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
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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.
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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.
Tim Bonville-Ginn is a freelance writer who has worked with Cycling Weekly since 2020 and has also written for many of the biggest publications in cycling media including Cyclingnews, Rouleur, Cyclist and Velo.