O’Connor still leads O’Connor ahead of the last week of the Vuelta, with a one-minute advantage over second-placed Roglič

The battle for victory continues at the last Grand Tour event of the season. Ben O’Connor, the Vuelta leader, held on to the red jersey until the second free Monday. But his lead has shrunk, with Primož Roglič 63 seconds behind him before the final six stages.

• O’Connor retains the red jersey in the second week
• Roglič has reduced his deficit
• After a rest day, the riders will hit the hills again, with this year’s Vuelta finishing with a time trial in Madrid

During the opening week, four riders took turns at the top of the overall standings. First, stage one winner Brandon McNulty led the way, then Wout van Aert changed into red for two stages and Primož Roglič spent an equal amount of time in the most valuable jersey of the famous Spanish race.

The key stage so far has been the sixth, which saw Ben O’Connor of the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale team pass all of his rivals in the mountains. The Australian spent last Monday’s rest day with a comfortable lead of three minutes and 53 seconds over his nearest pursuer, Primož Roglič of the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe stable.

His gap remained unchanged on Tuesday. The 100km mountain test was decided by the final spurt of the escapees in Baiona, which was best handled by the star Belgian Van Aert. He triumphed for the third time. The riders did not avoid the hills a day later, when Irishman Eddie Dunbar took his breakaway to triumph in Padrón.

However, Wednesday’s events brought some change at the top of the main classification. O’Connor did not have as much strength as some of the others, including Roglic, who reduced the time difference between them to three minutes and 16 seconds.

Roglič managed to close the gap on O’Connor

On the undulating course of stage 12 from Ourense to Estación de Montaña de Manzaneda, with its challenging finishing climb, Pablo Castrillo beat all the locals to secure a maiden victory for Spanish cycling at the 79th Vuelta.

Friday’s itinerary offered, among other things, another tough climb at the end of the route, with Canadian Michael Woods the fastest to the top of Puerto de Ancares. From the point of view of the favourites for the red jersey, there was a significant drop-off for O’Connor. The leader could not keep up with the pace of the others and lost significantly to his main rival Roglic, who closed the gap by almost two minutes to 1:21.

Czech Mathias Vacek made his presence felt in the 200km stage 14, the longest of the year, finishing fourth. In Villablin, Kaden Groves of Australia was the winner for the second time this year.

Castrillo also added another stage win to his collection, in Sunday’s tough test with the finish on the Puerto de Pajares mountain. Roglic again outsprinted O’Connor, but the reduction in his deficit was not as great as it was right after the finish. Indeed, the three-time champion from previous years received an additional 20-second penalty when he was forced out in the air “cushion” behind the car after a wheel change.

Even so, O’Connor still holds a pretty solid lead of one minute and three seconds. Behind Roglic, Spain’s Enric Mas is another eighty seconds back. Vacek is 67th in the overall standings with a loss of almost two hours, his compatriot Pavel Bittner, winner of the finishing spurt of the fifth stage, is 129th with a gap of more than three hours.

Van Aert holds the green and polka dot jersey, Lipowitz the white

Van Aert, the leader of the points competition, spends the second rest day in the green jersey, but he also has the polka dot jersey for the best climber. The white one for the highest-placed rider under 25 belongs to Germany’s Florian Lipowitz, sixth overall.

The race continues on Tuesday with a 181.5km mountain stage from Luanco to the Lagos de Covadonga lakes. The peloton will not miss the hilly profile of the following days, including the penultimate one today, when a 172-kilometre mountain ride from Villarcayo to Picón Blanco is on the agenda. The prestigious event will culminate in a twenty-two kilometre time trial in Madrid on Sunday 8 September.

Source: Vuelta