Vuelta a España: Roglic rebounds to win stage 8 on Alto de Moncalvillo
Carapaz, Martin, Carthy lose time after attack
Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) claimed his second victory of the 2020 Vuelta a España on Wednesday, triumphing on the Alto de Moncalvillo on stage 8 to move back up to second overall.
The Slovenian was unable to recover the red jersey he lost at Formigal due to a clothing mistake, but surged decisively away from his rivals in the final kilometre of the Vuelta’s newest steep summit finish.
Race leader Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), himself an attacking force towards the top of the 8.3km climb, was unable to respond when Roglič countered one of his accelerations with 750m to go.
The Ecuadorian placed second on the stage, 13 seconds down, with Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) third at 19 seconds.
Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) kicked off the hostilities between the overall favourites 3.5km from the top of the summit finish, after his teammate Michael Woods had reduced the front group to just 10. However, the Briton was unable to follow the punchier accelerations from Roglič and Carapaz and settled for fifth on the stage at 33 seconds, just behind Alexander Vlasov (Astana).
It was a worse situation for Enric Mas and Movistar, who piled on the pressure on the preceding category 2 climb of the Puerto de la Rosa, split the bunch in the valley, and hit the Moncalvillo en masse, but left empty-handed. After Alejandro Valverde – who launched an early attack – and Marc Soler were both dropped with 4.5km to go, Mas was himself dropped when Carapaz accelerated from the lead group of seven with 2.5km to go. The 25-year-old Movistar rider finished seventh at 54 seconds, after being caught and passed by Wout Poels (Bahrain McLaren) in the final 1500 metres.
Carapaz holds onto the red jersey, although his lead has now been cut to 13 seconds by Roglič. Martin is still third, now at 28 seconds, while Carthy falls to fourth at 44 seconds.
There’s now clear daylight between those four and Mas in fifth at 1:54, with Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) – who finished 2:05 and 1:33 down on Roglic, respectively – tied for time in sixth and seventh at 3:28. Valverde and Soler find themselves a touch further back, while Poels – sixth on the stage – moved three places up into the top 10.
“I always like to win, so if there is a small opportunity I will take it,” Roglič said. “It was super hard today and luckily I had the legs and I'm happy to win the stage. It's nice to get some time back but most of all it's nice to win the race.”
How it unfolded
The day started with news of three non-starters. Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma), already well down on GC, left through fatigue, Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) departed through stomach problems, and Michal Golas (Ineos Grenadiers) left for personal reasons.
On the early rolling roads of the 164km stage, a seven-man breakaway soon formed. Robert Stannard (Mitchelton-Scott), Stan Dewulf (Lotto Soudal), Benjamin Dyball (NTT Pro Cycling) and Angel Madrazo (Burgos-BH) went clear first, followed by Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates), Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and, after a solo chase, Julien Simon (Total Direct Energie).
Costa was the best-placed on GC, 23:44 down in 33rd place, and the group was allowed a leash of five minutes as race leader Carapaz’s Ineos Grenadiers teammates took control of the peloton.
After 80km the road started to tilt more definitively uphill towards the first of the two climbs, the second category Puerto de la Rasa. That’s where the gap started to come down, and Caja Rural-Seguros RGA sensed the opportunity to make up for missing the original break, firing Hector Saéz and Jhojan García up the road. Saéz did the work as they quickly opened a minute, before dropping back and leaving García to it.
However, as soon as the Puerto de la Rasa – 9.8km long at 5.3 per cent – started, Movistar began their offensive. García was caught, and by the top, the breakaway, led over the top by Cavagna, had only 2:40 in hand.
Ineos Grenadiers briefly took it back on the descent, but Movistar weren’t in the mood for the back seat and raised the tempo once more. The descent gave way to a more gentle downhill section, followed by a stint in the valley, and the Spanish team kept the pace high throughout. With 40km to go, their pace was such that they split the bunch, leaving many scrambling to get back on terms.
