Primož Roglič lost the race lead in the Vuelta a España after struggling with his rain jacket.
The Slovenian lost 43 seconds to Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) on stage six of the Vuelta, which cost him the race lead and saw him slip back to fourth place overall.
Speaking after the stage, Jumbo-Visma leader Roglič revealed he struggled with his rain jacket on the penultimate climb of the day, which resulted in him losing contact with the group of favourites and having to chase back on before the final climb.
The effort to rejoin the general classification group took its toll, as Roglic was then dropped inside the final few kilometres of the last climb, as Carapaz capitalised.
Defending Vuelta champion Roglic said: “Today it didn’t go as we had hoped
“In the descent of the penultimate climb I had problems with my coat, so we were a bit too far back when the peloton broke. We had to pull out all the stops to get back. Eventually we managed to do that, but on the final climb I had not much left in my legs to counter the attacks. We have given everything. Sometimes you win some and sometimes you lose some. Today we lost some. The Vuelta is not over yet and we will continue to fight until Madrid.”
Roglic, who had led the race since stage one, finished the stage more than 40 seconds back on Carapaz and now sits fourth overall, 30 seconds off the race lead.
Jumbo-Visma sports director Grischa Niermannsaid: “This was a big mistake from us and should not have happened.
“As a team we were able to solve the situation, but we couldn’t do more than that. That’s a pity. Today was a bad day. The race is far from over. There are plenty of opportunities to come still and we will of course keep fighting to the end.”
