La Vuelta a Espana 2024 Stage 19 as it happened: Primoz Roglic roars into red with emphatic win on Alto de Moncalvillo

The Slovenian also picked up the 40th red jersey of his career in style on the Alto de Moncavillo.

"I had some really nice memories from this climb and it didn’t disappoint me again – beautiful," said the man who won on this same climb in 2020. "I didn’t need the stage but some guys decided they would pull for me so we went for it," he added, cryptically.

Asked if his lead of 1'54" over Ben O'Connor means the race is now over, the Slovenian replied: "Not really. The big queen stage is still to come tomorrow – and we don’t do the normal laps in Madrid, we do a time trial, so it’s far from done. But my gap is better than five minutes behind. I’m happy with how I am functioning and I’m happy with the guys."

1. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BH)
2. Ben O’Connor (Decathlon) +1’54”
3. Enric Mas (Movistar) +2’20”
4. Richard Carapaz (EF-EasyPost) +2’54”
5. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +4’33”
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +4’47”
7. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +4’55”
8. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BH) +5’55”
9. Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) +6’40”
10. Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) +7’39”

Asked what he’s now looking forward to after 13 days in red, the Australian said: “Monday and having beers and sitting on the terrace and relaxing.”

Switching focus to defending his position on the podium, O’Connor added: “I tried today but didn’t really do my best work, but there’s still tomorrow and two more big days.”

1. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull) 3:54:55
2. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +46”
3. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) “
4. Enric Mas (Movistar) +50”
5. Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) +57”
6. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) “
7. Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla) +1’01”
8. Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) “
9. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +1’03”
10. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull) +1’23”

Poor Enric Mas (Movistar) cracked towards the finish and was passed by both David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek). The gap back to them was 46 seconds.

The Dane from Lidl-Trek will be in the white jersey tonight because Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) was another 10 seconds back.

The Slovenian from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe secures a 14th stage win on the Vuelta atop the Alto de la Covatilla to move into the race lead and edge one step closer to a record equalling fourth Vuelta crown.

Under the banner goes the Slovenian and he’ll know that the stage and red jersey are his. Ben O’Connor has been dropped from the chase group though, so he’s now fighting to stay on the podium.

The main GC group swells as the pace eases and the red jersey falls to over a minute back from Roglic. Mas is now 33 seconds down and stuck in the middle.

The front two are still separated by 25 seconds with O’Connor still 45 seconds back. The Australian has caught Carapaz and Gaudu, with Dunbar, Rodriguez and Skjelmose also in this main group of favourites.

The Spaniard is making in roads ahead of Carapaz and Gaudu, but O’Connor is now 45 seconds back. He has Paret-Peintre again as well as Rodrigiuez and Skjelmose.

The Spaniard edges clear of the chasers. He opens a gap but then Gaudu, O’Connor and Carapaz close in. The Australian had Paret-Peintre with him but the Frenchman has now blown and O’Connor looks to be on the cusp of blowing up.

Last time round, the Ecuadorian said he went too early on La Covatilla – tactics that cost him the red jersey in 2020. He’s now taken it up with a big attack to draw level with Gaudu and Vlasov.

Mas responds and manages to drag the likes of Rodriguez, O’Connor, Skjelmose and Dunbar over. But Landa and Lipowitz are not there.

Vlasov takes one last huge pull before handing over the reins to his leader, who powers clear in pursuit of a stage win and the red jersey.

David Gaudu, winner here in 2020, is in pursuit ahead of the other GC favourites… but the gap is already 30 seconds.

Wow – a trio of Red Bull riders have gone clear thanks to a massive turn from Dani Martinez, who drags Vlasov and Roglic with him. No one can follow and the other GC favourites are already in the red. Too much, too early? Time will tell. Martinez looks over his shoulder, realises he’d done his job, and sits up, leaving Rog and Vlasov along on the front.

Riders are being spat out the back already as Roglic’s army go into beast mode. They have Lipowitz, Martinez and Vlasov drilling the tempo for Roglic, who has Mas, Carapaz and O’Connor in his wheel.

The final climb is upon us. It’s a Cat.1 ascent of 8.6km at an average gradient of 8.9%. The second half is the hardest and is reflected in a maximum tilt of 16%. Miholjevic is caught and Red Bull take it up from the outset.

Planckaert is the first to be caught; Petilli and De Toro will follow, then that man Miholjevic. The pace is high and the final climb looms.

It’s the Croatian TT specialist Fran Miholjevic (Bahrain Victorious) who rolls the dice in the break and rides clear of his fellow escapees just as the peloton are closing in.