Primož Roglič concedes Magnus Cort was simply stronger as he narrowly misses out on second Vuelta a España stage win

The defending champion was not able to add to his opening day stage victory but retakes leader's jersey

Primož Roglič trying to catch Magnus Cort of stage six of the Vuelta a España 2021
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Primož Roglič has said that Magnus Cort was "just stronger and he had really good legs" after the Dane held off the fast-finishing Slovenian to take stage six victory at the Vuelta a España 2021.

Roglič didn't seem to be upset about missing out on his second Vuelta stage win of the year after just losing out to Cort who had held on from the day's break to take the win, especially as he is back in the red leaders jersey with former leader, Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) losing a lot of time on the final climb.

In a post-race interview for TV, Roglič was asked if he was upset about losing to Cort: "Not at all, Magnus was just stronger and he had really good legs, so definitely he deserved to win. For myself it was not so much about the win. 

>>> Five talking points from stage six of the Vuelta a España 2021

"I tried to stay safe and out of the trouble. And then I tried to enjoy this climb. At the end I had good legs. I did a little sprint," he chuckled.

When Roglič lost the red jersey on stage three to stage winner Rein Taaramäe (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) he said that he and the team were happy to lose the jersey as it took stress off them in the coming stages. 

But now as the race heads into a few mountain stages to close out the first week, Jumbo-Visma have the responsibility to control, which may be difficult with three Movistar riders sat just behind the Slovenian between 25 and 41 seconds.

When being asked about how he feels about retaking red and whether he will keep it, Roglič remained his usual controlled self: "We’ll see who will be the strongest in Santiago [de Compostela]," he said.

"It’s a long way to there, but it’s a start. We’ll try to keep focused and do our job."

Stage seven is the first major day of climbing after the time trial, a few sprint stages and a couple of punchy climbs, the stage from Gandía to Balcón de Alicante is a short one at 152km but should be a very exciting one.

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Tim Bonville-Ginn

Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!


I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.


It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.


After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.


When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.


My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.