Vuelta a España: Roglic clinches overall victory

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Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) sealed his first Grand Tour victory ahead of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), with Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) third, finishing the final stage safely behind the bunch sprint, won by Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quickstep).

It was a Vuelta of firsts - Roglic's first Grand Tour win, the first for Slovenia, Pogacar standing out with three stage victories and third overall in his first Grand Tour, and Valverde standing as one of the oldest Grand Tour podium finishers in second.

Typically understated, Roglic used his time on the podium to admit he had no words. "Thank you for the support to my family and everyone that was involved in this big result" and "see you in the next races" was all he could say of his monumental achievement.

Roglic ended the race 2:16 ahead of Valverde, with Pogacar in third at 2:38.

Jakobsen, meanwhile, added to Deceuninck-Quickstep's tally, bringing their stage win count to five with a final victory in Madrid. The Dutch champion beat Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) to the line with CCC's Szymon Sajnok in third.

"For me, this is the biggest moment of my career, especially in the Dutch champion's jersey - I have almost no words," Jakobsen said.

"It's my first Grand Tour. I've had some bad moments mentally and physically - it was hard - but in the end we all do the same, we suffer and we keep going. I am just happy I could win here in Madrid."

Deceuninck-Quickstep stayed to their winning formula of controlling the stage then sitting back to let other teams take control at 3km to go before surging in the final 800m out of the final turn. It was a master stroke topped off with a late surge from lead-out man Max Richeze that brought Jakobsen within sight of the line.

"It started I think from when we entered the laps - the team was in front, I had to stay with them. They were strong the whole Vuelta and they delivered me perfect to the bunch sprint," Jakobsen said. 

"I just had to follow Richeze's wheel. He's one of the best in the game at the lead-out. I just waited to 150m to go and waited to have a gap. I launched my sprint - I was just so happy to win."

How it unfolded

The peloton took a relaxed start for the final Vuelta a Espana stage, with the usual early kilometre celebrations and photo opportunities. There was little worry as the organisers agreed to neutralise the GC if it rained on the technical finishing circuits.

But the sun dried up the earlier showers that punished the women's Madrid Challenge and the peloton could relax and soak in the atmosphere after a hard three weeks of racing.

The first action came back at the team cars where Jesus Ezquerra proposed to his partner who was seated in the back of the Burgos-BH team car, but the racing wouldn't kick in until the peloton reached the finishing circuits.

With nine laps of a technical 5.8km circuit, the breakaways had little chance but it didn't stop anyone from trying.

The first attack came from Caja Rural's Jonathan Lastra, but it was his teammate Gonzalo Serrano who really kicked things off when he attacked for the intermediate sprint.

Serrano was trailed by Astana's Manuele Boaro and Owain Doull (Ineos) across the line, but while the WorldTour riders faded back, Serrano kept powering on. Eventually he was joined by Daniel Martinez (EF Education First) and Diego Rubio (Burgos-BH) and then dropped back to the bunch.

Martinez and Rubio made up the longest breakaway, holding between 15 and 20 seconds for some 40km before the Deceuninck-QuickStep team finally reeled them in with 7km to go.

The technical run-in saw a number of changes to the lead, with Rafal Majka taking up the pace for Bennett, but when it counted, Deceuninck-Quickstep was in firm charge. With Bennett slightly boxed in, Trek-Segafredo surged first, with John Degenkolb hoping to lead-out Edward Theuns.

Max Richeze muscled through to give Jakobsen a clear shot at the line and while Bennett managed to get through traffic and put in a powerful acceleration to come alongside Jakobsen, he was shy just millimetres of his third win.

Jakobsen celebrated his team's fifth stage win, while Primoz Roglic could finally smile and drink in his first Grand Tour.

Spain could enjoy the presence of Valverde on the podium, sandwiched between Roglic and his fellow Slovene Tadej Pogacar.

Pogacar won the best young rider's jersey, while Miguel Angel Lopez, who lost white on the penultimate day, was awarded the overall most combative prize.

Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R La Mondiale) won the mountains classification, while Roglic also took home the points classification. Movistar won best team.

Stage Results

Overall Standings