Up until stage 19 of the Vuelta a España, it had been a solid performance from Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) to be second overall heading into the final weekend, but one without the typical ruthless wins and 'Roglifications' he has shown previously en route to winning four Tours of Spain.
Hampered massively in his build-up after being hit by a driver in July, Roglič came to the Vuelta without big GC expectations, and despite pre-race favourite Tadej Pogačar crashing out on stage 8, he's been unable to step into the spotlight and take over as he has in several Vueltas gone by.
That role has instead been taken by his long-term rival in Spain, Enric Mas (Movistar), but after finally closing the gap to the race leader to 1:37 in Thursday's ITT, ahead of the final duo of mountain stages, Roglič found himself in a position where overall victory was still possible.
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With that in mind, his Red Bull team finally came to the front at the foot of the summit finish climb to Peñas Blancas, and after several reshuffles of what was in control, Roglič made his attack 2km from the finish. Ultimately, he was matched well by Mas, and the rest of the top five on GC, so the attack came to nothing, but it was a more active Roglič than we'd seen so far in this race.
"In the end, it's all dependent on how his legs are and how he's feeling, but I think he can take confidence from the day today that he was feeling confident enough to move," said Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Chief of Sports Zak Dempster to Cyclingnews outside the team bus.
"Obviously, if someone's showing weakness on the bottom, then you move. But I think they were all pretty well matched today. So let's see what happens tomorrow."
Dempster is referring to the final chance for Roglič to try and snatch the red jersey back from Mas, and if there was ever going to be a stage where it's possible, it would look like stage 20, a brutal 186.8 route from La Calahora to the final climb of Collado del Algaucil.
Just under 5000 metres of elevation gain in total, five climbs line the route in Andalucía, with a double ascent of the Puerto el Purche (8.2km at 8.1%), and finishing pair of climbs to Puerto El Duque (7.4km at 8.3%) and Alguacil (8km at 9.8%), leaving more than enough room for someone to completely come unstuck.
"It's going to be big, big fatigue," said Dempster. "It seems they're always leaving the best till last now on all the Grand Tours. It's definitely going to be a monster.
"I thought the team did probably one of our better mountain stages today, and they took control well on the bottom, got to the technical part also through the town really well. In the end, it comes down to as much about the character as the legs, so I think they're in a good place, and I thought we supported Primož really well today."
Roglič said after the time trial that he wasn't really looking to risk everything in pursuit of red, but expecting anything but him and the German team to go down swinging on Saturday would be foolish.
"I think Sven [Vanthourenhout] and the DSs have done a really good job of aligning the group from the get-go in Monaco," said Dempster. "They've got clear lines around what they want to leave this race with, and one of those is no regrets. And I think today, you know, [Roglič] moving is not leaving anything to chance come Monday.
"So let's see what happens over the weekend's two really, really challenging stages and a lot different from today. We just have to keep on the basics. And if someone starts to make a mistake, then we won't interrupt them either."
As he rightly points out, it won't be until the finish line is crossed in Granada on stage 21 that anything is confirmed, with the final punchy circuits offering another chance to change things if Roglič can close the gap tomorrow. He will have to be better than he was on stage 19, and perhaps also braver if that is to look likely, however.
"We're into the last stages of a Grand Tour. I think he's [Mas] in a really good place, and definitely he's been impressive. But at the same time, the Vuelta finishes in Granada this year, so when we get there, we'll find out who's the winner."
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