On the flatter valley roads inside the last 30km, there were only 50 riders left in the main bunch, and the gap to the break had been shredded to a minute. Madrazo was the first to drop from the break, and with Movistar continuing their effort all the way, only Dewulf and Dyball made it onto the final climb.
The pair, however, were caught after just 500 metres, as Movistar took it up on the steep lower slopes. They tried to shake things up with a Valverde attack, but Jumbo-Visma’s Robert Gesink comfortably snuffed it out.
EF Pro Cycling, who were never far from the front of the peloton all day, then took it up through Woods, and that’s where the damage was really done. Valverde had to pull out of the line and was soon dropped, along with Soler, Grossschartner, Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and David De la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates).
Woods had reduced the group to just nine – Carthy, Carapaz, Roglič, Mas, Dan Martin, Kuss, Chaves, Poels, Vlasov – when Carthy launched his attack with 3.6km to go. Kuss went with him and the pair stayed out front as Martin and Vlasov gave chase. Chaves was then dropped as Carapaz, Roglič, Poels and Mas joined forces in a chase, several seconds back, with Valverde and co already at 50 seconds.
With 2.5km to go, Carthy and Kuss were caught, and Kuss immediately went on the attack. It was short-lived, though, as Carapaz issued a stinging counter. Roglič was straight on the case, and the pair went clear as Poels was well dropped.
With 1.8km to go, Carthy, followed by Martin and Vlasov, all managed to claw their way back to Carapaz and Roglič, though Mas started to suffer. Vlasov used a flatter section to attack, but after some hesitation from the rest, his gap was wiped out when Roglič accelerated with just over a kilometre to go.
He breezed by the Russian, as did Carapaz. The pair linked up and Carapaz tried to hit Roglič as the gradient eased with 800m to go, but he went nowhere, and had no response when Roglič launched his own winning move right away.
Place | Rider (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma | 04:07:08 |
2 | Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers | 00:00:13 |
3 | Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation | 00:00:19 |
4 | Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana Pro Team | 00:00:25 |
5 | Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Pro Cycling | 00:00:33 |
6 | Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain McLaren | 00:00:35 |
7 | Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team | 00:00:54 |
8 | Sepp Kuss (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma | 00:00:54 |
9 | Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott | 00:01:33 |
10 | Clément Champoussin (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale | 00:01:37 |
11 | Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team | 00:01:39 |
12 | Mikel Nieve Iturralde (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott | 00:01:39 |
13 | George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma | 00:01:49 |
14 | Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis | 00:02:05 |
15 | David De la Cruz Melgarejo (Spa) UAE Team Emirates | 00:02:05 |
16 | Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team | 00:02:05 |
17 | Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | 00:02:05 |
18 | David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 00:02:35 |
19 | Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) UAE Team Emirates | 00:02:56 |
20 | Michael Woods (Can) EF Pro Cycling | 00:03:23 |
21 | Ion Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 00:03:48 |
22 | Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 00:03:48 |
23 | Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep | 00:03:48 |
24 | Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 00:03:48 |
25 | Jetse Bol (Ned) Burgos-BH | 00:04:59 |
26 | Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team | 00:04:59 |
27 | Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis | 00:05:13 |
28 | Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis | 00:05:13 |
29 | Kobe Goossens (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 00:05:20 |
30 | Willie Smit (RSA) Burgos-BH | 00:05:23 |
31 | Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma | 00:05:33 |
32 | Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | 00:05:33 |
33 | Ivan Ramiro Sosa Cuervo (Col) Ineos Grenadiers | 00:06:06 |
34 | Gino Mäder (Swi) NTT Pro Cycling | 00:07:22 |
35 | William Barta (USA) CCC Team | 00:08:40 |
36 | Georg Zimmermann (Ger) CCC Team | 00:08:57 |
37 | Michel Ries (Lux) Trek-Segafredo | 00:09:51 |
38 | Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma | 00:10:16 |
39 | Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Team Jumbo-Visma | 00:10:16 |
40 | Carlos Verona Quintanilla (Spa) Movistar Team | 00:10:44 |
41 | Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers | 00:10:57 |
42 | Andrey Amador (CRc) Ineos Grenadiers | 00:10:57 |
