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It might just have been a sign of caution, but the facemask Primož Roglič wore at the stage end plus his somewhat conservative performance on stage 20 raised questions on a day his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team was hit by ill health.
On Friday Aleksandr Vlasov and Dani Martínez were crucial to Roglič’s attack on the final climb of the Alto de Moncalvillo. They ramped the pace up to such a level that no other rider even tried to go with the trio, giving Roglič the perfect platform to take the stage and also the red leader’s jersey of the Vuelta a Espańa.
Less than 24 hours later both riders were out the back, with Martínez feeling so poorly that he quit the race. Also exiting were Patrick Gamper and Nico Denz, the latter missing the time cut.
Spanish media reported a suspected case of salmonella within the team, and that a staff member had been hospitalized as a result.
Directeur sportif Patxi Vila confirmed that the team had been badly affected.
“A wave of illness has swept over us overnight,” he said in a team press release. “We are currently investigating whether food poisoning is the cause.
“Several staff members have been affected and have had to pull out of today’s stage. Also, Nico, Gampi, Dani and Aleks were unwell during the stage.
“We will gather now and will focus on tomorrow’s final stage.”
Roglič also confirmed problems for some of those within the squad.
“Not the best, you know, but looking so far into the stage race at the end, we all have our own issues,” he stated, before praising the efforts to keep things on track.
“Anyway, big respect. They just put everything in, what they had. Luckily I am quite fine for the moment. It was a nice day.”
‘We just need to finish it off’
Roglič’s stage-winning performance Friday saw him finish a full 46 seconds ahead of David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek). That time gap was his most dominant performance since the 2021 Vuelta a España. It hinted at a level of form unseen in years.
However he was much quieter Saturday. He doubtlessly adjusted his tactics as a result of being down some of his support crew, and also perhaps to save energy for Sunday’s time trial, but he did appear subdued.
On other days he would have launched inside the final kilometer to try to haul back the lone leader Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla).
However his killer acceleration was absent, and he instead rolled in third, conceding three seconds to the runner-up Enric Mas (Movistar).
According to teammate Florian Lipowitz, the Slovenian was indeed a little off his best.
“I think he didn’t have the very best day today,” he told Eurosport. “But I think he managed it quite well. He didn’t lose any time.
“We are happy and I think we did a super good job today.”
Roglič agreed on the team’s efforts.
“We did quite big work over these three weeks,” he said. “In the end we just need to finish it off. It is simple.”
‘I need to leave everything on the road’
As ever his rivals will hope for a turnaround. They will look at his muted performance, and to the facemask he wore at the finish line, and wonder if Sunday’s time trial could see another dramatic weakening, reminiscent of his collapse at the end of the 2020 Tour de France.
However the TT in Madrid is a flat one rather than an uphill test. Even if Roglič does have or does contract the same illness, losing 2:02 to Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale) or 2:11 to Mas seems all but impossible.
Still, he doesn’t want to presume anything.
“Let’s wait,” he said, when it was suggested the win was in the bag. “Definitely one day closer than yesterday.
“It went in the right direction, but still tomorrow is a real GC day. So I just have to finish it off.”
Thankfully for him, he is better against the clock than his GC rivals. That is reflected by his victory in the 2020 Olympic Games.
“I always say I am not a time trial specialist,” he said. “But okay, I just have leave everything on the road and that’s it.”
That’s a fair assessment.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe may have been struck by unforeseen circumstances but given that it happened on the final road race stage of this year’s Vuelta, given that just an individual time trial remains, it’s somewhat positive timing for a negative event.
