction again.
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