43 | Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Team Sunweb | 00:11:07 |
44 | Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | 00:11:07 |
45 | Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott | 00:11:07 |
46 | José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team | 00:12:34 |
47 | Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team | 00:12:34 |
48 | Jesus Ezquerra Muela (Spa) Burgos-BH | 00:12:34 |
49 | Omar Fraile Matarranz (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 00:12:34 |
50 | Julen Amezqueta Moreno (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 00:12:34 |
51 | Julien Simon (Fra) Total Direct Energie | 00:12:34 |
52 | Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Israel Start-Up Nation | 00:12:34 |
53 | Oscar Cabedo Carda (Spa) Burgos-BH | 00:12:34 |
54 | Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team | 00:12:34 |
55 | Santiago Buitrago Sanchez (Col) Bahrain McLaren | 00:12:34 |
56 | Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 00:13:54 |
57 | Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Team | 00:13:54 |
58 | Mark Donovan (GBr) Team Sunweb | 00:14:14 |
59 | Benjamin Dyball (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling | 00:14:24 |
60 | Juan Pedro Lopez Perez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo | 00:14:50 |
61 | Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Burgos-BH | 00:15:16 |
62 | Ricardo Vilela (Por) Burgos-BH | 00:15:16 |
63 | Jonathan Lastra Martinez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 00:15:41 |
64 | Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe | 00:15:44 |
65 | Paul Martens (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma | 00:15:44 |
66 | Stan Dewulf (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 00:16:01 |
67 | Koen De Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo | 00:16:05 |
68 | Niki Terpstra (Ned) Total Direct Energie | 00:16:05 |
69 | Romain Sicard (Fra) Total Direct Energie | 00:16:05 |
70 | Cameron Wurf (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers | 00:16:05 |
71 | Valentin Ferron (Fra) Total Direct Energie | 00:16:05 |
72 | Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 00:16:05 |
73 | Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo | 00:16:05 |
74 | Michael Valgren (Den) NTT Pro Cycling | 00:16:05 |
75 | Paul Ourselin (Fra) Total Direct Energie | 00:16:05 |
76 | Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) EF Pro Cycling | 00:16:16 |
77 | Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 00:16:58 |
78 | Dion Smith (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott | 00:17:00 |
79 | Rory Sutherland (Aus) Israel Start-Up Nation | 00:17:00 |
80 | Robert Stannard (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | 00:17:37 |
81 | Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates | 00:17:42 |
82 | Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep | 00:17:51 |
83 | Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | 00:18:18 |
84 | Pierre Luc Perichon (Fra) Cofidis | 00:18:41 |
85 | Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 00:18:41 |
86 | Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal | 00:18:55 |
87 | Ivo Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates | 00:19:00 |
88 | Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates | 00:19:00 |
89 | Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) CCC Team | 00:19:13 |
90 | Jannik Steimle (Ger) Deceuninck-Quickstep | 00:19:13 |
91 | Scott Davies (GBr) Bahrain McLaren | 00:19:13 |
92 | Fred Wright (GBr) Bahrain McLaren | 00:19:13 |
93 | Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Start-Up Nation | 00:19:13 |
94 | Hector Saez Benito (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 00:19:13 |
95 | Jhojan Orlando Garcia Sosa (Col) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 00:19:13 |
96 | Logan Owen (USA) EF Pro Cycling | 00:19:13 |
97 | Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Pro Cycling | 00:19:13 |
98 | Brent Van Moer (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 00:19:13 |
99 | Dorian Godon (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale | 00:19:13 |
100 | Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb | 00:19:13 |
101 | Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Israel Start-Up Nation | 00:19:13 |
102 | Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb | 00:19:13 |
103 | Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 00:19:13 |
104 | Michal Paluta (Pol) CCC Team | 00:19:21 |
105 | Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 00:20:12 |
106 | Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale | 00:20:12 |
107 | Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale | 00:20:12 |
108 | Mihkel Räim (Est) Israel Start-Up Nation | 00:20:25 |
109 | Enrico Gasparotto (Swi) NTT Pro Cycling | 00:20:25 |
110 | Carlos Barbero (Spa) NTT Pro Cycling | 00:20:25 |
111 | Alexis Renard (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation | 00:20:25 |
