09/10/26 12:39:00
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09/10 12:38 CDT Overall leader Enric Mas holds off Primo? Roglic in key time
trial at Spanish Vuelta
Overall leader Enric Mas holds off Primo? Roglic in key time trial at Spanish
Vuelta
JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, Spain (AP) --- Enric Mas held on to his overall lead in a
key individual time trial at the Spanish Vuelta on Thursday. Only three hilly
stages remain in the Grand Tour.
Four-time Vuelta winner Primo? Roglic, a time trial specialist, moved up from
third to second overall and gained 33 seconds on Mas but remained 1 minute, 37
seconds behind the Spaniard.
"(It feels) good --- really good --- to be honest. We had it in mind that it
was the time that we wanted to lose," Mas said about the half minute he dropped
to Roglic. "So yes, I'm happy."
Mas, the 31-year-old Movistar leader, has had to settle for a runner-up finish
at the Vuelta on three occasions, in 2018, 2021 and 2022. He is trying to
become the first Spanish rider to win the home race since Alberto Contador in
2014.
Mas recalled that Contador victory over a decade ago, which was also the last
time a Vuelta stage finished in Jerez de la Frontera.
"At that time I was a kid, he was my hero because (when I was) 13, 14 he was
winning everything. So yes, it means a lot to me," Mas said about wearing the
red leader's jersey close to the final.
Felix Gall dropped from second to third, 3:01 behind Mas, who has held the
overall lead since inheriting it from Tadej Pogacar after the five-time Tour de
France champion crashed out in the eighth stage.
Swiss rider Stefan Kng won the 18th stage, which followed a 32.1-km (20-mile)
route starting in El Puerto de Santa Maria.
Roglic was fourth in the stage, 19 seconds behind Kng, and Mas placed 12th, 52
seconds behind.
Stage 19 on Friday is a 210.8-kilometer (131-mile) leg from Velez-Malaga to
Penas Blancas. The Vuelta ends Sunday in Granada after spending all three weeks
in the hot southern part of the country.
"There are still two really important days, and also the last day in Granada,"
Mas said. "So we have to be really focused."
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