Roglic nabs Vuelta stage 10 and moves back into red: Daily News Digest

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Hello again, CyclingTips readers,

A busy week closed out with another hard-fought battle at the Vuelta, which saw at least a few seconds of GC action in the finale even without any high mountains on the menu.

Taking advantage of an uphill finish on the day, one of the biggest riders in the race stormed to his third win so far at this year’s Vuelta.

Read on for more …

Dane Cash
News Editor

What’s News

| Roglic nabs Vuelta stage 10 and moves back into red

Primoz Roglic nabbed his third stage victory so far at this Vuelta a España and his second in just three days on Friday’s stage 10 in Suances, taking over the red jersey in the process.

The 185-kilometer stage from Castro Urdiales came down to a battle in the pack on the uphill 1.5km finale. Roglic timed his final effort to perfection, making a powerful surge in the last 200 meters to take a convincing win ahead of Felix Grossschartner, with Andrea Bagioli in third.

Richard Carapaz finished a 14th on the day behind a split of three seconds, but combined with the 10 bonus seconds for winning the stage, that was just what Roglic needed to move back into the red jersey. Carapaz now sits second overall on the same time.

The main breakaway of the day jumped out to a big gap in the early goings of stage 10, but after the advantage got over 11 minutes, the peloton organized a more concerted chase, steadily bringing the gap down from that point on.

The last escapees were caught with around 15km to go, and attacks from Willie Smit and others were reeled in relatively quickly to put the stage win in play for the pack. Guillaume Martin put in a big dig on the uphill run to the line and initially got some separation, but as the pack was clawing him back, Roglic exploded off the front in the final few hundred meters and no one came particularly close to pulling even.

The Slovenian took a clear win with seven other riders finishing on the same time, while Carapaz rolled across the line behind a three-second split, enough to put Roglic back in the red jersey.

Top 10, stage 10

1 ROGLIC Primoz (Team Jumbo-Visma) 4:14:11
2 GROSSSCHARTNER Felix (BORA – hansgrohe)
3 BAGIOLI Andrea (Deceuninck – Quick Step)
4 ARANBURU Alex (Astana Pro Team)
5 STANNARD Robert (Mitchelton-Scott)
6 SIMON Julien (Team Total Direct Energie)
7 MARTIN Dan (Israel Start-Up Nation)
8 MARTIN Guillaume (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
9 PHILIPSEN Jasper (UAE-Team Emirates) 0:03
10 CORT Magnus (EF Pro Cycling)

Top 10, GC

1 ROGLIC Primoz (Team Jumbo-Visma) 40:25:15
2 CARAPAZ Richard (INEOS Grenadiers)
3 MARTIN Dan (Israel Start-Up Nation) 0:25
4 CARTHY Hugh (EF Pro Cycling) 0:51
5 MAS Enric (Movistar Team) 1:54
6 GROSSSCHARTNER Felix (BORA – hansgrohe) 3:19
7 CHAVES Esteban (Mitchelton-Scott) 3:28
8 VALVERDE Alejandro (Movistar Team) 3:35
9 POELS Wout (Bahrain – McLaren) 3:47
10 SOLER Marc (Movistar Team) 3:52

| Geschke signs with Cofidis

Simon Geschke will join Cofidis next season, the French team announced on Friday. The 34-year-old German, a versatile, veteran pro who counts a Tour de France stage victory on his career palmares has spent the past two season with the CCC organization.

In a press release announcing the news, the French team said that it will look to Geschke as a key support rider for rising star Guillaume Martin.

“It’s a turning point in my career, a new chapter that I’m approaching with great enthusiasm,” Geschke said. “With Guillaume Martin, Cofidis has a very strong leader who has already proven his talent. I want to help him in the most difficult races, the ones I enjoy the most.”

| Mezgec will ride on with Mitchelton-Scott through 2022

Luka Mezgec has renewed with the Mitchelton-Scott team through the 2022 season. The fast-finishing Slovenian counts numerous WorldTour wins on his career palmares including a stage at the Giro d’Italia, and he has also established himself as a key lead-out rider for the team.

“I think the combination with Luka and Bling [Michael Matthews] next year is going to be a really good one,” said sports director Matt White. “I think they will complement each other well, I think a lot of the races that we will target with Bling next year, Luka will be there at crunch moments. But also when we go with them as a combination together, in certain tactical ways they are a formidable two-pronged attack.”

| FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope will not race Madrid Challenge

The FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope team announced on Friday that it will not race the Ceratizit Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta.

“Following the latest government announcements and the evolution of the pandemic, we have taken the decision to take no risk for our cyclists and staff,” the team said in a statement. “We have therefore decided to cancel our participation in the Challenge by La Vuelta from the 6th to the 8th of November.”

As of Friday, it is still not entirely clear whether the race, which would be the final event of the Women’s WorldTour this season, will go ahead at all amid the coronavirus situation in Spain and particularly in Madrid. A week before the Madrid Challenge is set to start, organizers have yet to provide details of the route.

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Today’s featured image of the Primoz Roglic winning stage 10 of the Vuelta a España comes from Cor Vos.