112 | Emils Liepins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo | 00:20:25 |
113 | Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates | 00:20:25 |
114 | Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep | 00:20:25 |
115 | Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team | 00:20:25 |
116 | Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates | 00:20:25 |
117 | Chris Froome (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers | 00:20:25 |
118 | Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 00:20:25 |
119 | Aritz Bagues Kalparsoro (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 00:20:25 |
120 | James Piccoli (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation | 00:20:25 |
121 | Julius Van den Berg (Ned) EF Pro Cycling | 00:20:25 |
122 | Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Pro Cycling | 00:20:25 |
123 | Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | 00:20:25 |
124 | Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling | 00:20:25 |
125 | Thyman Arensman (Ned) Team Sunweb | 00:20:42 |
126 | Ide Schelling (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe | 00:21:03 |
127 | Stefan De Bod (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling | 00:21:15 |
128 | Ian Garrison (USA) Deceuninck-Quickstep | 00:21:24 |
129 | Gonzalo Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 00:21:44 |
130 | Jon Aberasturi Izaga (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 00:21:44 |
131 | Tosh Van der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 00:21:50 |
132 | Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe | 00:21:50 |
133 | Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe | 00:21:50 |
134 | Martin Salmon (Ger) Team Sunweb | 00:22:14 |
135 | Max Kanter (Ger) Team Sunweb | 00:22:14 |
136 | Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | 00:22:14 |
137 | Alex Molenaar (Ned) Burgos-BH | 00:23:34 |
138 | Gerben Thijssen (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 00:24:32 |
139 | Juan Felipe Osorio Arboleda (Col) Burgos-BH | 00:25:19 |
140 | Kevin Inkelaar (Ned) Bahrain McLaren | 00:25:19 |
141 | Harry Tanfield (GBr) AG2R la Mondiale | 00:25:19 |
142 | Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-Quickstep | 00:26:48 |
143 | Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep | 00:26:48 |
144 | Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck-Quickstep | 00:26:48 |
145 | Victor Lafay (Fra) Cofidis | 00:26:48 |
146 | Emmanuel Morin (Fra) Cofidis | 00:26:48 |
147 | Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda (Ecu) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 00:26:48 |
148 | Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) Total Direct Energie | 00:26:48 |
149 | Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling | 00:26:48 |
150 | Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 00:26:48 |
151 | Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe | 00:26:48 |
152 | Alexander Kamp (Den) Trek-Segafredo | 00:26:48 |
153 | Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Total Direct Energie | 00:26:48 |
154 | Pim Ligthart (Ned) Total Direct Energie | 00:26:48 |
155 | Martin Laas (Est) Bora-Hansgrohe | 00:26:48 |
156 | Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team | 00:29:13 |
157 | Stephen Williams (GBr) Bahrain McLaren | 00:30:15 |
DNS | Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma | Row 157 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo | Row 158 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Michal Golas (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers | Row 159 - Cell 2 |
Place | Rider (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Stan Dewulf (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 4 |
2 | Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep | 2 |
3 | Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates | 1 |
Place | Rider (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma | 25 |
2 | Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers | 20 |
3 | Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation | 16 |
4 | Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana Pro Team | 14 |
5 | Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Pro Cycling | 12 |
6 | Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain McLaren | 10 |
7 | Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team | 9 |
8 | Sepp Kuss (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma | 8 |
9 | Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott | 7 |
10 | Clément Champoussin (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale | 6 |
11 | Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team | 5 |
12 | Mikel Nieve Iturralde (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott | 4 |
13 | George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma | 3 |
14 | Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis | 2 |
15 | David De la Cruz Melgarejo (Spa) UAE Team Emirates | 1 |