Primož Roglič dominates to take red jersey on Vuelta a España 2019 stage 10 time trial

The Slovenian put almost three minutes into race leader Nairo Quintana in the race's only individual time trial

(Image credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) dominated the Vuelta a España stage 10 time trial to take victory and the overall lead.

The Slovenian beat Nairo Quintana (Movistar) by over three minutes after finishing the 36.2km course in a time of 47-05 to take over the race lead.

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Roglič beat Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) into second place on the stage, with all the other GC contenders failing to break into the top 10 on the stage.

Fellow Slovenian Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) was the next best placed of the contenders, finishing at 1-29 down. The 20-year-old stays in fifth overall having won stage nine's summit finish on Sunday.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Miguel Ángel López (Astana) - who was caught by two-minute-man Roglič -  both lost time, at 1-38 and 2-05 respectively. Valverde moves into second overall, while López takes third after Quintana tumbled down to fourth place.

How it happened

After the first rest day of the 2019 Vuelta a España, riders faced a test against the clock in a 36.2km individual time trial starting in Jurançon and ending in Pau, France.

While many riders would be simply happy to make it through the day unscathed and ready for the coming mountain stages, others would be eyeing time in the overall and the stage win.

The first potential winning time on the course came from Frenchman Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), who set a blistering time of 47-22, putting over a minute into those that were on top of the stage standings.

His time looked to be seriously competitive, with proven time triallists Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) unable to beat him. New Zealand national champion Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) was the rider who eventually took the hot seat from Cavagna, beating him by a mere two seconds.

Bevin may have fancied his chances at the stage victory save for one of the men left to take on the course. Primož Roglič, second overall at the start of the day and favourite for the stage, went quickest through all the checkpoints on the course and looked almost certain for victory before halfway through if he could maintain his pace.

What was certain is that the Slovenian would overturn the six second deficit to Nairo Quintana on GC, with the Colombian over a minute behind by the time he hit the first checkpoint at around 11km ridden.

Likewise Roglič was eating into the times of the Alejandro Valverde and Miguel Ángel López, eventually catching the latter - who started two minutes ahead of him - in the final kilometre.

In the end, Roglič won the stage by 25 seconds over Bevin, but more importantly now sits almost two minutes ahead of the next best rider on GC, Valverde.

López slips to 2-11 behind, while Quintana will have a mammoth task ahead of him if he's to win this Vuelta, sitting exactly three minutes behind in fourth place.

The 2019 Vuelta continues on Wednesday with stage 11, a hilly 180km stage in the Basque Country from Saint Palais to Urdax.

Primoz Roglic in red after stage 10 of the 2019 Vuelta a España (Sunada)
(Image credit: Yuzuru SUNADA)

Results

Vuelta a España 2019, stage 10: Jurançon to Pau (36.2km, ITT)

1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 47-05

2. Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team, at 25s

3. Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-Quick-Step, at 27s

4. Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First, at 48s

5. Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar, at 1-02

6. Pierre Latour (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 1-14

7. Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, at 1-21

8. Marc Soler (Esp) Movistar, at 1-22

9. Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Merida, 1-27

10. Daniel Martínez (Col) EF Education First, at 1-28

General classification after stage 10

1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 36-05-29

2. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, at 1-52

3. Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, at 2-11

4. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, at 3-00

5. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, at 3-05

6. Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto-Soudal, at 4-59

7. Rafał Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 5-42

8. Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, at 5-49

9. Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Merida, 6-07

10. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 6-25

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Richard Windsor

Follow on Twitter: @richwindy


Richard is digital editor of Cycling Weekly. Joining the team in 2013, Richard became editor of the website in 2014 and coordinates site content and strategy, leading the news team in coverage of the world's biggest races and working with the tech editor to deliver comprehensive buying guides, reviews, and the latest product news.


An occasional racer, Richard spends most of his time preparing for long-distance touring rides these days, or getting out to the Surrey Hills on the weekend on his Specialized Tarmac SL6 (with an obligatory pub stop of course).