2019 Boels Ladies Tour, 2019 Vuelta a España, Annemiek Van Vleuten, Daily News Digest, Features, News, Primoz Roglic - September 4, 2019

Roglic storms into Vuelta lead with stage 10 TT victory: Daily News Digest

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Welcome to your Daily News Digest. Here’s what’s happening today:

Primoz Roglic takes a commanding lead at the Vuelta with a victory in the stage 10 time trial, Annemiek van Vleuten wins the Boels Ladies Tour prologue, an uncertain future for Pro Continental squad Euskadi-Murias. Those stories and more in today’s Daily News Digest.

Story of the Day: Roglic takes commanding lead at Vuelta with stage 10 victory

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) stormed into the red jersey with a victory in Tuesday’s stage 10 time trial at the Vuelta a España.

The 29-year-old Slovenian lived up to his status as the pre-stage favorite with a dominant performance on the 36.2-kilometer trek in France from Jurancon to Pau. His time of 47:05 was 25 seconds faster than that of New Zealander Patrick Bevin (CCC). Remi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) finished third on the day, 27 seconds back.

Roglic’s ride propelled him from a close second in the general classification to a clear first place, with overnight leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar) struggling in the TT, finishing 3:06 down.

The Vuelta’s short visit to France opened under pleasant conditions, with balmy temperatures and sunny skies in Jurancon. American Grand Tour debutant Will Barta (CCC) was one of the first riders to spend a significant stretch in the hot seat before Benjamin Thomas (Groupama-FDJ) knocked him out of it, but the Frenchman didn’t spend long in the provisional lead as his compatriot Cavagna blazed to a new fastest mark a few minutes later.

Cavagna at least had time to get comfortable in the hot seat before Bevin went three seconds faster. From there, one rider after another came across the line well short of Bevin’s time, with all eyes turning to Roglic as the GC riders began rolling out.

Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emirates) appeared to be en route to a big performance with a strong early split before fading in the second half. It was a different story for his Slovenian compatriot Roglic, who cruised through the first checkpoint with the fastest time and then continued to dominate for the remainder of the course.

Roglic passed López on his way to the line, where he set a mark that finally knocked Bevin out of the provisional lead after the New Zealander spent more than an hour there. Although Quintana was still out on the road, Roglic’s victory was clear before the Colombian hit the flamme rouge and ultimately finished over three minutes slower.

With the stage 10 win, Roglic surged to a 1:52 advantage over Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde on GC, with Astana’s Miguel Ángel López in third overall at 2:11 back. Quintana fell to fourth overall, 3:00 down on Roglic.

Stage 10 results

1 ROGLIC Primoz (Jumbo-Visma) 47:05
2 BEVIN Patrick (CCC) 0:25
3 CAVAGNA Rémi (Deceuninck – Quick Step) 0:27
4 CRADDOCK Lawson (EF Education First) 0:48
5 OLIVEIRA Nelson (Movistar) 1:02
6 LATOUR Pierre (AG2R La Mondiale) 1:14
7 DE GENDT Thomas (Lotto Soudal) 1:21
8 SOLER Marc (Movistar) 1:22
9 TEUNS Dylan (Bahrain Merida) 1:27
10 MARTÍNEZ Daniel Felipe (EF Education First) 1:28

1 ROGLIC Primoz (Jumbo-Visma) 36:05:29
2 VALVERDE Alejandro (Movistar) 1:52
3 LÓPEZ Miguel Ángel (Astana) 2:11
4 QUINTANA Nairo (Movistar) 3:00
5 POGACAR Tadej (UAE-Team Emirates) 3:05
6 HAGEN Carl Fredrik (Lotto Soudal) 4:59
7 MAJKA Rafal (BORA – hansgrohe) 5:42
8 EDET Nicolas (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) 5:49
9 TEUNS Dylan (Bahrain Merida) 6:07
10 KELDERMAN Wilco (Sunweb) 6:25

Moving Pictures

Returning to the Vuelta’s wild ninth stage one last time: It’s nice to see some inter-team camaraderie when the weather conditions become as bad as they were on Sunday.

Some images not seen on TV of yesterday's stage of #LaVuelta19 under hailstorm ?????: @silvandillier begging the @BurgosBH car for a raincoat or @iamdlax saying he had taken refuge in a garage.

Full video of @valentisanjuan (????): https://t.co/qVWSg4aGgf pic.twitter.com/w9mVfyAieL

— Javier Gilabert (@tourdegila) September 2, 2019

Looking ahead, the road world championships are less than a month away now. If you’ve been wondering what this year’s race might look like, you might find a route preview from someone who grew up in Yorkshire helpful – particularly when she also happens to be a former world champion and potential favorite this year …

Race Radio

Van Vleuten takes Boels Ladies Tour prologue

Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) won the Boels Ladies Tour prologue in Sittard-Geleen, Netherlands on Tuesday, riding to her sixth WorldTour victory just this season as well as the first race leader’s jersey as she pursues her third straight overall win in the event.

The 3.6-kilometer course was flat but featured a short section of cobbles. Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo), among the few riders who might have been a potential challenger to world TT champ van Vleuten, crashed hard just after finishing the stretch of pavé, which put her out of contention for the win.

Van Vleuten rode to a time of 5:06 to take the victory six seconds faster than Lisa Klein (Canyon-Sram). Sunweb’s Lucinda Brand was third, seven seconds back.

The race continues Wednesday with a 123-kilometer flat stage from Stramproy to Weert.

Euskadi-Murias facing uncertain future

Basque Pro Continental squad Euskadi-Murias, currently racing at the Vuelta, is uncertain to continue after this season.

According to AS, riders have been told they are free to talk to other teams for next season as management is looking for ways to keep the team financially going into 2020.

Founded in 2015 as a Continental squad, the team went Pro Continental last year, with Óscar Ródriguez nabbing a stage victory in the team’s Grand Tour debut at last year’s Vuelta.

Coming up at the Vuelta

Next up at the Vuelta a España is a 180-kilometer stage 10 from Saint Palais to Urdax-Dantxarinea.

Although the stage concludes with a flat finish, a pair of climbs inside the final 80 kilometers of racing could have the breakaway specialists hoping to stay clear of the sprinters to fight for the win.