Opinion: Primoz Roglic’s latest crash punctures his fleeting chances of catching Remco Evenepoel

It’s hard to see how Primoz Roglic could have played his cards better at the end of an otherwise dull and dreary Stage 16 of La Vuelta – save for not undoing all his hard work by inexplicably crashing inside the final 100 metres.

“We had planned to attack in the final phase of this stage,” Jumbo-Visma DS Addy Engels later said. “We knew this was Primoz’s stage. We first set out to win the stage, but the time advantage that came with it was equally valuable to us. Everything went as planned until Primoz experienced terrible luck in the last few metres.”

Oblivious to the timely puncture that waylaid his big rival Remco Evenepoel just moments after his devastating attack, Roglic powered up the closing ramp in Tomares to open up a gap which only a handful of fast finishers could close – but none of his GC rivals.

Unfortunately, one of those who could follow was Britain’s Fred Wright, whose handlebars Roglic clipped – through no fault of the Bahrain Victorious man – in the hectic finale as Roglic looked to stay in contention with Mads Pedersen, Pascal Ackermann and Danny van Poppel, and perhaps pick up some extra bonus seconds to inflict more damage on the Belgian race leader.

The crash was violent and chilling to watch – sending the triple champion sprawling and sliding at least 10 metres, resulting in his glazed demeanour and the bloody gashes as he lay slumped against the barriers after soft-wheeling over the line alongside Robert Gesink.

Despite his heavy fall, Roglic still completed the stage – temporally speaking – well clear of Evenepoel, who had the luxury of being able to soft-pedal his way home knowing that, if the correct regulations were applied, then he’d be granted the same time as the chasing pack from which he was sliding when he heard his back wheel go hiss.

In short, Evenepoel could rely on the effort of others in closing down Roglic’s attack to limit his losses and preserve his red jersey – all while expending no energy of his own ahead of the big tests to come. It doesn’t get much better than that.

In the end – after a confusing period that had Enric Mas and then Roglic both momentarily named as the new leader – it was announced that Evenepoel had kept the reins of this Vuelta thanks to a three-minute reprieve.

An eight-second gain was a hell of a price for Roglic to pay for such pain – pain which, ultimately, may end prematurely the big GC battle we all hoped to witness in this final week. For any inroads Roglic made have been overshadowed by the far greater losses he may now incur off the back of the nasty injuries sustained in his fall. That’s if he even takes to the start on Wednesday.

“Primoz rode a super strong final. His attack at three kilometres from the end was vicious. He was on his way to gaining time on all his direct competitors,” said Engels.

“We didn’t even notice that Evenepoel broke down when Primoz was making his effort. He went flat out to the finish. Looking back, we are not so happy about it. Yes, Primoz managed to gain time but had to pay for it with a huge crash. It is obvious that he was hurt. We hope the harm is not severe and he can finish the Vuelta. The eight seconds time gain is obviously not worth the injuries to his body.”

Coming as it did just moments after Roglic attacked and just inside the final 3km, the sudden and calm raising of Evenepoel’s left hand to signify a puncture in the finale certainly raised eyebrows.

In The Breakaway studio, both Adam Blythe and Dan Lloyd dissected the incident with the available footage and came to the conclusion – perfectly valid at the time – that it was not entirely obvious that Evenepoel’s back tyre had indeed punctured.

It was a discussion which later forced Blythe into a U-turn, the former Lotto Soudal rider posting a quick video in which he stressed that he was merely saying it as it was, and not making any wild accusations.

Subsequent footage recorded from the other side of the road from a fan’s phone showed more conclusive proof that the Belgian’s back wheel may have had a slight sag – although, as a Danish commentator apparently opined on air, Spain’s Abraham Olano won a world championship with less air in his tyre in 1995.

Of course, whether Evenepoel’s mechanical really did happen inside the last three kilometres – or in the frenetic moments preceding Roglic’s attack – it is impossible to tell. But it’s perhaps worth mentioning that even Evenepoel himself admitted afterwards that he “wasn’t in the best position” when the race exploded before the advent of the magic marker which, perhaps, saved his race.

“I was a little bit scared, if I’m honest, in the last four or five kilometres. I lost some positions and I wanted to move up on the steep bump, but my rear wheel just went off. It felt like I had a flat tyre. So, I’m happy that the three-kilometre rule exists otherwise I would have lost a lot of time today.”

In the event that Roglic had not crashed, Evenepoel’s mechanical may have been cause for disgruntlement and questioning from his closest rival. But Roglic’s subsequent fall means the Slovenian has far more pressing concerns going into Wednesday’s Stage 17 than quibble about the pitfalls of a nebulous rule that is clearly very easy to abuse.

The first of four more mountainous stages may have provided the triple champion with the next launch pad in his quest to take back the red jersey – but now he may not even get that far.

Roglic’s latest crash could prove to be the final nail in his coffin at the fag end of a season where his Tour hopes also went up in smoke thanks to a terrible fall. Even at his most brilliant this year, Roglic is down on his luck.

Let’s hope for the sake of the sport that this doesn’t change Roglic from a swashbuckler into a rider who would prefer to raise his hand and take things easy in a hectic finale rather than risk it all by putting everything on the line.

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