Roglič matches Vuelta win record

Slovenian takes fourth Tour of Spain title after hunting down O'Connor's lead, writes Adam Becket

- Adam Becket

Momentum is crucial in cycling someone's skill, form or results, once it starts to swing one way, it is hard to stop. Harder to reverse it. Yet it is impossible to quantify.

At this year's Vuelta a España, it was clear which way the impetus was moving. There was an inevitability about Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) overhauling Ben O'Connor: (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale). It was always coming. At the start of the final week, the latter had 1:03 over the former. On stage 16 that had been whittled down to five seconds, but it took until stage 19 to Alto de Moncalvillo for Roglič to finally take back the red jersey which he had effectively lent to O'Connor on stage six.

The Slovenian then held on to Madrid, extending his lead in the final day time trial, meaning he now shares the record for Vuelta overall wins with Roberto Heras four triumphs since 2020 for the 34-year-old is an incredible record.